Twice a year, the furniture and interior design world convenes to High Point, North Carolina, for one of the industry’s largest trade shows in the world, the High Point Market.
The market takes place semi annually, bringing together influential editors, product designers, and all of the leading brands. The Market is highly regarded as where industry standards are set and future trends are forecasted.
To stay up to date on the latest industry trends, Karr Bick Kitchen & Bath attended April’s Market and shared what’s trending with us.
Scallops
As owner and designer Jenny Rausch and design team lead Ashley Obradovits worked their way through nearly 13 city blocks of showrooms, the integration of scallops couldn’t be missed. But it was the way that scallops are being incorporated into so many different mediums that caught their attention.
“It’s happening in furniture, window treatments, upholstery skirting on chairs—we were seeing it everywhere,” Obradovits said. “It can be used on anything. We saw the detail around the edge of wicker dining tables, even in the wicker, or on the metal of a light, for example. It just adds a soft detail.”
Wicker, rattan, and burl wood
Although it’s always been popular in outdoor furniture, wicker and rattan are now making its way inside the home.
Designers such as Mainly Baskets are bringing a lot of the materials known for outdoor furniture indoors as a way to soften up the space and add texture, Obradovits explains.
“It’s the same way you’re seeing people use burl wood—it had such a big moment in the ’60s and ’70s, and we’ve been seeing a huge resurgence of it lately,” she adds. “It was used in almost every single showroom we went to, whether it was being used in a bathroom vanity, lamps, coffee tables, credenzas, or dining tables. It can be both modern and traditional—it’s just about how it’s done.”
Antique revivals
In line with the resurgence of burl wood, the Karr Bick team also noticed the prevalence of antiques—even new pieces that have been distressed to appear as an antique.
“We saw a lot of new furniture that gives the appearance of a great folk piece or an antique dresser,” Obradovits says. “With some of these pieces and tricks, you’d have a hard time distinguishing if the piece was an authentic Swedish dresser from the 1900s or if it was newly made.”
Remote lighting
Rausch and Obradovits also noticed the increase of cordless lighting that doesn’t have to be hardwired—a designer’s dream, so it’s not necessary to hide electrical cords. “We saw a lot of lighting that doesn’t have to be plugged in from sconces to library lights or little lamps where you can just use the remote to turn them on,” Obradovits says.
Pops of color
As people are bringing more color and personality into their homes, colorful furniture and textures are also becoming more popular. “We’re seeing a lot of people do big statement pieces or key furniture pieces that are a bold pop of color, and it’s really designs that can work for everybody,” Obradovits says. “They’re adding color to everything from raffia and grasscloth covers to wicker and lampshades.”
‘Custom’ color is one of the trends that translates well to the kitchen and bath world, Rausch explains. “With cabinets, we’ve already been doing that. We can take a color out of a Sherwin Williams stack and tell them to make the cabinet in that color,” Rausch says. “But now we can take sconces, table lamps, and even light fixtures and paint them in custom colors.
“It’s an amazing way to add an accent color that’s not super permanent,” she continues. “Sometimes people are afraid to commit to a cabinet in a Sherwin Williams turquoise, but it’s much easier to do a light fixture in that same color because that can be changed out at any point without it being a massive remodel.”
As designers and remodelers, the team at Karr Bick typically tries to avoid trends in lieu of more timeless designs, which will last for homeowners. At the same time, the designers view these trends as additional tools they can pull from or another layer that they can incorporate to add personality.
“We’ve been getting a lot more people wanting color recently,” Obradovits says. “Since the pandemic, people are wanting defined rooms and spaces again. People are reverting back to wanting to personalize their spaces and make them feel custom to represent the people who actually live in the house.”
This post was created by SLM Partner Studio on behalf of Karr Bick Kitchen & Bath, which handles design, remodeling, and construction. To learn more about Karr Bick or to schedule a free consultation, visit karrbick.com or call 314-645-6545.
