World Market Center Previews Next Season's Furnishings Trends

Furniture World Magazine

The recent Winter 2008 Las Vegas Market showcased the very latest home furnishings styles and future trends. And World Market Center Las Vegas today launched the Winter 2008 edition of Style File on www.lasvegasmarket.com. Style File, a video guide hosted by Tym DeSanto, the renaissance guy on TV’s popular reality series HGTV Design Star, is a preview of next season’s hottest styles and trends, as they were revealed at Las Vegas Market, held January 28 – February 1, 2008. For Style File, World Market Center teamed with Furniture Style magazine to highlight trends for the year ahead. “This Las Vegas Market offered an unprecedented variety,” said Julie Smith, publisher and editorial director of Furniture Style. “During the times when the diversity of looks is great and no single style dominates, the trend-tracker lens focuses on performance and, thanks to green initiatives, origin, as much as it does color, pattern and finish.” Seven home furnishing trends dominated the recent Las Vegas Market: Eco Home: Heightened environmental awareness and social responsibility is leading homeowners to choose more eco-friendly furnishings. Several manufactures and industry organizations champion green manufacturing and materials, and many of them showcased products in the Market’s popular Living Green Pavilion. Product cues: Natural finishes that emphasize grain patterns as well as wood’s naturally occurring variations such as knots or burn marks; soy-based cushions and recycled fabrics deliver a premium comfort story at the point of sale; textures made of indigenous materials including coconut shells, vines, rattan, leaves, water hyacinth bark and more add visual interest and intrigue. Distressed Out Distressed In: Easily recognized design influences reassure consumers at the point of sale…it’s why traditional motifs, from Greek key accents to fluted posts, never completely disappear from product fare. But today’s consumers’ call for causal comfort and laid-back luxury results in traditional silhouettes being paired with distressed finishes. Such well-worn topcoats appeal most especially to Gen-X-ers who want classic references in the furniture they buy, yet served up in a way that’s decidedly new. Size Matters: The marketplace was filled with product solutions that satisfied all homeowners’ design needs, though it’s the condo- or apartment-dwelling city folk that are most often in furniture designers’ sight lines. Purchase Cues: Dining—Smaller tables with decorative pedestal bases; smaller-scale dining correlates with everyday storage and use in mind. Home Entertainment—Consoles of varying heights, either with or without lift-screen storage. Bedroom—Platform beds with integrated storage areas; upholstered headboards; end-of-bed benches with open storage compartments. Home Office—Laptop desks and writing tables. Upholstery—Silhouettes with clean lines, raised legs and texture-rich, neutral fabrics—pillows and area rugs provide needed color for the room. Blue Mood: Today, several palettes reign, simultaneously and complementarily. Still, the impact of environmental awareness on consumers’ color choices can’t be denied. Blues are earning top placements alongside nature-inspired greens. “An important part of the environmental movement is associated with the preservation of water,” said author and color and trend consultant Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute. “Blue emits a clean and clear message around the world.” Stow Your Devices: While TVs and the laptops are the primary design drivers in shaping the look and performance of home entertainment and home office furniture, it is portable entertainment and information devices that are getting new attention from “plugged-in” designers. Purchase Cues: Integrated power supply, built-in ventilation systems and easy-to-access wire management. Homage to Antiquity: Decorative accessory styles are more diverse than ever, developing in tandem with residential furniture trends. While glamour-era and Mid-Century Modern influences remain, one significant set of style makers are influenced by much earlier periods in history. Their wares appear as though they could have been excavated from an archeological site. Luxury Messages Just as a brand insignia sends purchase cues to consumers, certain product categories deliver an unmistakable luxury message. One pass of the hand across a cashmere throw or silk comforter, and the consumer literally feels the value of their purchase. Purchase cues: Ensembles in neutral palettes that mix multiple textures; silk comforters and duvets; animal prints in unexpected colorways; pillows in graphic, contemporary and over-scale prints; pillows embellished; sequins or fur; textiles woven of natural fibers and fiber blends; mattress ticking with health benefits, such as antimicrobial properties, hypoallergenic and temperature regulation. Summer 2008 Las Vegas Market is scheduled for July 28 through Aug. 1, 2008 at the World Market Center & Pavilions. Attendees can start booking discounted rooms now at www.LasVegasMarket.com. About World Market Center: World Market Center is an integrated home and hospitality contract furnishings showroom and trade complex in Las Vegas. When fully built, at 12 million square feet in 8 buildings, World Market Center will be the largest trade show complex in the world. The $3 billion, state-of-the-art campus will showcase furniture, decorative accessories, lighting, area rugs, home textile and related segments, as well as the Las Vegas Design Center (LVDC) open year-round to the trade. World Market Center produces the semi-annual Las Vegas Market, held every January and July, and is the fastest growing home furnishings trade show in the world. World Market Center is now leasing the third building to a broad cross-section of the home furnishings industry.