Wandering through Paola Lenti’s popups during Salone del Mobile in Milan is like being transported into a visual wonderland drenched in explosive color and irresistible touch-me textures. It simply takes your breath away. Lenti is a masterful maestra of weaves. With a magnificent … [Read more...]
Japandi: On-Trend and Growing
Scandinavian sensibilities have been influencing shape, texture and surface design ever since mid-century modern looks returned a decade ago. Today, they are immensely familiar. Japanese elements are more recent, but nonetheless established. Think lotus leaf motifs and sho sugi ban, the charred-wood … [Read more...]
Anticipating 2021-22 Seasonal Trends
In our year-and-a-half of quarantine and isolation so far, we 've had plenty of time to think about the people we have been separated from, and the traditions we once shared with them. To say that we now long for these touchpoints is an understatement. Whether 2021 is the year we return to … [Read more...]
Down With Denim Blue
Many Portuguese towel, rug, throw and bed-linen makers exhibiting at the last Guimaraes Home Fashion Week agreed that blues are key. Antonio Salgado characterized this color family as being, “on top.” Coton Couleur said sales of their blue products were rising. One mill, Domingos de Sousa, projected … [Read more...]
Time For Less Trend Product?
Is our obsession with color trends killing the planet? A Fast Company article by Elizabeth Segran asks just that question. The piece chides us with numbers that reveal our wastefulness—like how many times we wear an item before banishing it from our closet (down 36% to seven to 10 times since 2000), … [Read more...]
Sustainable Textiles at GHFW
The fourth annual Guimarães Home Fashion Week was held June 26 and 27 in Guimarães, Portugal. At this year's fair, ways to minimize the impact of home-textiles production rivaled interesting materials as top innovations. Fátima Sousa, Commercial Manager for Domingos de Sousa & Filhos, … [Read more...]
Fancy Food Gets Ugly
The Summer Fancy Food Show is the largest specialty food-industry event in North America. Held at New York’s Javits Center, this year’s show provided a snapshot of upcoming food trends. Food and licensing expert Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf of Project Partners Network identified one of those trends as … [Read more...]
Paper Gets Popular
Paper may seem to have limited potential, but it is still getting plenty of notice at markets and trade shows. That’s why—by late 2016—we believe that paper will be the newest must-have material. Paper is more versatile than you might imagine. It can be repurposed, recycled, shaped, cut and … [Read more...]
Wool is in Your Future
Linen and velvet have dominated upholstery fabric choices for so many seasons that these two workhorses are now overexposed. In response, the market has turned toward textiles with a different look and feel. Some of the newest options are thicker and heavier. But that doesn’t mean they can’t also be … [Read more...]
Recycling Gets Artistic at SOFA
SOFA is the sculpture objects functional art and design show that took place in November at Chicago’s Navy Pier. At the 2014 event, Editorial Correspondent Elaine Markoutsas saw how recycled materials were being used in elevated ways that brought them into the artisan realm. Here are her three … [Read more...]