HIGH POINT, N.C. — While the High Point Market Authority reported that registration for the spring show was down slightly from October, many casual furnishings showrooms saw brisk business.
Lane Venture opened their showroom early on the Thursday before market, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing Schon Duke said they saw solid traffic that first day, not leaving the space until well into the evening. That traffic reflected the year Lane Venture has had, thus far, with double-digit sales growth and netting more business in the month of March than it did during its first quarter, which spans December-February.
“We have been working really hard behind the scenes, and we’re not looking for home runs — we’re hitting base hits and doubles,” Duke said. “We’ve been slowly but surely building the foundation, and now we’re building on top of that.”
Duke said Lane Venture plans to roll out a spate of new product in July and September at Casual Market Atlanta, including 20 different frame colors.
Jensen Outdoor saw slower traffic during market, but Director of Marketing Phillip Crowe said the company’s retail business is up so far this year, and designer interest during the show was good for the ipe specialist.
“We’ve had a lot of positive interactions with the design trade, both on residential and the hospitality side,” he said.
Hospitality is a new push for Jensen, and Crowe said the company is working to capitalize on its current placements to expand further into the contract sector.
“When we’re having conversations with high-end hotels and resorts, we can talk the language they understand in relation to style and durability,” he said.
Amid the splashy debut of their collaboration with weighted rug brand Wugs, Telescope Casual saw steady traffic in its Showplace showroom. Telescope Casual President Henry Vanderminden IV said the company has seen continuous growth in High Point Market business over the past three years, which he partially credited to their prime showroom location along with the growing demand for quality outdoor furnishings.
Speaking of prime locations, Sunbrella once again occupied a pop-up between Showplace and the International Home Furnishings Center, highlighting their new indoor line along with window treatments and throws. The space featured new fabrics in the performance textile maker’s collaboration with designer Kelly Ventura.
“All of these fabrics are in our broader portfolio,” said Karie Davis, senior brand and marketing manager, Sunbrella. “This presentation is a curation of indoor aesthetics — color, scale, pattern, texture — taking the things we know are important and different inside and translating them into a more curated point of view.”
Summer Classics reported steady business during market, driven by the buzz around its new destination-inspired collections introduced alongside similar indoor designs for sister brand Gabby. The full Mountain and Coast collections — inspired by Aspen, Colorado, and Malibu, California, respectively — will debut at Casual Market Atlanta, but marketgoers in High Point got a preview of the lines, including the Aspen swivel lounger, with a distinctive weave inspired by vintage snowshoes. The collection also includes a sofa and stationary chair, as well as cast stone pieces, such as the Ridge coffee table, which has a rugged design reminiscent of the striations in natural mountain rock.
“Our goal is to be that whole-home solution,” said Margaret Murray, channel marketing manager, Gabriella White. “This concept is you’re sitting in your Gabby bedroom looking out at your Summer Classics patio, and the two blend and mirror each other.”
Other whole-home brands also further explored the connection between indoor and outdoor furnishings with collections that transition between those spaces.
Four Hands expanded its indoor game table line with outdoor versions of Foosball, corn hole and table tennis — the latter of which coming with a removable wooden “net” so that the table also can be used for dining.
“They launched games a few years ago, and they’ve been super-successful,” said Parker Gioia, press representative for Four Hands. “This is the first market they’ve been available for the outdoors — they can get rained on and withstand the elements.
Century also translated one of its indoor designs for outdoor, although you’d likely never guess by looking or touching the curved lounge, as it was upholstered in performance velvet from Inside Out. More overtly outdoor, though, were the company’s new cabanas — one in teak with removable curtains and the other in aluminum with an adjustable shade. Both cabanas accommodate two full-loungers that can be configured facing the same way or in a tete-a-tete position.
Also built for lounging, Century’s new upholstered daybeds satisfy a common request from designers and outdoor buyers.
“Upholstery is a big request,” said Alexa Smith, director of marketing, Century. “And outdoor has become a pretty big category for us, particularly in certain territories like Florida, California, even Lake Michigan — anywhere that’s near the water.”
Eichholtz found outdoor inspiration from indoor pieces, particularly a rattan chair discovered by the company’s chief creative officer, Edwin Van Der Gun, on a trip to Italy. The outdoor version comes in a resin rattan weave with cushions upholstered in a slubby textured Sunbrella fabric.
“It has such an elevated, Palm Beach feel,” said Alyssa Zimmerman, press representative, Eichholtz. “At the same time, the construction has such a beautiful European summer element to it.”
Eichholtz also reimagined one of its bestselling indoor sofas for the outdoors with a modular design that allows for multiple configurations. It also comes with a less noticeable feature that makes the fully upholstered piece resistant to weather.
“We didn’t just take our interior pieces and make them with the right foam and fabric,” Zimmerman said. “This sofa is built with back channels that wick away water.”
Arteriors also brought indoor style to its outdoor intros this market, with collections such as Sobek, with chair backs made of an embossed-crocodile-like resin that recalls the richness of a stylish handbag. Another showstopper for Arteriors was the Florian swivel chair, with handwoven flowers applied to the woven chair back — a nod to the inventive use of texture the brand’s interiors are known for.
“Arteriors is all about the mix of materials,” said Robin Daniel, vice president of marketing, Arteriors. “And then we take that to outdoor as well, where we really see things that are mixed and matchable.”
