the international authority on color and design trends in home furnishings
I have never attended Showcase before. It is an artisan trade fair in Dublin, Ireland that is a real delight. There are hundreds of craftspeople here, showing their creativity in materials like pottery and porcelain, wood and paper, metal and wool. There is tableware and lighting, greeting cards and clothing, throws and pillows. It’s an interesting mix, housed in the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) building just a few blocks walk from my … [Read more...]
It felt so good to be at the San Francisco Mart again today. That’s because everyone at the Mart is so warm and welcoming, from the team at the registration desk to the group responsible for all the logistics around events and speakers. This is a place I like to come to, and I think there must be many designers who feel the same way. Some of those designers attended my seminar this morning. We had a great crowd for a variation on Nine … [Read more...]
I spent four hours on a plane today flying to San Francisco. I hate the journey but love it when I finally get here. There is an energy here that I cannot describe, but it is linked somehow to potential. When I am in San Francisco I feel like anything goes, anything can happen, anything is possible. I'm here because I am speaking at the San Francisco Mart tomorrow—twice. My first talk is in the morning, and we are expecting about 100 … [Read more...]
I really love being able to fly for just a short while and be in another country. That’s one of the joys of living in Minnesota, so close to Canada. Today I flew to Seattle, then on to Vancouver. I am here to give a talk called Trend Forward for the Canadian Gift and Tableware Association conference tomorrow morning. This association is not new to me. I presented at their Toronto conference last year and we all had such a good time that we … [Read more...]
I have spoken this week to many of my colleagues who are taking advantage of the year-end quiet to catch up on a few things in the office. I am doing likewise, getting through all the mail, reading and messages that have piled up while I have been in Europe and preparing our newest product for our subscribers (Once Around™: Europe at Christmastime, our new CD trend report featuring pictures of retail in Paris, London and Hamburg will be … [Read more...]
Today I am in Surrey, England at a delightful old mansion-turned-hotel called the Oatlands Park Hotel. Everything here is quaint and very English. At left I am in the lobby, along with editorial correspondent Mary Sausen. We took this picture while having afternoon tea among the lovely Christmas decorations. This is an in-between day on my European schedule. Early tomorrow morning I will be on my way to Hamburg, Germany to look at more … [Read more...]
One of the great things about being asked to moderate a panel is being able to pick the panelists. The Interior Design Society asked me to do this for a seminar on October 23 at the Furniture Market. The topic: trends for the home. I jumped at the chance to put some of the best design talent I know together in a single room. I am thrilled with the line-up. Vladimir Kagan, one of the most important furniture designers of the 20th … [Read more...]
Traveling to both Japan (on vacation) and Thailand (to give trend seminars) in July, I had a chance to experience two cultures that felt both familiar and surprising all at the same time. Some of the familiarity came from the sprinkling of English that invariably appeared in advertising, signs and business names to add an international point of view. There was more to be found in shops that mixed locally designed and manufactured … [Read more...]
A couple of days before I left for Bangkok I flew to LA at the invitation of Debra Gold. Debra has been involved with buyer education programming for 18 years. That’s one reason why she was hired by the LA Mart to work on a number of projects. Among them was the first-ever Buyer’s Forum event, held during the Gift and Home Market on July 23, at which I spoke about home furnishings trends. I had a wonderful time meeting and visiting … [Read more...]
I enjoyed part of my Saturday at the LA Mart. I had been asked to give a talk to LA’s top “bleeding edge” retailers about what’s next for home furnishings color and design. The audience for this invitation-only event was smallish and many of these business owners seemed to know each other. I’m sure that was one reason why the atmosphere in the room felt so intimate. Another reason was that Debra Gold, an LA Mart consultant and … [Read more...]
