Good morning,
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and Hurricane Sandy or no, Monday is here and that means back to the latest in the world of furniture. Today, I would like to catch you up on some of the trends that emerged from the latest great furniture exhibition in High Point, North Carolina.
The High Point Furniture Market, the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, brings more than 85,000 people to High Point, North Carolina, every six months to peruse the nearly 10 million-plus square feet of prime furniture showroom space, spread over 180 buildings.
Visitors to this furniture super-fair range from the casual buyer to the thousands of furniture professionals from 110 countries around the world. Which is precisely the reason why journalists, trends-spotters and the culturally curious also flock to the Furniture Market every October and April.
This month, it was all about the color. As in deep, rich, orangey-reds, primary blues and yellows, and greens of all persuasions. Especially at C.R. Laine Furniture, where some 50 different shades of green flourished in the showroom. This fall’s strong color story promises good news for the overall economy. Historically, we crave bright, fresh colors when we’re optimistic about the future.
An anonymous source from our own Madison Seating who attended the Furniture Market, said “optimism brightened many other showrooms, including Pearson Furniture (jades, purples and plums), French Heritage (“Belmont Collection” in Pantone brights), even showing up in Bob Timberlake’s country-rustic collection for Century (a wicker settee with an alligator-embossed leather seat in brilliant turquoise)”.
In fact, preppy looks were all over the Furniture Market in menswear herringbones, crests, and school-tie colors. Also, stripes — the wide, awning variety — and classic materials, such as nailheads and faux shagreen. The real thing, made of sharkskin, was the darling of Parisian haute-monde designer Jean-Michel Frank during the Art Deco days of the ‘Thirties.
That will be all for today, as I wish those of you in Sandy’s path best of luck and Godspeed!