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Reclaimed occasional looks gain ground

Heath E Combs -- Furniture Today, January 30, 2012

Jofran Jofran will introduce this four-piece No. 046 occasional group with oak veneer. The castered cocktail table has five pull-through drawers.LAS VEGAS - Occasional sources are hoping that a broad array of looks draw buyers' attention at market this week.
     Some of the hottest styles these days include reclaimed looks, reproduction vintage trunks, mixed-media elements like hand-hammered copper, French influences and transitional designs.
     Geoff Beaston, senior vice president of case goods for Klaussner, said that mixed media in many forms continues to drive occasional for the company. Klaussner will show several recent introductions in Las Vegas for the first time this week.
     Beaston said the use of metal, marble, stone and copper, mixed with rustic or rough hewn finishes and table base elements like iron, have been getting good reaction from dealers. Klaussner also continues to do well with occasional on casters, he said.
     "With the success of motion upholstery it seems to go hand in hand," he said.
     Beaston also said he foresees designing more occasional in conjunction with motion upholstery in the future, a natural extension for the two categories since they're so often sold together on the retail floor.
     "It just makes it easy for the consumer and it makes it easy for the vendor," he said.
     Fairmont Designs will show several recent occasional introductions that have been tweaked a bit, according to Steve York, vice president of merchandising. That includes three collections of occasional that customers in High Point deemed too narrow that are offered in wider dimensions, he said.
     York said the company will also watch reaction to its well received, recently introduced Parker occasional group, which has an ash finish with a hint of Asian design influence on a metal grill placed under the glass of the tabletops.
     Another occasional segment that is heating up is reproduction vintage trunk cocktails, York said. The company added end and sofa tables to its Gracie group for this market, expanding it from a cocktail and accent piece.
     Storage and mobility are big selling features of the trunks, he said, adding that the cocktail has a lift-top and interior drawer storage and optional casters that consumers can put on or leave off.
     Jofran's introductions in occasional include an oak veneered group and a birch veneered group, both of which include a castered cocktail table with five pull-through drawers.
     CEO Bob Roy said the company will continue to tout its growing occasional, entertainment and dining mixable container program from its Vietnam warehouse - most items of which are fully assembled.
     Roy said the program offers excellent value and allows dealers to get better turnover out of the categories without having to buy full containers of each. The items are seldom offered for mixing together from Asian warehouses, he said.
     The Vietnam program now has 10 media units and four full occasional groups that can be mixed on the same container as 31 dinettes and casual dining groups.
     "We do have a few dealers buying full containers of media units. We probably have a couple retailers buying full containers of occasional. But most of them are mixing this product with casual dining," Roy said. "Where a guy was able to flow one container a month before, now he's able to flow two."
     Mike Sandel, vice president of product development Guildmaster, said style directions like cottage, reclaimed and coastal looks continue to gain momentum and will be a focus at the market.
     He said the company has been developing more cottage looks with neutral and soft tones. Guildmaster also continues to build on Artifacts - found objects like baskets and mirrors that can be added to pieces to accentuate their look, Sandel said.
     Reclaimed is still doing well, and the company is also incorporating more mixedmedia elements like leaded glass, bottle bottoms and botanical motifs on drier wood looks. The company also is using more tin cut-out patterns tacked to familiar silhouettes.
     Jon Spurlock, showroom director for high-end supplier Christopher Guy, said a major effort for company will be the Las Vegas debut of the Mademoiselle Collection, which drew inspiration from feminine Parisian Chinoiserie styles. The collection was initially released in September in Paris and some of its pieces feature carved leaf designs and curved cabriole bases, style elements inspired by bracelets, bangles and cuffs.
     "We went a little more modern the last couple markets," Spurlock said. But at this market, "they're fanciful, they're carved, they're curvaceous."
     Also this market, Christopher Guy has new finish options available including Coco, a tawny brown sienna color, and Black Satin, a opaque toned-down lacquer, Spurlock said.

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