Make mine modern
Contemporary, Deco styles on rise
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, March 20, 2005
High Point — Case goods suppliers continued a swing toward the modern at premarket here last week, with true contemporary looks and a round of Art Deco-leaning product adding a modern flair to April introductions.
Other case goods themes that emerged from the preview to spring market include:
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A wave of lifestyle-oriented transitional collections aimed at drawing young and young-at-heart consumers from catalog and specialty retailers into full-line furniture stores.
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Collections updating neoclassical and Biedermeier elements through casual finishes and unique veneers or materials.
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Casual traditional themes of British and European country, many with an array of colorful finishes.
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Brighter, jazzed-up traditional introductions that offer fresh takes on 18th and 19th century styles through hardware and finish treatment.
Mainstream case goods manufacturers will display as much true contemporary furniture at April market as buyers have seen in years. The style shows up at all price points, from Century's Kelly Hoppen collection in flor morado solids with white oak in a dark, open-grain finish, to Stanley's Midnight Sun, straight contemporary in architectural white oak, to Magnussen Home's Firenze in ash burls and birch.
Art Deco abounded last October and is showing up again in force this spring. Like contemporary, it spans a range of prices.
One Deco direction is seen in the pure interpretations in E.J. Victor's new line of reproductions from the collections of High Point antiques dealer Randall Tysinger.
At Fine Furniture Design & Marketing, the Couture collection takes Art Deco in a more contemporary direction. At Lane, the Robert Idol Collection has Art Deco roots and two distinct, transitional-style branches — Pacific Heights in rosewood veneers, and Union Square, which incorporates tribal motifs in some pieces.
Cristina Ferrare's Sunset Boulevard collection at Magnussen Home tosses Hollywood glamour into the Art Deco mix with two exotic veneers — zebrawood and cathedral rosewood — plus olive burl. The voluptuous pieces include a shell-motif bed in metallic-treatment leather.
One trend that lends airiness to many of this April's lifestyle offerings, as well as some collections inspired by lighter-scale traditional forms, is the floating case. Plinth or other recessed bases lift many contemporary and Art Deco chests and dressers off the floor, while high, fairly delicate legs perform the same function in other styles.
Recessed case and cabinet tops also show up in Art Deco collections — often with scalloped edges — and also in contemporary, lifestyle and clean traditional groups.
Neoclassical and Biedermeier forms also are finding a home, both in straight interpretations and in many transitional collections.
New spins come into play through the array of exotic veneers available, as in Ferguson Copeland's eclectic collection of items that include dining pieces, or in color treatments along the lines of the Alexa Hampton Collection by Hickory Chair. A yet-to-be-named collection from Century transitions Biedermeier in a casual direction with dressed-down golden finishes on European birch with some yew applications, and chamfered edges on cases.
A trend last October toward more refined lifestyle collections continues this spring as mainstream suppliers target consumers that shop at Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel and the like. Profiles, a collection with 150 pieces in four contemporary and transitional flavors, takes American Drew to new, lower opening price points. Northern Lights at Broyhill in walnut, and Hooker's Metropolitan View in clear cherry, are other examples of casual contemporary/transitional's move away from the light ash and maple that dominated the category a few years ago.
Burnished hardware and warmer finishes were highlights of updated traditional styles at premarket. British West Indies gets a richer wood treatment than the chocolaty looks of the past in Stanley's Barbados and Bernhardt's British Passages, both of which include strong elements of campaign. Country French gets strong color treatments at French Heritage and in Hickory White's European Home collection.
Pennsylvania House has updated its longstanding Hallmark Cherry for the 60th-anniversary Today's Hallmark Collection. The new version has a clearer, warmer finish and updated hardware, with toned-down sheen, plus veneer options on several case fronts to complement solid versions.
Jessica McClintock's Vintage Collection at American Drew is lighter and more feminine than the original, and incorporates a textured pistachio-tone painted accent finish.
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