In Floor Trends’ new series, we’re meeting rising leaders who are making a big impact in flooring. Meet John Crews, VP of residential product development for soft surface at Shaw Industries. He shares his experience of climbing the ladder from intern to vice president of product development at Shaw, and how his first flooring collection at age 18 came to headline at HD Expo.
Crews: I’ll start from the very beginning. I'm a native to Northwest Georgia, and flooring is what brought my grandparents to Dalton from the Northeast. I guess you could say that it was in my blood—not that I tried to pursue it, it just sort of happened that way. I originally was pursuing a fine arts background in high school and college, but in college I was an intern at Shaw in the hospitality division working for Pam Rainey. She was the first one who hired me. I became immersed in hospitality and really became interested in design. Coming from a fine art background, I was intrigued by the idea of thinking about the products I designed as art but thinking about them being functional. So that's why I'm so passionate about what I do.