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European Design Trends: What's Coming to U.S. Interiors · Seated with Furniture Row

• 0:01
  Hi, and welcome to the Seated podcast with Furniture Row.
• 0:04
  I'm Jessa, creative director and design extraordinaire.
• 0:08
  And I'm Barb, interior designer and buyer.
• 0:12
  Hello. And welcome to the special
• 0:16
  edition of the SEATED Podcast. Barb, where are you today?
• 0:21
  On shore. I'm in Paris.
• 0:25
  Can you believe? That.
• 0:27
  Yeah, I'm here with our buying team in Paris, and we're gonna
• 0:31
  keep traveling even after this. Wow, well congratulations.
• 0:38
  I love your background. I'm sure you're having a great
• 0:41
  time. Do you have like a little
• 0:44
  balcony there? Where are you?
• 0:45
  I do. I do.
• 0:47
  So here's my little it's like a little balconette.
• 0:50
  I I can't really explain it. And we're over here in the Saint
• 0:54
  Germain district of Paris, right down the street literally is and
• 1:02
  you know, you've seen the damage that happened there with the
• 1:06
  fire, but it is looking beautiful right now.
• 1:09
  We got lots of pictures of that. So the restoration is really
• 1:13
  amazing, what's happened there? That's great to hear because I
• 1:17
  had visited like back in 2013 and it was just amazing.
• 1:22
  Like it just took my breath away and then to see it be on fire
• 1:26
  was so sad. I know.
• 1:27
  I think the whole world felt that way.
• 1:30
  It wasn't, you know what I mean? Like everyone, it affected all
• 1:33
  of us. Yeah, it has such an energy to
• 1:36
  it, the building it such history.
• 1:38
  It blew me. It blew me away so.
• 1:40
  Well, and this city has so much history too.
• 1:43
  I mean, it's just, it is incredible.
• 1:45
  If anybody has a chance to go, definitely, definitely come over
• 1:50
  to Paris. It just seems very inspiring,
• 1:54
  like creative. Everything is.
• 1:57
  Yeah, kind of like New York. It feels like the epicenter of
• 2:03
  creativity in the world almost. But I feel like Paris is another
• 2:08
  one of those where it's like where things are going on and
• 2:12
  things are starting and it's it's almost like a luxury
• 2:15
  creativity. Yes, it's, it's so creative
• 2:19
  here, so inspiring, so many people.
• 2:23
  It's just hustle and bustle and you know you can people watch
• 2:28
  and look at fashion and art is all around you.
• 2:32
  It really is an amazing city. Definitely come and visit
• 2:37
  people. Seriously, come and visit Paris.
• 2:40
  I love the fashion element too. So are you true?
• 2:44
  Yeah. Are you seeing a lot of fashion
• 2:46
  like interior wise while you're there or what?
• 2:49
  Kind of like, what's the story of you guys going to Europe?
• 2:53
  OK, so maybe I should come back into my room here.
• 2:57
  So here's a little taste of Paris just in the same race.
• 3:00
  That's correct. Yeah.
• 3:02
  So I'm going to go back in my room here.
• 3:07
  Your phone over the railing or anything like that?
• 3:09
  No, that would not be good. At all.
• 3:12
  Your phone in Paris is not the vibe.
• 3:16
  It is not the vibe to drop your phone for sure.
• 3:22
  So we are here at Maison OJ, which is a show for industry,
• 3:29
  for retailers, for designers. Oh my gosh, Jessa, I met the
• 3:34
  owners of York Wall covering this morning.
• 3:37
  They're staying in a hotel. Oh my gosh, look.
• 3:39
  Who is that? Yeah, these three ladies, they
• 3:42
  were sitting, we were in the breakfast area and I heard them
• 3:48
  speaking and I said, are you American?
• 3:50
  Said yes. And I said I bet you're here for
• 3:53
  the show. And they said yes, we are.
• 3:55
  And then we got in a conversation and yeah, York wall
• 4:00
  covering, sitting right across from me.
• 4:03
  How kismet is that? Or just like.
• 4:06
  I know, I said. We love wallpaper.
• 4:08
  Yeah. We love York wallpaper, so that
• 4:11
  was a neat connection. I got their card, so I'll give
• 4:13
  it to you. Yeah, that'd be great.
• 4:15
  We got to pick out some wallpaper for the new set.
• 4:17
  We do, definitely. Oh, and I have so many
• 4:21
  additional ideas for our set. You know, it's going to be
• 4:26
  great. But back to your question you
• 4:29
  asked, you know, why? Why are you all here?
