Color Pulse 2009

Last night, hosted at the Lawrence Gallery, was Color Pulse 2009 attended by over 375 interior designers. Giving her fourth annual presentation, and the second annual in Portland, on the future of color, Color Director Doty Horn of Benjamin Moore wowed the audience with her pictures of things to come.
"Benjamin Moore's North American creative team continues to track emerging and cutting edge trends from around the world. For 2009, the overarching theme is Simplicity. Simplicity is intuitive and pure. It is Genius, It is essential in the world that we live in today and in the future. Color Pulse 2009 recognizes Simplicity in 4 distinct translations:

• Raw - you can see evidence of "Raw" in basic fibers, grays, sand colors, white tones, galvanized metals and warm gold metals. Raw reflects the green movement, where things are reused and recycled. It's authentic, honest, pared down.
• Urban Silence - It's slowing down, listening to nature, except nature is now the city and we will be bringing more of nature, trees and foliage, into our home and work environment. It's "slow food", unsight dining. Colors will tend to intense greens with a yellow base, mixed with cork, enlivened with copper and finishes will look wet or slick. Horn referred to this Urban Silence as an Amish ethic or Organic.
• Simplexity - one pattern that is repetitive, bringing order to chaos. Simplexity is where walls become fluid and fabrics become rigid. You see the colors mentioned above, but blackened; colors with complex undercurrents. Think origami and folding.
• Private Identity - our world is coming under influences from outside, think Spanish, Mexican, Latino, Dubai, think cultural fusion, YET, you want to maintain your identity. Maybe we see that in the tattooing or high end "one offs"

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery is proud to have once again helped sponsor Color Pulse. If you want more information, buy the book Benjamin Moore Color Pulse 2009:

Bev & MIke

Fresh 'green' designs from the October High Point Market

One trend out of Highpoint that is gaining momentum is "green" or "eco-friendly". FURNITURE/Today writes,

A wave of fresh, new eco-friendly “green” furniture – both wood and upholstery -- was introduced at the October High Point Market. The introductions reflected the growing interest in furnishings made of sustainably harvested woods, organic cottons and other natural or recycled materials.

Here are three highlights from Furniture/Today’s showroom visits during market that are vendors to Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery.

An organic hopsack of bamboo, linen, cotton and hemp from Molteni and 100% hemp fabrics from Enviro Textiles, respectively, are showcased on a new slipper sectional and mid-century lounge chair from Palecek Furniture.

The Phillips Collection’s Vine console is crafted from twisting and turning natural vines, carefully assembled to create an ecologically friendly design. Finished with a glass top, each piece is unique.

Rowe launched its Eco-Rowe collection at the fall market, including the Paige sofa in a cover of 100% hemp with a sustainable wood frame and eco-down cushion

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

A Triptych On Luxury

Mike has written three articles for his blog The Landfair Retail Focus on Home Accents Today's website concerning the luxury consumer:

The Luxury Consumer - Who are the luxury consumers? Where are they? Why focus on them?

The Luxury Consumer's Toys

Luxury Items As Gifts - I am not so sure it (buying luxury gifts) is “the latest fad”. I am beginning to think there may be a “clamour” for luxury for another reason. We are told by analysts, on talking-head TV shows, that there is no inflation; that excluding food and energy, the core rate of inflation is only 2% or so. I believe we are seeing a movement to hard assets; things that hold value.

Mike says he will continue writing about luxury consumers, including interviews with key players, coming soon.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Michelle Fernando: Home & Garden Blog

We are adding Smarter.com Home & Garden Blog to our blogroll. Michelle Fernando has an uncanny eye for the unusual and beautiful furniture and accessories.

Check out what would be my Mom's furniture from hell, “A Chair Only Medusa Would Love”.

But, also, check out this round table Michelle found from DB Fletcher Design that gains or loses size in 30 seconds:



The average price of the table ranges from $49,700 and $69,600!

And, finally, check out these luxury wooden tubs from Laguna





The table and tubs will be a wonderful addition to the yacht.

