High Point Market Spring 2018 Recap: What I Saw and Loved
Where to begin. So. Much. Inspiration. Let's start with some background info on what market is and why I go: I attend High Point Market, AKA "market" twice a year. It's a private industry event centered around furniture and all things interior design. There's a fall market and a spring market, and both events are conversationally referred to as 'the fashion week of the interior design industry.' All the big names are there-- I spotted Carson and Thom several times, immediately texting all my QE loving friends in all caps--while maintaining optimal exterior chillness. Some days my job is so hard.
Market is one of the best industry events for getting a pulse on what's coming to retail in the upcoming year and beyond. Trends need an incubation time before they're everywhere, before they've in essence become a trend-- and market is like the nest.
This season's market was one of the best I've seen. The color palette was an easy, comfortable escape that felt familiar yet somehow fresh and aspirational. The image above shows two of my favorite catalogues from the event, one from Natural Curiosities and the other from Consort. As Natural Curiosities so appropriately coined, this market was all about "Sophisticated Calm."
This combination gave me the feeling that I was witnessing something new and exciting, but that I could actually have this look in my own home! Imagine that! Home design that felt truly livable beyond a pristine showroom. I'm into it.
Here are some of my favorite looks and trends from High Point Market Spring 2018 (To keep with the in-the-moment energy of market I stuck with my trusty iPhone for these photos instead of a cumbersome DSLR, so bear with the raw photos!):
A reinvented sage green: This color was everywhere! It's somewhere between two colors I loved from the 90's-- sage green meets seafoam and it feels super livable! I've already started playing with this color in the studio!
Pink and red are actually kinda awesome together: Let's rethink the old advice that pink and red clash and shouldn't be together except for Valentine's Day. Sure there's an intense visual pull between these two colors but that can be a really really good thing! At market orangey reds were paired with faded pinks and the result was absolute eye candy!
Tone on tone texture: this subtle combo continues to be a thing and I love that it adds visual variety while maintaining a neutral foundation ideal for layering multiple colors and patterns. Selamat was a great source for this as seen on this intricate table below.
Boho was still a big trend but it's changing: I was excited to see this look was beginning to evolve. Rattan was still a huge part of this look but it's being scaled back to a more functional level. I've owned several trendy pieces of rattan furniture and they've all begun to wear disappointingly early! I love the natural look of rattan but it was refreshing to see other product designers and manufacturers rethinking the amount of rattan they're using in accessories and furniture. This new round of rattan is combined with other stronger materials for a cool California minimal aesthetic that I think has more staying power.
A few of my favorite brands and showrooms from High Point Market Spring 2018:
Tempaper: Solving basically all my issues with wallpaper! To remind you, we had to remove layers of wallpaper that had layers and layers of paint over it in my home renovation... a literal nightmare chisel situation followed by messy, goopy wallpaper paste stripper. If only I'd known of Tempaper before I tackled that project! I'll definitely be using some of their papers in my new studio, stay tuned! Life changing.
How good is this gold metallic sample from Tempaper's Genevieve Gorder collection? In person it is so flashy and luxurious!
Cloth & Company: This innovative custom fabric and furniture manufacturing company is one to watch. At the helm are Meganne Wecker and Christiane Lemieux, two independently accomplished women within the furniture and home design world. Together they're making fashionably relevant custom furniture and everyone should know about it.
Loloi Rugs: I love a family run business and this stellar rug and textile company is one of my favorites. I have a gorgeous hand-knotted Loloi rug in my living room that I'm pretty sure I'll have my entire life. Even with my two very playful large dogs, and two scratch-obsessive cats this rug looks just as good as the day it came home with me over a year ago. They also have some of the best design partnerships in the game! Ellen DeGeneres, Joanna Gaines, and Justina Blakeney are just a few in their collaboration rolodex.
Chairish: Viva la Vintage! I'm a fan of everything this vintage marketplace is doing and there were so many amazing Chairish sellers represented at market this year! I opened my Chairish shop last fall and go vintage shopping most weekends to find new treasures for my store. I chronicle my hunts in my instagram stories most Saturday mornings. If you've missed it, be sure to tune in to see what vintage items catch my eye and which pieces come home with me for my Chairish shop. This curated experience is exactly where Chairish excels. Each shop is run by vintage lovers and every items is reviewed by the Chairish curator team before going live. This keeps the marketplace collected and quality-filled. Check out my Chairsh shop here!
Aside from all of the inspiring showrooms that I visited with my close friend, blogger, Joanna Hawley of Jojotastic (who was one of only 10 design bloggers picked by market to cover the event! Go check her out, she's incredible!) I also enjoyed several social events at market including an impromptu dinner with the Loloi team, here we are posing on piles and piles of their gorgeous rugs!
The After Market Party on Saturday night hosted by The Mine was as always a blast!
And the new-to-me Four Hands event was a fantastic way to shake off the formality of some of the week with a playful Smilebooth (our too-good-not-to share clip shown above with me laying a smooch on Kim and Joanna looking adorable as ever!) and roaring dance party with boozy sips. The busyness of the market days melted away as we chatted with new friends and giggled over cocktails.
A big thank you to everyone who followed along on instagram stories throughout market! It was so cool to see what you responded to in the moment right as I was seeing it too! I'm so excited to see how the inspiration I saw will impact my designs in the upcoming year!
xoxo Lindsay