Innovation keys metal beds
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, April 25, 2005
High Point — Buyers looking for innovations in metal beds this spring won't be disappointed.
In what promises to be a strong market for the category, vendors have unveiled styles ranging from European and early American to contemporary platform and Asian-inspired models.
Some are part of broader collections, while others are stand-alone items whose looks and finishes can complement a variety of case pieces.
Stanley and American Drew each are showing metal beds that tie in with new or existing collections.
Stanley's Galway Bay Irish-inspired collection features a traditional style bed with fleur de lis castings and arched metal frame. Available in an antique finish, it complements the dark iron hardware, elaborate moldings and burnishing featured on many of the case pieces.
By comparison, a canopy bed in American Drew's Jessica McClintock line is more feminine in nature. Shown in a gilded brass finish, it sports garden trellis-inspired scrollwork and castings and pine-cone-shaped finials.
American Drew also is bringing out metal beds in its Profiles collection. Camden, which is available in pewter, black and buttermilk finishes, has an urban cottage look that complements that part of the collection.
Meanwhile, Apex and Tribeca match the transitional and contemporary aspects of Profiles. They each retail at $699, compared to $499 for the Camden model and $1,499 for the Jessica McClintock bed.
The Powell Co. is bringing out two new metal beds that match existing collections. One is Jamestown Landing, an 18th-century American piece. It has an antique brass finish on the scrollwork and castings and a lightly distressed dark cherry finish on the wood posts that matches the finish found elsewhere in the collection.
The other introduction is a large-scale bed that is part of Barrier Reef, a group sourced in the Philippines. Like other items in the collection, it has a nut-brown finish with hand-rubbed gold highlights.
Both beds retail at $999.
Powell also has four new "SKU saver" beds available in headboard-only or head-and-footboard combinations. They range from the early American reproduction style Yorktown bed to the Oriental style of Mandalay.
Other metal bed introductions include Caprice, a European/French-inspired design, and Rialto, in Italian styling with delicate castings and an Italian white finish with antique gold highlights.
These new beds range from $99 to $149 for the headboard-only version to $199 to $299 for the complete bed.
Category style leader Fashion Bed Group is launching 18 new products this market in materials as a diverse as brass, leather and abaca.
"We are introducing just about every material we can use," said Fashion Bed Group President Ron Ainsworth. Price points also reflect the diversity of materials.
Three new brass beds are priced at $299, $399 and $699 retail. Two new abaca beds also stretch the realm of the company's price points. A more simple design is offered at $599, while another that melds abaca and rattan has a suggested retail value of $1,500.
A new leather bed, whose frame is designed like the arch of a wing, retails for $999.
But most — roughly 10 of 18 — of the offerings are transitional beds that fall in the $399 to $499 range, Ainsworth said.
These, too, come in a variety of styles and finishes. They include the Roma, with its round ball finials, camelback grills and aged rust finish; and the Oceana, an eclectic sea-inspired bed with shell finials, a cerulean blue finish and fish swimming in its wavy grills.
Wesley Allen, another style leader in the category, is introducing eight metal beds. President Victor Sawan said the company is offering traditional and transitional designs that play off the theme of romance.
"We upped the ante as far as styling is concerned," he said, adding that the move is meant to set Wesley Allen apart from other, more price-focused producers.
The items will be available in 33 finishes, not including several new ones that Wesley Allen is launching this market.
The company also has a new large-scale daybed and metal bed in its more upscale Amanda Sutton group as well as three accompanying accessory pieces. Items in that line are available in 15 finishes.
Its introductory priced Iron Beds of America division has two new beds that are simpler in design and available in one finish.
Benicia Foundry & Ironworks plays off its talents in the realm of antique reproductions this market with four new beds and a day bed. They include Royal Country, an antique reproduction bed from the British Isles that features 16-gauge tubing with decorative aluminum castings.
As with its other products, the new metal bed and day bed introductions are available in 25 finishes.
Meanwhile, new products at Amisco and Comfort Designs explore transitional and contemporary themes. With mostly clean lines and round or square stainless steel tubes, they also feature cool chrome or metallic finishes such as pewter and black ice.
Amisco, which offers its beds in 10 finishes, also is launching a traditional, Victorian-style bed with curved grillwork, double posts and elegant castings that retails for $699.
Hooker Furniture is introducing three beds ranging from $499 to $899 retail. Its starting price point is an arched panel bed in an antique copper finish. The top price point model is a more traditional style sleigh bed with an antique brass finish.
Priced at $599, its third model has a curved footboard and an antique linen finish.