• 4:31
  We are here to be inspired. We're here to see trend.
• 4:35
  We are here to just see what is happening, what's upcoming
• 4:41
  because, you know, they're a little ahead of our trend in the
• 4:45
  US. But now, however it used to, it
• 4:48
  felt like it was a longer time in between when we would see
• 4:52
  things here versus in the US. Now it's starting to happen
• 4:56
  super, you know, a lot quicker. So yeah, so we're seeing all of
• 5:00
  these trends. We're seeing colors, we're
• 5:03
  seeing finishes, textures, everything that has to do with
• 5:09
  home fashion and interiors. We're seeing that this week.
• 5:13
  Well, that's awesome. But before we were here, Jess,
• 5:17
  we were in Germany, we were in Freeford, We went to the Hunt
• 5:21
  textile show, which is all like fabrics and there's other things
• 5:24
  there too, but we saw a lot of fabric and just a lot of
• 5:29
  creativity there as well. We have lots of photos that we
• 5:33
  can put up on the screen and show everyone what we did see.
• 5:37
  And we boarded a train and from Germany came to Paris.
• 5:43
  And then we walked these cobblestone streets with our
• 5:46
  luggage. I know better.
• 5:50
  I know better not to pack so much, but I've packed way too
• 5:54
  much. And that was hard to, like get
• 5:57
  through the streets. But we did it.
• 5:58
  We did it and we're here, so. Yeah, and then everybody's
• 6:02
  always looking at you Wheeling your luggage and it's so loud
• 6:07
  and you're drag it down the street.
• 6:11
  I just look at it, it was a great workout, seriously great
• 6:15
  workout with the with the suitcases.
• 6:17
  Always how I look at things like that, you know, Well, it's
• 6:21
  really strenuous and this is kind of a drag, literally, but
• 6:25
  it's a great workout. It was a great workout, yeah,
• 6:28
  and we're in Paris, so who cares?
• 6:29
  Yeah, who cares? Takes the edge off.
• 6:34
  So you were mentioning that you were seeing a bunch of different
• 6:37
  fabrics and materials. Is there anyone that you feel
• 6:40
  like is having a moment right now?
• 6:44
  Oh, anyone? I there's multiple I, you know.
• 6:48
  They're all having a moment. They're all having a moment.
• 6:50
  They're all having a moment in my head, too, because I, it's
• 6:54
  just information, information. And I, I honestly, it takes a
• 7:01
  lot to wow me. I, I, I hate to say it, but it
• 7:04
  does. Yeah.
• 7:06
  And I felt like I have been wowed every minute that I've
• 7:10
  been here. Yeah.
• 7:12
  Not just in Paris, but even in Germany, too.
• 7:14
  And like, it's just lots of texture we're seeing lots of
• 7:20
  color and some interesting color combinations too, which will
• 7:24
  show those on the screen. Yeah.
• 7:27
  That that we haven't seen before, like color combinations
• 7:30
  that I haven't seen put together before, maybe somebody else has
• 7:33
  seen it, But right, this beautiful shade of green, you'll
• 7:37
  have to see because it's hard to describe this shade of green
• 7:41
  that we're seeing. We're seeing aubergine, we're
• 7:43
  seeing marigolds, terracottas and then so we're seeing lots of
• 7:50
  color, right. But then we're also seeing muted
• 7:53
  and earthy tones, but injected with color into that it it's.
• 8:01
  Like this one. Woven in, but also even as
• 8:05
  backdrops. So a lot of the the vendors that
• 8:09
  we've seen have beautiful showrooms or they'll have
• 8:12
  backdrops to their show space and you know, they've picked the
• 8:16
  most beautiful colors of paint to work with the fabrics and
• 8:21
  then some that you're just like, I don't know how you put that
• 8:25
  together, but it looks incredible.
• 8:27
  So just wowed. I've been wowed the whole time.
• 8:32
  Like with the fabric, I'm seeing a lot of textured fabrics,
• 8:38
  heavily textured fabrics, some brocades, florals, pieces from
• 8:46
  the past and. Big.
• 8:48
  Patterns, geometric patterns, pattern mixed with other
• 8:54
  patterns that all just seem to work together.
• 8:58
  It's, it's a very broad spectrum of style that we're seeing.
• 9:06
  It's just, it's almost like anything goes, but in a great
• 9:09
  way. In a great way, yeah.
• 9:12
  We're seeing that definitely in the US, like when we were at
• 9:17
  market. And so it's kind of like they're
• 9:21
  taking inspiration from Europe already.
• 9:24
  But I feel like Europe is still like it has its own take on
• 9:29
  things and it has its own narrative.
