Plenty of new options available in formal dining
Styles from European-influenced traditional to soft contemporary
Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, July 29, 2008
AT THE MARKET — Buyers seeking to keep formal dining vibrant on their showroom floors are finding plenty of options to choose from here.
The category offers a range of styles from European-influenced traditional with heavily carved elements to groups with soft contemporary flourishes such as curves and higher-sheen finishes.
Mar-A-Largo, the latest Trump Home Collection at Lexington Home Brands, is getting strong response from dealers who like its grand scale and opulent design, according to the company.
Dining pieces include one group with a table with satin wood inlays and walnut veneers that extends to 136 inches, and a 52-inch round table with metal scrollwork under a glass top.
Pennsylvania House, relaunched this market by new owner Universal, is reporting strong early response to two traditional solid-cherry dining sets in dark cherry finishes and also to a more transitional solid cherry set in medium brown.
“The response to Pennsylvania House is exactly as we hoped it would be,” said Dave Pinamonti, Universal’s senior vice president of marketing and sales. “For this quality product in solid cherry, we are well priced.”
Universal also is doing well with a West Indies-influenced mahogany group under the Universal brand called Tortola.
Traditional styles also are doing well at Standard. Among the strongest performers is a new collection called Churchill Manor. The British Colonial-inspired group has carved elements on the table and chair legs and a mix of primavera and mahogany veneers on the table tops.
It also is seeing strong response on a traditional English manor-inspired cherry group called Highland Estates.
Vendors showing here this week also are getting strong reaction on transitional and soft contemporary dining lineups.
These include Standard’s Urban Classics, a hefty transitional style group in a tobacco finish made with ash veneers and rubberwood solids, and a Klaussner soft contemporary dining group called Focal Point. Klaussner also reports strong orders for Proximity, which launched in April.
Wynwood said it is getting good reaction to two bedroom and dining groups launched in April called Santiago and Bacchus.
“In today’s economy, people are interested in what’s working and what’s selling as opposed to just what’s new,” said Marc Abrams, vice president of sales. “Bestsellers do as well as new introductions at a market.”
