HIGH POINT, N.C.–When times are tough, many vendors pull back on product development, but that wasn’t the rule at this market, which runs through Sunday.
Ready-to-assemble furniture vendors had new concepts in materials and styles. Sauder Woodworking, in its newly combined showroom with sister company Progressive Furniture, showed customers its full range of capabilities in design, quality and style in case goods and ready-to-assemble furniture and seating, as well as its importing and domestic production. Reflecting the retailers’ desire for exclusive goods, two-thirds of Sauder’s showroom was prototypes, in categories ranging from entertainment and laptop solutions, to bedroom and dining.
At Dorel’s Ameriwood division, it was the “real feel” finishes that resemble teak and other fine woods, and at its sister division Altra, the use of hollow-core construction on full pieces of furniture. Other highlights in the Dorel space included white, adjustable laptop carts to target the Mac user, and a “green” story in juvenile storage.
At Z-Line Designs, new plasma TV wall mounts were shown, as were hybrid products that give consumers choices how to display their TVs. Eurostyle showed contemporary bar stools with a new collapsible feature to reduce carton size. And Linon added more decorative bar stools, new kitchen nooks, and made a big push in entertainment and jewelry armoires.
Decorative accessories introductions focused on organic and natural themes. Examples included natural driftwood lamps from The Natural Light at the higher end and J.Hunt at the mass level; extensive use of marble, crystal and iron from a wide variety of sources, and a return to spindle lamps and turned-wood balustrade styles. Mixed-media pieces were also prevalent, as were splashes of color, from sources including Dale Tiffany and Waterford Crystal, among others. Revivals of classic styles were shown, like the Italian Capo Di Monte lamps, featuring applied ceramic flowers on the base, at Fangio Lighting. And nautical, coastal and tropical themes continued, including the launch of Cabana Joe’s at Stylecraft.
