Trend Flash is made available exclusively to subscribers to The Trend Curve™ newsletter with immediate updates from each market and trade show we cover worldwide. Arthur Douglas Thayer is in Atlanta for the Rug Market. His top trends are below. You can read more about these trends and others in the February 2010 issue of The Trend Curve.
On-trend in Atlanta:
TEXTURE
– Texture’s role was still critical
– Using fibers with distinct refractive qualities took looks beyond matte/luster
– Solid-color areas were defined by linear texture, not color variation
– Shags went to extremes, with huge yarns placed next to tiny ones
– Hand-manipulated techniques got finer in emerging needlepoint, petit-point, gros-point
– Washing, double washing, sometimes quadruple produced tactile softness while increasing important aged/faded/antiqued/vintage surfaces.
MATERIALS
– Rug scraps, pieced together with baseball stitching, were new
– Wool alternated with linen, nettle, sisal, hemp or rayon
– The use of acrylic grew due to strong Sunbrella branding and, secondarily, Olefin (because of price)
– Fibers like sisal/hemp lost their stiff, rough hand to become softer
STYLE AND DESIGN
– A need to refer to the past was strong
– Ethnic tribal designs grew dramatically
– Ikats, plangi and tie-dye inspiration took part
– Kurdish, Kazak, Russian, Afghan, even Ashanti tribal designs, with a slight masculine bent, got ready to explode
– Mid-scale design elements repeated as though on fabric
– Simplification drove over-scaled, two-color linear stripes, checks, and plaids
– Stripes had new significance, especially packed with or creating new pattern.