• 9:32
  There is probably what it seems like to me.
• 9:36
  They do, they do, they definitely have their own little
• 9:39
  twist. And so I'm sure like when we get
• 9:41
  that, when we pull inspiration from these shows that we're
• 9:45
  going to, we're going to mix it with our twist and it's going to
• 9:49
  be, it's going to be great. You know, our buyers are so good
• 9:55
  and they're really good about seeking out the trends, seeing
• 9:59
  what those trends are and then adapting them to our market.
• 10:04
  And so what's up? And to our customer too.
• 10:08
  Yes, yes to our customer. I'm going to open this this door
• 10:13
  so you all can see more You can see it's starting to get dark
• 10:16
  here, so maybe I'll. Paris in my light hour.
• 10:20
  I know. Here, I'll do it again so you
• 10:22
  can see. Does this make you all dizzy at
• 10:24
  all? There we go.
• 10:26
  I. Mean personally now.
• 10:28
  OK, good, good. I'll go back in.
• 10:32
  I like that it's staying light past five because what is it
• 10:35
  like 530 there for you now? Yeah, it's probably around that
• 10:40
  time. Yeah, we're 8 hours ahead.
• 10:43
  OK, so it's like 530. Absolutely, yes.
• 10:47
  Wow. So it's still kind of twilight
• 10:49
  hour. That's fun.
• 10:51
  But you know what? Like I was out walking around
• 10:54
  last night and the beautiful St. lights were on and big lanterns
• 11:00
  that come off of, you know, that are attached to the buildings.
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  They're these beautiful decorative lanterns.
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  I'll show you a picture of that as well, but it's just so
• 11:12
  beautiful. So it doesn't even feel like
• 11:14
  it's, you know, night time because it's just so
• 11:17
  beautifully. Lighted ambiance.
• 11:19
  They figured out their lighting. You know, like in our lighting
• 11:22
  episode, we were saying we got to figure out our street lights
• 11:26
  here because they're just obnoxious.
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  You know, we need a different tone.
• 11:32
  We need them to look different. And I feel like Paris has that
• 11:35
  figured out. And I.
• 11:37
  They have it figured out. Yeah.
• 11:40
  For sure. Actually I saw some light
• 11:42
  fixtures today. These were outdoor lanterns that
• 11:47
  you know how a lot of lanterns you either put candles in it or
• 11:51
  you put like the bulb in it and you see, you see all of that,
• 11:55
  which I think a candle is very lovely in a Lantern, right?
• 11:59
  But these lanterns, all of the lighting was hidden in the
• 12:04
  Lantern. So when it was on, it just
• 12:07
  glowed. Hard to explain.
• 12:09
  You'll see a photo but. Not to see what's in there.
• 12:13
  No, not at all. And it was just this ambiance
• 12:16
  and I know you and I are big on like how this lighting plays out
• 12:20
  and a lot of people are too, but it was perfect.
• 12:23
  Somebody really thought that out.
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  That's the other thing. It's very innovative here.
• 12:27
  I mean, they, they really have thought through, you know, what
• 12:31
  people's needs are or what their wants are with design and the,
• 12:36
  the function of the product that they're selling and how to make
• 12:40
  it just as amazing as possible. And so we saw a lot of that
• 12:44
  today. That's cool.
• 12:46
  What? What do you mean?
• 12:48
  OK, so for example, well definitely that Lantern and it
• 12:51
  was not just one Lantern, that's their whole business is OK, this
• 12:56
  beautiful lighting that you never see the bulb.
• 13:00
  So it's like this isn't in the streets of Paris, this is a
• 13:03
  vendor. Yes, a vendor, yeah.
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  But the streets of Paris are beautiful at night, too.
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  Everything's, everything's just beautiful.
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  But you can see the tie in like we've taken inspiration from
• 13:15
  cities throughout the world to create our product almost and
• 13:19
  create this beautiful ambiance. Exactly, exactly.
• 13:24
  But back to what we were talking about.
• 13:26
  Like they've really thought things through as far as the
• 13:30
  function of something. So, for example, you'll have to
• 13:35
  see this video of this dining table, Jeff, one of our buyers
• 13:41
  is demonstrating it and it's a round table and you spin the top
• 13:47
  around and it like magically opens up and becomes a bigger
• 13:53
  table and seamlessly goes together.
• 13:57
  And then you spin it back the other way and it goes to a
• 14:00
  smaller size. I was.
• 14:03
  Like, that's magic. That is the coolest thing I've
• 14:05
  ever seen. Yeah.
