Just when your eyes begin to glaze over from seeing so much me-too product at a trade show, just when you are certain that creativity has been forever lost, something wonderful shows up. My assistant, Laura Colón, and I had just that sort of experience in Las Vegas, where a few diamonds in the rough made our day. Innovation deserves recognition. At the Las Vegas Convention Center, we saw some of the most innovative furniture for kids … [Read more...]

I have been attending markets and trade shows for a very long time. Over the course of those years I have seen lots of evolutions. Today, at the Las Vegas home furnishings market, I saw the addition of a product category that made me stop dead in my tracks: acupuncture products. At Creation Therapy in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Mr. J.K. Choi, an acupuncturist, demonstrated how a small, hand-held electronic device emits tiny shocks … [Read more...]

Confirming a trend that emerged in 2005, Gray and Greige looked trend-forward at the Las Vegas furniture market in January. The fact that these neutrals appeared in both contemporary and traditional styles spoke to the broad reach they will have for the future. Pangea showed a room setting done all in Gray. It featured Gray upholstered sofas and chairs and Gray stained wood tables, some of which featured Gray colored glass. Alternately, … [Read more...]

I just spent a whirlwind 24 hours in Las Vegas. I wasn’t gambling. I was there to give a talk at the new Las Vegas Furniture Market. I squeezed this trip in between two trade fairs in Europe when Laura Van Zeyl, my long-time colleague at Vance Publishing, publishers of Accessory Merchandising Magazine (I have written a column called Trend Watch for that trade pub for more than a decade) asked me to appear on behalf of the magazine. Laura … [Read more...]