Contrast in case goods
Contemporary, traditional on tap
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, October 12, 2009
HIGH POINT — Case goods launches planned for this week's High Point Market are leaning in two opposite style directions, which vendors hope will attract a wide swath of customers ranging from baby boomers with refined tastes to younger first-time furniture shoppers.
At one end of the spectrum are traditional, large-scale groups with European design influences. Style elements include fancy face veneers and marquetry inlays, heavily carved posts and pilasters on beds and case pieces with serpentine or bombé shapes.
Many of these pieces — as in the new Jessica McClintock Home Couture Collection by American Drew and Hooker's Sanctuary — use eclectic finishes and mixed media elements to update the forms for today's marketplace. But the shapes will appeal to consumers with a taste for the traditional.
At the other end of the style spectrum are contemporary forms that border on modern. These pieces bear clean lines and simple, almost industrial hardware on case pieces and design features such as X-shaped motifs in headboards and dining table bases.
Smaller-scale, low-profile beds and wall beds with pier nightstands are among the signature pieces. These target consumers seeking contemporary design and space-saving elements for smaller homes.
Stanley has two new collections at both ends of the design spectrum. Costa del Sol is a 51-piece case goods collection with casual traditional Mediterranean design influences, such as overlay panels inspired by grand entrances to Spanish villas and carved details on drawer fronts.
Stanley's Modern Craftsman, meanwhile, is a 58-piece casual contemporary collection with Mission and Arts & Crafts design elements. Its clean-lined case pieces have industrial hardware and hammered metal accents, and bear a hand-rubbed Mink finish with charcoal highlights. A Driftwood finish also is available on select items.
Chromcraft Revington also has a traditional and contemporary bedroom and dining room offering in the latest addition to its Southern Living Home licensed line, first launched in April.
“We are making a concerted effort, with a brand as large as Southern Living, to have collections that address the different tastes of our readership,” said Derick Belden, the magazine's executive editor. “When you have a readership as large as we do, you need to have a traditional and contemporary.... It's a continuation of the strategy we had in April.”
Universal's Contessa includes 16 dining and bedroom SKUs with traditional European design elements such as the serpentine shapes and canted corners of large-scale case pieces. It also has a pair of more transitional groups including Present Tense from Better Homes and Gardens and Summer Hill, which has updated cottage design elements.
Universal also makes a contemporary style statement with Forecast, a new case goods line within its Pennsylvania House brand. Geared toward the GenX and GenY consumer, the clean-lined collection is made with solid white oak in a low-sheen, dry natural finish. It has oiled bronze hardware, legs of square metal tubing and X-shaped motifs on a metal framed panel bed and the wood base of a 116-inch trestle dining table.
Don Essenberg, a regional vice president of sales, said the company wants to provide a contrast to the traditional forms of the original Pennsylvania House line.
“We are reinventing the brand for the emerging consumer,” he said. “The customer base is changing and you have to change with it.”
Hooker Furniture's major launch this market is Sanctuary, a large-scale collection with traditional Italian, Portuguese and English design elements. The collection has 65 initial pieces and is expected to grow to 250 over time.
Hooker also is delving into more lifestyle or contemporary looks with four new Envision bedrooms.
Companies such as AICO and Pulaski will have more transitional and contemporary bedroom and dining collections in the past. However, both have more recently developed European traditional influenced collections their customers associate with each company.
Sources such as Copeland, Concordia and Martin are offering bedrooms with a contemporary flair. Items include sleek, low-profile beds with low panel headboards, leather headboards and scalloped wave-like drawer fronts.
Roberta Schilling's Moderna collection is true to its name with sleek modern forms applied to a variety of dining and occasional products.
Schnadig's Caracole Collection mixes three style categories including classic contemporary, new traditional and naturally casual. The company said the collection should appeal to an audience with a sense of adventure in hunting for different items that mix well together.
Staff Writer Heath E. Combs contributed to this article.
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