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  So things like that. That is magic.
• 14:12
  It is magic. What about like, you know, is
• 14:17
  there any like big difference you're seeing between what
• 14:20
  you've seen in the US and Europe so far?
• 14:24
  Oh, yes, there's a lot of a lot of differences, and you can see
• 14:29
  those in the photos that we're showing in the videos.
• 14:32
  That table. I've never seen anything like
• 14:35
  that. Yeah, you know, definitely
• 14:38
  dining table leaves have come a long way.
• 14:41
  It used to be that you had to score all of them in your
• 14:43
  closet, and that's not the case anymore.
• 14:47
  Open the table and like, then remember that being a thing.
• 14:52
  Exactly. So you know, seeing that table
• 14:55
  today was was just like a total wow factor.
• 14:59
  What else? As far as things being, I mean,
• 15:02
  there's so much, it's so different because you know,
• 15:05
  we're in a completely different part of the world right now.
• 15:08
  So, but those trends are coming here and those innovations are
• 15:13
  also coming here to us in the US.
• 15:17
  I could, I'm excited, I'm excited to see more, but I feel
• 15:21
  like even just like the way of life out there really influences
• 15:25
  furniture differently to like you're saying match what people
• 15:28
  actually need. But I feel like people in the US
• 15:31
  need similar things or, you know, they have like, you know,
• 15:38
  they want to live more of a European lifestyle.
• 15:41
  So things that are more geared toward a conversation and like
• 15:48
  having friends over and hosting and or, you know, being cozy at
• 15:55
  home, kind of like that like Higgy concept.
• 15:59
  You know, the, I know that's Norwegian and not, or you know,
• 16:03
  Swedish, one of those Scandinavian and not yes,
• 16:07
  French, but but just being, I feel like across Europe like
• 16:11
  really romanticizing your life and being like, you know, cozy
• 16:16
  and happy at home and just like being inspired by your space is
• 16:20
  a big thing. Absolutely.
• 16:23
  And space is also a big deal. A lot of these European
• 16:27
  countries, you know, they don't have a lot of space in their
• 16:30
  homes. I mean, some people do that,
• 16:31
  obviously, but so they're always thinking of ways of how to make
• 16:36
  things to fit within smaller spaces.
• 16:39
  But then if you do need to make them bigger, like that table,
• 16:43
  you're not gonna keep that table open all the time if you don't
• 16:46
  have the room for it. But if you're having a dinner
• 16:48
  party and you need a bigger table, you can make that work
• 16:51
  for the time being, right? And exactly.
• 16:54
  Yeah. So and I, I know you and I have
• 16:56
  talked a lot about transformer furniture.
• 16:59
  I don't know what else. What else do you call that?
• 17:01
  Chameleon Chameleon furniture. Chameleon Furniture, yeah.
• 17:06
  So, you know, I think we're going to see a lot more of that,
• 17:08
  too. And we've seen some here.
• 17:10
  It's just like these things are doing double duty.
• 17:12
  And what else can I use that piece for?
• 17:16
  Yeah, exactly. So being innovative and
• 17:19
  innovative in different ways, I think the Europeans are really
• 17:23
  great at figuring out how to optimize the most out of
• 17:29
  whatever product they're creating.
• 17:30
  Like I remember being in a design class once in Europe and
• 17:34
  they we were trying to design packaging and the challenge was
• 17:39
  make this as like as minimal as possible.
• 17:43
  And it was for waste for waste, minimal for waste.
• 17:47
  Yeah, that, but also like creating a creative way to
• 17:55
  package something that out of one material, everybody had the
• 17:59
  same starting point that hasn't been thought of before.
• 18:05
  And they're really, they're really trying not to just go
• 18:10
  with the flow. They're trying to innovate
• 18:12
  always creatively, I think. And yeah, and creativity means
• 18:17
  something different to them there as well.
• 18:19
  Like here I feel like people think of creativity and they're
• 18:23
  like, oh, like painting a canvas.
• 18:26
  And they're like, well, I'm not creative, like I can't do that.
• 18:29
  But like they're creative and engineering and they're creative
• 18:33
  and like packaging and and things like that.
• 18:35
  So I feel like that's definitely trickling down to furniture is
• 18:38
  what it's sounding like. And then?
• 18:40
  We kind of wonder like is it need driven or visually driven?
• 18:45
  Like what's the driving force? And maybe it's a little bit of
• 18:48
  all of it, because, for example, huh I.
• 18:52
  Said probably so. Yeah.
