What's New with Hue?

Renée Bennett

01/01/2003

In the high-end furniture market, retailers are looking beyond fragile consumer confidence and a mixed stock market to entice affluent buyers with new finishes and a range of styles that they cannot resist.

“The affluent consumer is remarkably resilient and will continue to buy,” predicts Michael Dugan, president and CEO of Henredon. “The housing market and housing starts, particularly in upper-income homes, have been a bright light. There is also a lag effect as the consumer gradually furnishes that big, beautiful new house or vacation home, resulting in a pent-up demand for furnishings going forward.” Dugan, a 32-year industry veteran, adds, “The market for quality furniture and good brands will always be there.” He points to the bedroom as being a strong and healthy sector as consumers continue to purchase more prominent beds and nightstands, plus armoires for entertainment centers because so many bedrooms now have built-in walk-in closets.

Although the high end of the market is very personalized and niche-oriented, Dugan sees the mix of light and dark finishes in mahogany and exotic veneers continuing. “There is also a strong movement in the area of carefully distressed and aged vintage finishes. And we see a return to light finishes in the Sun Belt and in Florida, which has moved from light to more medium and dark in recent years,” he observes. (Click image to enlarge)

At the fall High Point, N.C., furniture market, Henredon debuted Courcheval, a French Country collection in vintage-finished alder that is a relaxed interpretation of the 18th-century court furniture of Louis XIV, XV and XVI. “It offers very fresh, softened, rich elegance in authentic forms that are more rustic and comfortable, not pretentious,” explains Dugan. A large four-poster bed combines iron, leather and nailheads. A console with a heavily carved apron and parquet top and a serpentine dining table would look equally at home in the chateau or the barn. In Concert, a contemporary collection with either a light champagne or a glossy chocolate brown finish, features rounded forms with African mahogany veneers. And new mahogany, pine or cherry pieces—mostly imports made in China and finished in the U.S.—will be added to the Acquisitions collection aimed at the need for entertainment centers and extended dining in a great room or family room. The most significant impact on the furniture market, says Dugan, “is the tremendous growth of Chinese imports, which will mean better value for the consumer.”
Laura Kofoid, director of merchandising and new product development for Kohler’s Interior Group, which includes Baker and McGuire, is cautiously optimistic about the future given that housing starts remain strong and consumers are continuing to buy fine furniture as an investment. “Baker has been traditionally strongest in public spaces such as the living room and dining room and will continue forward with that strategy,” she says. “We believe the consumer will continue to spend money on rooms people can see. If they are scaling back on purchases, they are upgrading to special pieces, such as a new dining table and chairs. They are investing in extraordinary, beautiful, well-executed pieces.”

Kofoid also thinks that the obituary for the dining room is premature. “Baker sees strength in that area, and we believe there will be a backlash against informality,” she says. “We are not going back to the stuffy living room or dining room, but we think there will be more of an emphasis on ‘new traditional’—the latest buzzwords—with creative ways to make a dining table feel new by mixing woods and adding inlaid embellishments.”

Taking traditional forms and making them more relevant and relaxed for today’s lifestyle is the focus of Baker’s Thomas Pheasant collection, which will be available this winter. “The mahogany pieces have a high sheen, but they are not precious,” says Kofoid. “This collection by one of the country’s top interior designers has a great classical sense, and consumers will be able to mix pieces with their current furniture and antiques.” Pheasant, who is based in Washington, D.C., is offering a pedestal dining table, tasseled bench, tufted side chair, bowfront china cabinet and other pieces in a sable, honey burl or antique crackle finish, as well as mirrors and lamps.
Kofoid believes that consumers show no preference for a particular approach or style. “The focus going forward will continue to be eclectic,” she says. “The newness is in the mix—light with dark, medium with dark—and a somewhat distressed finish that is easier to live with and fits the consumer’s lifestyle.” (Click image to enlarge)

In Milling Road, the more casual brand of Baker with an old-world look, Kofoid sees a trend toward forms that are more relaxed and larger in scale with more painted, distressed finishes. “The pieces blend really well with antiques but still have Baker characteristics in their historically relevant forms, appropriate scale, finish and good taste.” Baker’s new English Classics collection is a very traditional group in mahogany, with Queen Anne and Chippendale pieces for the dining room and living room. New additions to its Stately Homes collection are a Regency dining table and chairs and a chinoiserie cabinet.

“I feel optimistic about the next 12 to 24 months because in uncertain times people are most comfortable with what’s familiar, and our new introductions will be understandable and familiar to our customers, but with a twist, to give them a reason to buy,” says Kofoid.

Sarah Garcia, president of McGuire, acknowledges the correlation between high-end buying patterns and the gyrations of the stock market. But she, too, remains optimistic. “We offer furniture for the living room, dining room and bedroom, and we see the dining room and living room sectors continuing strong,” she says. “People are entertaining more at home, and the dining room and living room are the showcases in the house.”
Garcia says that dark finishes are selling better than light, and there remains a strong demand for exotic woods and natural finishes. “For us, rattan, mahogany, crushed bamboo and other natural exotic materials continue to be important,” she points out. “There’s a continuing appreciation for casual elegance, and we’re moving beyond strictly traditional forms, materials and designs. There’s more openness to mixing mate rials to create a peaceful, nurturing environment at home. And certainly more eclecticism that combines traditional American style with exotic pieces from Asia.” (Click image to enlarge)

This spring, McGuire will continue to create “a whole new vocabulary for rattan” in its Barbara Barry collection, which debuted last year with 22 pieces. “The collection features rattan and other woven materials that combine sensuality and comfort, with universal appeal to men and women,” notes Garcia. “Filling out the collection for the bedroom, living room and dining room will be pieces characterized by simple, clean lines in the highest-quality materials.”

Closets have become one of the industry’s biggest growth sectors. Poliform USA specializes in luxurious, minimalist wall units and coordinated furnishings: dining room furniture for day, beds and walk-in closet systems for night. Lacquer finishes and combinations of wood create warmth and texture, says Daniel Yarom, Poliform USA’s president.
Poliform’s supercontemporary Wall to Wall closet system by Paolo Piva has been restyled for 2003 with more options: bleached oak door finishes, interior shelves and drawer fronts in oak in addition to beech and Italian walnut, pullout trouser and tie racks, pullout shelves for shoes, a full-length mirror. “Lacquer finishes and combinations of woods are used to create texture and warmth in a relaxed minimalist look,” explains Yarom. The Sintesi flexible storage/display system is now available in a bleached oak and dark ebony wenge combination for a radical contrast. Other choices include 24 lacquer finishes, etched-glass doors or back-painted glass doors offered in four colors. All hardware is anodized aluminum or stainless steel. (Click image to enlarge)

“Our wardrobe product and storage systems can go into the den, a hallway closet or a dozen different places for beautiful functionality in every corner of the house,” says Yarom. “And we believe that superb quality and excellent workmanship will always be in style.”

Henredon, 828.438.1211, www.henredon.com;
Baker Furniture, 800.592.2537, www.bakerfurniture.com;
McGuire Furniture, 415.626.1414, www.mcguirefurniture.com;
Poliform USA, 310.271.2101, www.poliformusa.com


He says, She says

Rose Tarlow and Ralph Pucci represent the opposite ends of the design spectrum—she adores antiques (her Tumbleweed armchair with a crackled lacquer finish is below), he sees elegance in modernism. Both are pros at understanding market drifts and their customers’ buying habits. They share their views on the state of the market. (Click image to enlarge)

Rose Tarlow (323.651.2202, www.rosetarlow.com): “My clients want to stay home. They don’t want to go to big parties or fund-raisers. That has stopped. Their attitude is they want to enjoy what they have, and they want to enjoy it now. They may have stopped investing in the stock market, but they haven’t stopped buying furniture. They are buying for kitchens, media rooms, home theaters, family rooms, and they are purchasing country things—big comfortable chairs and long dining tables. People want to return to simpler times. Perhaps it’s a sense of nostalgia, but the hard edge is off in favor of softer fabrics. We are getting orders for printed fabrics for all rooms, which I haven’t seen in a while. And orders for wallpaper, which I haven’t seen at all.”

Ralph Pucci (212.633.0452, www.ralphpucci.com): “It’s been a strange year, and if you live in New York, it’s been even stranger. But we are getting Wall Street types who live in Greenwich or New Canaan, Conn., who in the past would have been buying chintz and very traditional pieces. Now they want cleaner, less fussy things. Maybe it’s because when they travel they’re not staying at the Ritz in Paris but at boutique hotels like the Montalembert and they are being exposed to the type of furniture we sell. Perhaps they recognize that, like the suits they wear, our furniture is of fine hand- crafted quality, often signed and numbered. It is something that will last, it is luxurious—not just something to sit on. Our style seems appropriate for the times. Whether it’s furniture by Kevin Walz or Chris Lehrecke, lighting by John Wigmore, or Christopher Farr rugs, everything is elegant and pared down.” (Click image to enlarge)