Ad Categories: Home and Garden

Naomi Cooper, marketing director at Pierre Deux, sent us this guest blog after attending the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York last weekend:

Manhattan’s Pier 94 was filled with more than 300 vendors showcasing their latest ideas and products for the home—from furniture and lighting to kitchens and baths. From bright contrasting hues to optical illusions to runway-inspired patterns and twists on the traditional, this is what I am coveting this spring:

•Furniture from The New Traditionalists. The NY-based company’s mission statement: If you think traditional and cool are not mutually exclusive, you are a new traditionalist. Well then, I guess I am a New Traditionalist. The collection of case goods and furniture is influenced by classic silhouettes, exceptional clothing, shape, and history. With so many finishes and colors to choose from, the New Traditionalists is haute couture for your home.

•Eskayel Bespoke Wallpaper. I love to see a trend from the fashion runway translate itself perfectly into a room. Artist Shanan Campanaro’s wallpaper collections evoke visions of one of this season’s hottest fashion trends, tie dye, seen in Bluemarine’s and Proenza Schouler’s spring/summer collections. Shanan’s day job is designing for a reknown fashion retail chain, but the inspiration for her wallcoverings comes from digitally manipulating designs from her art, which she has been exhibiting since she graduated from London’s Central St. Martins in 2003. This year she extended her collection to include pillows and tabletop items, which she debuted at the show.

•Featuring patterns in Pantone’s spring 2010 palette, Amy Helfand’s rugs are not for colorphobes. They’ll make the most basic rooms pop. Helfand, a Rugmark licensee, works with one of the most reputable manufacturers of carpets in Nepal. Rugmark is a global non-profit working to end child labor and offer educational opportunities for children in Nepal, India, and Pakistan.

I love Art Addiction’s new Art: Lex collection featuring contemporary imagery printed on a special acrylic material. Each piece is affixed to an invisible mount, creating a three-dimensional floating effect. Can’t you see these vintage books mounted above a suspended shelf?

—Naomi Cooper

Outdoor fabrics just keep getting better. We like this modern interpretation of Mexican folk textiles. Colores de Mexico is a new line from Sina Pearson Textiles woven from Sunbrella acrylic fibers. That means it will stand up to sun, rain, mildew, chlorine, spilled margaritas, or whatever else the great outdoors throws at it. Available soon through Rearrange. For more outdoor fabrics, see our new issue, on newsstands now.

—JAN PARR

These adorable appliances by the Swiss company Stadler Form, distributed in the U.S. under the name Swizz Style make us smile and serve the most practical of purposes. Clockwise from top left: The Oskar humidifier ($149.99); the Otto fan ($199.99); the Fred humidifier ($99.99); and the Max space heater ($99.99). Certain styles are available at Bed Bath & Beyond, online only or you can order them directly through Swizz Style.

—GINA BAZER

Here’s what’s on my radar after a recent spin (OK, make that trend-seeking triathlon) around the International Home and Housewares Show. Purple royally ruled the runways and furnishing forecasts last season; now it’s trying on housewares. Fav execution? Le Creuset’s enamel cast iron and utensils in Cassis and their Lilac and Violet stoneware counterparts. Aluminum frying pans sporting anchors, Union Jack and bright finishes on their meant-to-be-seen bottoms were swoon-worthy! For the kitchen sophisticate, go for shimmery mineral tones sure to match countertop and tile trends. Two examples: Kitchenaid’s Artisan Series mixer in lush metallic and Farberware’s pots and pans in black and bronze with a hint of glimmer. Wesco’s breadbox and knifeblock in New Silver looked retro-fabulous. Garbage cans got the treatment in prints from The Macbeth Collection; keep an eye out for their new line (we heard The Container Store chain is a fan). Loved their chic prints on shower curtains—even tub mats! On the cleaning scene, I’d like the mini Mint automatic floor cleaner to come dust and mop my hardwood floors. Even germophobes can delight in high design with touch-free paper towel dispensers from Clean Cut and iTouchless. If the person who swiped the Pantone color-sample books (worth hundreds of dollars) from that company’s booth happens to be reading this—please return them immediately, and shame on you.

—Barri Leiner Grant

Imagine McCormick Place as a giant Bed, Bath & Beyond, with aisles and aisles of pepper grinders, knives, glasses, toasters, cookware, ironing board covers, and the like. That’s the annual International Home & Housewares show. Overwhelming to say the least, but certain new products always make an impression. For ingenuity, I appreciated the Andrea air purifier system, which uses a real plant to help it function. But for sheer beauty, I loved the new Alyson Fox tabletop line, called “May,” from Ink Dish, which will be available at Hazel on Montrose at the beginning of April (shown here, place setting for a suggested retail of $72); ASA Selection’s simple vases and tableware, which will be sold at I.D., and these new eco-friendly trivets from Epicurean, which you can likely pick up at Chopping Block. Watch this space (and our mag) for more cool stuff we found at the show.

—JAN PARR