Last week, I attended my first High Point Market! Although it can be exhausting to cover so much territory and information in such a short time, I think the energy from the thrill of it all is what carries most people through. Taking the advice from veteran market attendees (it's a buffet and you don't need to have it all!) I paced myself, and really just focused on touring as many areas + showrooms, breaking down my market plan to tackling a different area each day - weather permitting. For the most part, the weather was very cooperative - we only experienced one really bad day of wind & rain, which that day I spent most of my time roaming the huge IHFC building (which is actually six buildings in one!) The reason for touring these showrooms, for some, is to buy goods for their shops and stores, for others, it's to purchase special items for their clients (because everything at market is wholesale). For the media, this is a chance to get a first look at what will be featured in stores and magazines - the styles, colors, patterns, and trends for the home furnishings industry all start here at High Point Market.
So go grab yourself a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of wine - Relax as you view my observations of continuing and new home decor trends of note:
COLOR
By far, continuing to be the number one color is BLUE in shades of:
Navy - Ink - Indigo - Cobalt - Royal.
A close second is emerald green.
Either colors were accented with raspberry, lemon or tangerine.
White & Gold plus Blush Pink also made strong statements.
Classics Made Current
Transitional Styling
New Traditional American Classics
Heritage & Heirloom Influences
Androgynous Style Furniture
(gender neutral - mixed masculine & feminine)
Mixed Metals - blackened brass, to polished steel
Mixed Materials - brass & acrylic
Crosshatch Pattern
CrissCross Styling
Barrel Style Chairs
Asian Inspired
Bamboo - Lacquer - Pagodas - Ming
Symmetry - Pairs - Chinoiserie - Greek Key (aka fret or meander)
Garden Themed
Birds - Branches - Blossoms
Butterflies - Botanicals
Geometrics
Octagons - Concentric Squares - Circles
Upholstery Details
Tight & Tailored
Welting - contrasting or self (same)
Skirted sofas, chairs, and ottomans
Slimmer arm sofas - square, box, or track
Banquettes & Settees
Barrel & Swivel Chairs
Exposed legs: tapered or splay (nod to the classic Klismos!)
Hardware change (on casegoods) - Drop Pulls
Since I (like so many) took a gazillion photos, I tried grouping some of the statements together as Market Sample Boards - However, I added a showroom link list in this post of the showrooms I toured - click on those listed (further down the post) and it will take you to my individual photo sets of each on flickr...
Rich emerald greens, tight & tailored upholstery, Klismos inspired splay legs...
Greek Key details - for furniture molding, mirror details, chair backs, stools, and upholstery...
Asian Flair is in the air at High Point - and still going strong in home decor - so much so Thibaut introduced a fabric collection called "Imperial Garden", oomph! applied tassels as drawer pulls, Arteriors added a tassel base lamp, pagoda motifs were in are and stepped furniture, along with ebonized wood with gilt details and fretwork...
Garden motifs from the birds and butterflies - to branches, blossoms blooms - and even bamboo!
Whether on tapered legs, a cantilever, or swivel base (which by the way is growing in popularity, due to open-floor plan designs in homes) barrel style chairs are a mix of that gender neutral in the room, while paying homage to a vintage classic, in many updated finishes of mixed metals and textiles...
Saturated blues in indigo, ink, navy and royal - Abstract art off-sets tight and tailored upholstery and the delicacy of Chinoiserie...
White & Gold - highly polished, hammered, patina-ed - brass and gilded metal accents on white upholstered pieces and case-goods.
Function becomes the form of the design with criss-cross details...
As clear as it is - Acrylic continues to make its mark - especially when paired with brass or glass...
The geometric form that stood out the most to me was the application of
Circles + Half Circles (aka Demi-Lunes) in home furnishings (but not
textiles).
Some trends are a continuation of what may have been tested or launched during Fall market. Some brand collaborations are brand new, such as Kelly Wearstler for EJ Victor. And for some brands, they may have broadened their assortment teaming up with not only a furniture manufacturer, but also created a line of complimenting wall art, such as Tobi Fairley has done with CRLaine and Soicher Marin - or a designer may have teamed up with a manufacturer to launch a line of affordable & well designed furniture, such as Libby Langdon has done with Braxton Culler).
What was interesting to me, is having worked in retail, and comparing runway shows (timing + season) to the furniture industry - The runway shows feature a season ahead, however, the furniture industry featured styles & colors for today, but it will still take time to manufacture orders and distribute to stores - which is why it's best to go with timeless design.
Example of the minimalism trend in fashion, making its way into the furniture industry at Decca Home.
Something else I was keeping aware of was the difference between what is featured at Las Vegas Market (which is the sister market to High Point) vs. what shows here. I believe what is featured in LVMKT must be more regional (showing more organic furnishings such as driftwood, deadwood, grapewood, -- raw wood) vs. the burled wood or bookmatch veneers with lacquer finish and brass inlay / details. LVMKT features more rustic styles vs. HPMKT featured more sophisticated, tailored, American classics - and COLOR!
Besides seeing the latest colors & style trends for interior design and home furnishings, several design collaborations also launched during Spring market such as
American designer, Thomas O'Brien launched his furniture line collaboration with Century Furniture - Market Square, 5th Floor.
Canadian based Interior Designer, Meredith Heron featured her new fabric collection at Wesley Hall - Hamilton-Wrenn District.
Interior designer, Tobi Fairley also launched two lines - One for powerful abstract art with Soicher Marin and a striking furniture line with CR Laine, featuring blush pinks, a popular color featured on the red carpet during award season - along with her signature saturated patterns in bold pinks, orange (and not pictured here - bold blues and powdery aquas). See more in my set at flickr here: Tobi Fairley #HPMKT
Along with the launch of her new furniture line for EJ Victor, Kelly Wearstler was also the honorary guest speaker for the WithIt breakfast, early Sunday morning in the IHFC building - The EJ Victor showroom is located on Lindsay (across the street from market Square) and will be launching another design collaboration, come Spring 2016, with Kate Spade! (love seeing the lifestyle merging of fashion & decor!)
And can't forget - the trend of everything old is new again - Collecting classics at the Antiques Design Center from such wonderful exhibitors such as Heather of 20th century by HKFA - the first person I went in search of inside the ADC (and found on the first try, without getting lost!)
So great meeting online friends in real life after connecting for so long!!
Stacy was also a guest speaker at this years Design bloggers Conference - She gave an excellent preso on photo-shoot styling, and now here she is at HPMKT with Dunes & Duchess!
The Hottomans - Kiersten, Leslie, and moi at ModLife!
And now that I have a little better understanding of showroom locations, their distance, and best places to park, in the Fall I'll be able to layer in more of the educational seminars into my agenda!
Thank you to the following showrooms who either guided me on a tour, sharing back stories about certain pieces, or just let me roam free and ask questions later... So many showrooms, so little time, and so many people wondering through, yet they all somehow all managed to keep their spaces sparkling! If I were to include all the photos I snapped during market, this post would run on for-evah!! But you can see more showroom highlights by clicking on the brands listed below, which will take you to flickr, where I've categorized the showroom tours into sets...
Special thanks to the leaders of organizing HPMKT, Mona, Candice, and Ashley plus the many representatives who toured me around their beautiful showrooms!
Stephanie & Heather - Bernhardt
Maura - Caracole
Stephanie - CR Laine
Carole - Red Egg
Cortney - Thibaut
Stacy - Dunes And Duchess
Raymond - Eastern Accents
Virginia - Highland House
Christy - Huntington House
Robert & Kiersten - ModLife
Sarah & Stan - John Richard
Leslie - The Kaleidoscope Partnership
Sara & Dana - WithIt
Heather - 20th Century HKFA
and
Style Spotter Leslie Hendrix Wood of Hadley Court
plus Jackie Von Tobel of Soft Design Labs!
Special thanks also to the sometimes overlooked army of people who check badges, cleaned restrooms, waiters & waitresses at restaurants, caterers to showroom happy hours, parking attendants, landscapers, local shop owners (like the Madcap Gents!!) and even the police officers of High Point keeping the market filled streets safe from harm!
For additional #HPMKT recaps, you may also enjoy:
Color Trends - High Point Market Spring 2015
by Linda Holt of Linda Holt Interiors
High Point Market Trend Recap - Spring 2015
by Jeanne Chung of Cozy Style Chic
The New Feminine - Part 1
The New Feminine Part 2
by Leslie Carothers for Hadley Court
See what the Style Spotters selected
by viewing their boards on Pinterest - here.
And coming up Friday, May 1, 2015 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CDT
Take Ten: First look at High Point Spring Market - Webinar
Jackie and
Deb of Soft Designlab will give you the first look at new soft products, collections and
services launched at High Point Market this month. Plus, they may even
throw in a couple of surprises!
Register HERE: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5704261192159981826
So you see - what started out as this...
(banner outside of IHFC)
Mixed with a little of this...
A week later - (along with forever walking, meeting online friends in person, and even attending the JLHPShowhouse) - turned into this...
(banner inside Market Square)
Yup - I'm pooped!!
(but not too pooped to check out some of the fantastic After Market - Sample Sales happening now in High Point! the next one happens at Hickory - May 1-3!)
I'm sure there will be plenty more recaps, videos, and trend tracking shares, but right now, I think most are recouping - plus some even took off to attend other industry events that occurred on the last day of market - such as Design On A Dime in NYC plus Dwell With Dignity's Thrift Studio (still going on now!!) in Dallas!
Similar to when I've shared store tours - another source of design inspiration - I've also shared my two blog sponsor showroom tours, you can read at:
Thank you for stopping by!
Hope your coffee, tea, or wine held out, as I know this was an uber long post!!
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