High Point Market Fall 2008: Tasty styles succeed
Dealers like varied looks in formal dining
Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, October 24, 2008
HIGH POINT - Many formal dining vendors are seeing continued success at the High Point Market with traditional footprints, a staple among retailers that continue to carry the category.
Others, meanwhile, are seeing activity in more transitional and contemporary footprints scaled towards more urban settings.
In any style, functionality - from leaf storage to silverware drawers - continues to help seal the deal with some buyers.
Hooker is seeing strong commitments and orders on Beladora, a 70-piece, large- scale European traditional collection featuring three dining tables, including a 152-inch table and a 129-inch leg table that retails at $1,999. Dealers like the scale of the pieces as well as the hand-carved elements highlighted with subtle gold tipping.
Traditional forms also are striking a chord at Henredon and Thomasville. The latter is receiving strong response on Brompton, a 24-piece dining and bedroom collection with 18th-century British traditional influences. Among the signature pieces is a table and eight chairs retailing at $8,300.
Henredon said it is winning retailer commitments on Marseilles, an 18th-century, French-inspired traditional collection with 30 pieces of bedroom, dining room and occasional. Dealers like its heavily carved elements, highlighted with subtle silver tipping. Among the popular pieces is a tall display cabinet reproduced from an antique found in a Paris flea market.
At the other end of the design spectrum, contemporary also is having a strong showing here.
AICO said it is drawing interest and orders here on contemporary dining sets first seen at the Las Vegas Market. These include Tropiko, which has a trapezoid-shaped table with a triangular, textured piece of amber glass in the center. Dealers like the hand-hewn texture of the table and the glass, which gives the piece an island look and feel.
Fairmont Designs is a case goods resource known for its traditional and transitional footprints, including those in formal dining. Its newest collection this market, Westport Heights, is a casual traditional group featuring carved elements and octagon-shaped corner posts and legs.
The collection is drawing strong commitments from dealers, who like the look and functional features, including leaf storage in the server units.
Bernhardt's Palomar collection is a hit with dealers who like the contemporary look of several key formal dining pieces. These include a 60-inch round pedestal table with four organic wood veneers including flat-cut walnut, figured Mozambique, zebrawood and lacewood. A sideboard has doors in the same wave-like veneer pattern.
Dealers also are drawn to Bernhardt's new Martha Stewart collection called Rosebridge. In particular, they like the smaller scale of pieces geared to younger urban consumers living in smaller apartments and condos. Pieces include a server with a butterfly pattern of rosewood and flat-cut walnut veneers featuring plenty of wine, drawer and door storage.
Aspenhome also is reaching out to younger consumers with its Kensington collection. Part of the company's Savvy Solutions program, it also features smaller-scale bedroom and dining room pieces geared toward compact living spaces.
Dealers are drawn to a new dining table in the group that seats eight, and to the functionality of a companion server with granite inserts, hidden appliance outlets and plenty of drawer and door storage.
Visual merchandising also is a key strategy this market at Lexington Home Brands and Broyhill, both of which have new collections shown in residential settings tailored to the style of the collection.
Lexington is showing its traditional British-style Barclay Square collection in a setting that duplicates an old New York brownstone. The setting and the 75-piece collection, one of the largest at market, are wowing dealers with a traditional yet stylish approach to formal dining.
Broyhill recreated an 850-square foot apartment to show off its new Urban Solutions collection.
The setting is helping dealers understand how target Gen X and Gen-Y consumers are living today and how its new pieces complement that lifestyle.
Among the most popular dining pieces at Broyhill are a smaller-scale dining table with self-storing butterfly leaves and silverware storage and a small sideboard and small china base and deck unit with door, drawer and shelf storage.