PS, LF + DG does not have a vendor agreement with either manufacturer, but with firm orders in hand, we will be happy to make contact.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

New at High Point Market

From FURNITURE Today,

Fresh product on tap for the High Point Market A desire for casual living and the need for modern style blend this market to create a soft contemporary that seems — like the Energizer bunny — to keep going and going. New styles avoid being fussy but at the same time are anything but frumpy. Upholstery textures are soft and, with microfiber and performance fabrics, forgiving. And finishes seem to center on warm, soft brown tones rather than the starker black of previous markets. It’s great stuff for the family room and den — perfect for gatherings of family and friends.

Some vendors singled out that Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery proudly carry are:

ROWE FURNITURE

The Caren settee, 69 inches long, is aimed at the space-conscious consumer. Part of the company’s Mini Mod collection, the piece will retail for about $750.

PALECEK

Inspired by Swedish mid-century designs, this new chair from Palecek is constructed of plantation-grown wood and uses the newest green fabrics.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

New Team Effort

FURNITURE Today and Home Accents Today have teamed up and on October 22nd will bring you FT Tube & HAT Tube. It will put you in some of the top showrooms from the Fall 2007 Highpoint Furniture Market. You'll see new products and hear about what those featured companies are doing to help your business

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Pittcburg Gets A Chiluly

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is having a Dale Chihuly exhibit in their Botanical Garden:

Photo credit: Chihuly at Phipps, 2007, Terry Rishel

Here are some of the stunning sculptures:

Photo credit: Paintbrushes, 2007, Terry Rishel

Photo credit: Celadon and Royal Purple Gilded Fiori, 2007, Terry Rishel

Photo credit: Amber Cattails, 2007, Terry Rishel

To top off the show, "Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens has acquired Dale Chihuly's glass chandelier as a permanent installation for the rotunda of its Welcome Center."

Photo credit: Goldenrod, Teal and Citron Chandelier, 2007, Terry Rishel

The two-tiered "Goldenrod, Teal and Citron Chandelier" was designed and created for Phipps to complement the 50-foot-high rotunda. The chandelier is part of the current exhibit.

We are in awe of his talent and use of color.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

5 showrooms take honors in High Point

From Home Accents Today, "Five exhibitors took the top awards in the High Point Market Authority’s first showroom design contest here, market officials announced."



Creativity: The Phillips Collection, International Home Furnishings Center, space C-202, designed by Jason Phillips.

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery carries the Phillips Collection accessories.

Bev & Mike

Bridget Otto Thursday

The Pearl is the home for over 65 furniture and accessory stores, Todays Homes & Garden section in the Oregonian carries an article by Bridget A Otto that is an interview with Gerard Philippon, owner of Versailles in the Pearl, Patrick McGill, the paint guru at Pearl Hardware and Rosanne Sachson, an architectural interior designer.

Sachson wants people to understand what a skilled designer brings to the job.

"A professional can assist you in providing the skill and the knowledge and information that is required to make any place speak to the person who is going to be in there. Not to the designer or colorist, but the person who is using the space."

McGill would like to shorten the time it takes for people to embrace color.

Sachson has some interesting comments about "distressed furniture":

"Why would someone who is going to buy a new dining room table want it distressed?" she asks rhetorically.

Philippon's response: "The practicality of it. You're not afraid to use it. Those new shiny Chippendale tables? You have to use a pad. And, oh my! The kids are coming. Let's put three pads on."

But with a distressed French country table, there are no worries.

It can be used everyday, not just for holidays, Sachson adds.

The three would like you to attend "Design Classics for Today in the European Tradition" on Saturday Oct 6th from 4-6 PM. The seminar will cover topics from Philippon's and Sachson's knowledge of French furnishings, to McGill's ability to make color work regardless of setting, to history and architecture.

WHERE / Versailles in the Pearl, 904 N.W. Hoyt St.

(RSVPs appreciated: 503-222-2387)

While you are in the Pearl, before the seminar, de-stress at Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery. We carry traditional, transitional and contemporary furniture and accessories. Most of our furniture can be ordered lightly or heavily distressed.

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery