What's New with Hue?
January 1, 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.
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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.”
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