Rugs, rugs, everywhere! The two most important categories at
this show are the Ikat patterns (Ikat
is a dyeing technique used to
pattern textiles that employs a resist dyeing process similar to tie-dye), and Flat Weave rugs (flat weaves are typically
wool and made on a loom, and includes Soumak, Kilim, and Duhrie styles).
The Ikat’s (shown above) were
mostly in bright colors with elaborate tribal or ethnic patterns generally over
scaled in size.
The flat weaves were sometimes in brights but we prefered the more
muted tones with simple geometric and striped patterns. The most shown pattern
was a chevron pattern. Both categories were dominant in the marketplace.
Purple Reign? Yes purple reigns and all shades of it soft (cool) and hard (warm), and reigned supreme yes it did. A color board for the color purple, below.
Sunflower Yellow was a close second, virtually tied with soft greys. The same colors were present in soft goods (throw pillows, throws, top of bed linens, hassocks), tabletop accessories, and furniture. A color board for the color Butrer Yellow, below.
I mentioned hassocks, which Wikipedia defines as, “a piece of furniture used as a footstool or low seat, distinguished from a stool by being completely covered in cloth so that no legs are visible”. And hassocks were aplenty throughout the marketplace. We saw them in every conceivable cover and style. We saw them detailed with oversized whip-stitched details, covered in cowhides and rugs, and even in knitted covers, knitted with oversized yarns.
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And speaking of oversized yarns,
several rug vendors showed very large scaled yarns in large patterns, making
for unusually large textured rugs, shown below.
Cabana Home buyers
were invited by some of the larger rug manufacturers/wholesalers to review their
lines (to hear their spiels),
including SURYA and LOLOI. A sales representative of SURYA stated that they
sell $80 million a year in rugs at wholesale, and maintain a stock of rugs
valued at $30 million. That’s one heck of a lot of rugs! The showroom window of the SURYA Rug showroom, below.
Switching gears,
we had some fun at the Genesee River
Trading Company, who specialized in antique and vintage camp decorative
crafts and rugs. The owner, a colorful and charming hostess bedecked in all things turquoise, shared her vast
knowledge and specialty in “Old Order Amish” furniture and crafts.
She had more
than one full size canoe in her booth, including a museum quality, full size
spilt-bark canoe with decorative carved detailing and old tar covered seams.
There was also a fully restored 1940’s Old
Town Canoe from Maine built on a traditional cedar form with cane seats,
hanging above the entrance to her booth.
Lighting trends
included lath turned wood, metal and blown glass. COUTURE lighting, a newcomer
at the High Point Show, offered highly polished wood that resembled porcelain,
in fresh shapes, topped with very interesting “double tiered” shades.
Another company specialized in hugely over
scaled lamp bases in a copper patina finish, and burlap shade.
We loved a pair
of brass “dog” lamps, a cross between Jonathan Adler’s ceramic dogs and the
“Balloon Dogs” of artist Jeff Koons. See
all of these table lamps and more at Cabana Home stores starting at the end of
October.
The Mexico based
company Pol Art, offered up Grandfather Clocks and bookcases in the shape of
classic furniture pieces, whereby the voids appear to be the solid and the
solids appear to be the void.
Seating was as
interesting today as yesterday. A woven cane chair was made interesting with spilt
bamboo trim on its base. Another
chair with a “stripped” finish made from reclaimed teak was in the mid-century style.
A noteworthy bench at Lexington was a shapely pair clad in leather with
nail-head detailing and contoured reclaimed wood seats, pictured below.
The highlight of
this show for me was our meeting with the famed furniture building family of
Alfonso Marina. This Mexico City based company is considered by many of the
most important professional interior designers to be the crafters of the world’s
best made furniture. After touring their High Point Showroom, I absolutely agree.
Above: My favorite piece was the smallest piece we purchased, a highly detailed table top chest detailed in bone, tortoise shell and carved ebonized wood.
We first worked with the furniture, not the firm, through their former
United States distributor based in Los Angeles. A distributor is a layer
between the manufacturer and the retailer, and the opportunity to intimately know
the furniture maker can be blurred. Now there is no longer a distributor
between the company and the retailer, and we are thrilled to be working
directly with the Alfonso Marina Company.
We were greeted warmly soon after our
arrival by Carlos Marina of the renowned family of ebanista’s (Spanish for
cabinet makers). He was lovely in his enthusiasm in presenting his family’s
furniture, explaining how it’s made, how the inlay pieces are cut and applied,
even how the hardware is poured and blacksmithed. The pieces are so
authentically designed and finished. What appear to be centuries old patinas
are made in their factories by skilled craftsman who have handed down their
trade skills from one generation to the next.
The furniture line is expensive, but now that we are able to work
directly with the manufacturer, we expect to be able to offer our customers Alfonso
Marina furniture for as much as 60% less than we were able to offer it to them
a few years ago. We are excited to have Alfonso Marina back at Cabana Home.
Cabana Home stores
sell a lot of small tables and our team of Buyers was not disappointed in what
we found here. We bought this set of Gold leaf-finished Nesting Tables with coral
shagreen inlay top, picutred below.
A Klismos style round table with marble top and steel base, pictured below.
Worst in Show:
Wasn’t going to do this today, but couldn’t resist!
A gargantuan wing chair large of for your biggest nightmare:
The worst of the worst:
The Life Chest booth, a company who
manufacturers the box to house your personal remains after cremation, and the memento’s
from your life. The elaborate wooden box shown was open and featured a photographed
of Marilyn Monroe in the attached photo frame, the same place your pic will be
if someone buys this treasure chest for you. Creepy!!
Goodnight moon.
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