Contemporary taking wood spotlight
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, February 9, 2009
LAS VEGAS — Case goods vendors are playing it relatively safe this Las Vegas Market with a light volume of introductions that take a largely cleaned-lined, contemporary design approach.
There are some exceptions, but for the most part, these styles appear to dominate new bedroom and formal dining furniture being shown this market. The strategy: Target a slightly younger demographic while achieving the efficiencies associated with producing straight lines on beds, tables and case pieces.
There also will be plenty of rustic styles — popular among West Coast dealers — in showrooms here, as well as some modern, coastal and European traditional designs.
Among the new offerings in the contemporary realm are Abysson Furniture's Capri bedroom collection, which features straight lines and a dark finish, accented with simple metal hardware.
Dynamic's Fabio 493 series is another standout in the clean-lined approach. The promotionally priced group features multiple colors and grain patterns on its laminate surface.
For Modus Furniture, transitional and contemporary designs have long been a strength. This market, the source is adding the contemporary-style Urban Loft and Legends bedroom groups as well as the transitional Mondrian II group. It also is showing the contemporary Genoa bedroom, with bycast leather bed, nightstand, storage cube and bench, and the Bossa dining collection, in ash veneers with a wenge finish.
Magnussen Home also is focusing hard on contemporary this market with four new seven- to nine-piece bedrooms. Three of those groups have contemporary/transitional design elements, while a fourth, Aura, offers traditional styling with a “modern flair.”
Magnussen's new bedrooms lean toward clean-lined design approaches, with flourishes ranging from the diamond-shaped panels on the headboard and footboard of the Madison Group to the lighting on the panel bed and nightstand of the Currents bedroom.
Priced at $1,499 for four pieces, these are value-oriented groups aimed at securing floor space in a tough retail market, the company said.
Other transitional or contemporary styles can be found this market at Vermont Tubbs, Star, South Shore Furniture, Emerald Home Furnishings, Tradewins, Zocalo, Klaussner and Perdue Woodworks, among others.
In addition to its casual transitional Modern Country Classics bedroom and formal dining room collection launched in High Point, Broyhill is adding dining to its Louis Philippe-inspired Nouvelle collection, which it launched as bedroom in April 2008. The company also is bringing out four new bedrooms, each with eight SKUs. Design themes range from contemporary and cottage to updated traditional and 18th-century designs.
To separate themselves from the competition, other sources are stepping outside the transitional/contemporary realm with more traditional designs. These include Lexington Home Brands, which is launching Cimarron, a classic English manor/Tuscan villa-influenced collection that includes bedroom, dining room, occasional, home office and upholstery.
Made with alder solids and veneers, the group also has a 22-step finish.
“This is truly about the finish — it is a hand-rubbed and hand-waxed finish that gives the product great character you can't find any other way,” said Lexington Home Brands President and CEO Phil Haney. “The product is beautifully done — it is nice and luxurious, but not stuffy or formal. That is key for the consumer right now. They want to have things they can feel comfortable with.”
Universal Furniture is launching two new collections. They include the No. 509 group, an Italian-influenced bedroom and dining room made with rustic cherry veneers in a hand-rubbed finish with gold accents. Placed in the better end of the Universal line, a four-piece bedroom will retail at $3,999. A table, six chairs and china also retail at $3,999.
The company is targeting consumers with larger homes with room for large-scale bedrooms and formal dining areas.
“We think there is a large consumer base for formal product,” said Stephen Giles, senior vice president of merchandising.
The company is featuring a transitional bedroom and dining room lineup in its Simply Solid by Pennsylvania House brand. Made with birch solids in a merlot finish, key pieces include a $1,399 storage platform bed with 12 drawers, a feature that gives it as much storage space as a dresser, Giles said.
At Prestige Furniture, casual dining, home office and occasional are being added to Washington Square, a smaller-scale urban traditional-style collection made with cherry veneers and maple and poplar solids in a dark cherry finish. The company is expanding the collection based on the success of the Washington Square bedroom it launched in October.
Prestige President Jerry Ruff said the scale of the group makes it suitable for many different environments.
“It is not just scaled for urban living, but for smaller-scale rooms in smaller homes,” he said, noting that the group also has a lot of detail in the drawer and door frames.
Rustic styles, a staple for West Coast buyers, can be found at International Furniture Direct, Sunny Designs, Oakwood Interiors, Shadow Mountain and Viking Inds., to name several.
In this still-difficult economy, vendors were reluctant to predict attendance this week. However, some are taking a bullish approach by introducing product earlier than they had planned.
For example, Magnussen originally planned to make its introductions in High Point. But in spite of the slow economy, it decided to move the launches to Las Vegas to generate interest and orders from dealers preparing for a turnaround in the marketplace.
“In a down market, Magnussen always introduces more product and more selection,” said CEO Richard Magnussen. “The bottom line is that we think that is the time to introduce more product, when our competition is pulling back.”
A-America also is moving case goods product launches planned for April ahead to February, said Crystal Nguyen, director of product development. It will encore the products launched in Las Vegas in April, thereby reaching buyers who don't come to the February show.
“More and more, it is about new ideas and new product and coming out with cost-conscious products and ideas that will trigger buyers to buy,” she said. “April will not have as many new introductions — instead of holding some of the product for April, we pushed them forward to February. Some of the West Coast buyers won't be coming to the April market, and some of the East Coast buyers won't be coming to Las Vegas.”
Michele McPherson, general manager of New Classic Home Furnishings, said she is not expecting as much traffic this week as in previous markets. So, the company's focus will be on up-and-coming or top-performing existing bedrooms.
“We do think that people will say, 'what can I buy that I can move out the door?' ” McPherson said, adding that the company will also show some new youth and entertainment, two expanding categories.
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