High Point Market Fall 2008: Splashes of color adding punch to new upholstery
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, October 24, 2008
HIGH POINT - Let's stop whining about color. Put away the complaints about seeing too much brown and beige in upholstery, and crank up the kaleidoscope. This High Point Market is bursting with color.
There are big splashes everywhere, most of them retailer-friendly (meaning they'll probably sell), but still bold enough to make a statement.
Southern, for instance, has a sofa that uses a mix-and-match palette with an exaggerated red paisley bench cushion, a base covered with an oversized animal print, inside arms in an ikat pattern and multi-colored back cushions.
"Our strategy is that, during the time when most companies are very conservative in their approach to fabric, it is the perfect opportunity to bring fresh looks to stimulate excitement, not only with dealers but with consumers," said Mike Delgatti, executive vice president of sales and marketing.
"Most have leaned to beige. But at the end of the day, consumers love colors - as indicated by apparel," he said, noting that people wear clothes that are bold, bright and crisp.
Rowe mixes bold colors in fabric selections for three distinct groups this market: Scandinavian Chic, which uses neutral backgrounds with small repeating pops of color; Graphic Africa, which uses rich browns and deep greens reminiscent of the lushness of that continent's landscape; and Santa Barbara, which celebrates the mountains and California "feel" with large graphics and textures.
According to trend forecaster Kai Chow, who has worked with Rowe for several years, the aim is to bring the greens, blues and beiges of outdoors in using nature - leaves, ferns, botanicals - as larger, more graphic design elements.
"The minimal look is getting kind of tired," Chow said, pointing to large-scale botanicals in Rowe's design-oriented Robin Bruce showroom.
Several manufacturers are giving berry a thumbs-up as a way to brighten up other colors. Randall Tysinger, which has a license agreement with E.J. Victor, uses a subdued berry in pillows set against a high-back shelter sofa.
In other showrooms, companies positioned plum-hued pillows on neutral sofas or wove little bits of raspberry, pomegranate and cherry into the patterns of body cloths.
Black and white mixtures remain strong, and, surprisingly, there seems to be an inordinate amount of dazzling white or winter white in the marketplace.
"The Europeans have had it for a long time. There is a tremendous amount of white over there. They've never been afraid of white," said Luana Davis, president of Luana Living.
C.R. Laine uses bold, lemony stripes on its Gotham sofa, a faded red checkerboard grain sack reproduction on its Macchiato ottoman, splashes of aqua blue and ash on a charcoal background for its Catskill ottoman, and large yellow dahlia blooms on a gray background for its Gotham chair.
Holly Blalock, the company's marketing director, said she sees colorful furniture pieces as a way to make consumers feel happy when they're home.
"They're colorful but they're gentle at the same time," she said.
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