• 18:54
  For example, we saw, you know, we did see some plastic water
• 19:00
  bottles, but a lot of the water is, you know, in paper boxes and
• 19:05
  a lot of recycle. Today I ate my lunch and I used
• 19:09
  a it was like this just wooden fork.
• 19:13
  Like. Disposable wooden fork and I'm
• 19:16
  sure it was recycled somehow from or leftover wood from
• 19:20
  something else that they made these forks and knives out of.
• 19:24
  So, you know, sometimes it, it might be because they're trying
• 19:27
  to make the environment better. So you know they're going to do
• 19:31
  things differently for that reason as well.
• 19:34
  That true that too. I feel like sustainability in
• 19:37
  furniture is becoming really popular in the US as well, but I
• 19:45
  think more so like it's just a way of life out there.
• 19:48
  It's not. And it's just like the way they
• 19:50
  do things and most things that are sustainable are nicer.
• 19:55
  Like it's way nicer to eat off of a bamboo fork than it is a
• 19:59
  plastic fork. It just kind of like elevates
• 20:01
  your experience, so. Well, I will say though, I I
• 20:05
  hear you. It was a little weird though,
• 20:08
  because I was having hummus and it the, I don't think it was
• 20:14
  bamboo. I'm not sure what kind of wood
• 20:16
  it was, but it was a little weird feeling.
• 20:20
  So I think it's something you get used to, but then, you know,
• 20:23
  like with anything, you just get used to it and it's fine.
• 20:25
  But yeah, lots, lots of differences over here for sure,
• 20:32
  yeah. But it's it is cool to see how
• 20:34
  like the lifestyle affects the furniture.
• 20:37
  Like the other day, Grace, one of our other designers mentioned
• 20:43
  chat height coffee tables. And that is something that's
• 20:47
  becoming a lot more popular because people want to like, eat
• 20:55
  and socialize in their living room with snacks and, and things
• 20:59
  like that. And you don't have to like hunch
• 21:00
  down to do that. And I feel that height is
• 21:03
  already popular in outdoor spaces because people have
• 21:08
  always been like eating, you know, on their patio furniture,
• 21:12
  but in their living room. I think the idea is people are
• 21:15
  like we have a dining room for that or we have a kitchen to eat
• 21:18
  in. But sometimes you just want to
• 21:20
  sit in the living room in front of a.
• 21:22
  Fireplace yeah. The reality is a lot of people
• 21:25
  eat dinner or lunch or have like game day snacks in their living
• 21:30
  room and so they want this chat height of furniture.
• 21:35
  So that's something that's kind of evolving and becoming more
• 21:39
  available. Are you seeing that there or is
• 21:43
  there anything else like that that you're seeing?
• 21:47
  Well, it's interesting you said this.
• 21:50
  A couple of things. You know, we do have like the
• 21:52
  lift top coffee tables that comes up and towards you.
• 21:57
  But imagine the white that round dining table was telling you
• 22:00
  about where you spin it and it makes it bigger.
• 22:04
  Imagine if that were a coffee table, like with what Grace was
• 22:07
  saying, and you were spinning it and it came up.
• 22:11
  That would be so cool. You know.
• 22:13
  What I mean? I I.
• 22:16
  Think bitty boppity Boo like it's like.
• 22:18
  It's. Like a It's like a magic wand
• 22:23
  and it just twirls up to exactly what you want.
• 22:28
  It's actually looks like magic. Absolutely, absolutely.
• 22:33
  But what we saw here not not the chat height tables.
• 22:38
  Yeah, but. Chat height, well, I don't know
• 22:42
  if it's chat height, but a lot of the sofas that we were seeing
• 22:45
  for living room were a lot lower to the ground.
• 22:49
  OK. So you know it's going to be
• 22:53
  lower to the ground, lower to your coffee table, lower to your
• 22:56
  end tables. But I did see a lot of lower
• 23:01
  height sofas. So it's kind of like almost the
• 23:05
  platform bed kind of. Exactly.
• 23:09
  With beds used to be a lot taller and now I feel like the
• 23:12
  trend is for them to be shorter and have less, like less.
• 23:18
  Yeah, well, and a lot of very modern style furniture, we did
• 23:23
  see that. I didn't see a lot of
• 23:26
  traditional types of furniture, but yeah, the the lower
• 23:33
  furniture, some of it had a wood base on it, a beautiful wood
• 23:38
  base or beautiful little wood legs or some sort of base that
• 23:45
  the sofa would sit on. And then a lot of them were
• 23:48
  just, you know, the upholstery all the way to the floor and
• 23:53
  just hidden, hidden type legs without a trim or anything on
• 23:57
  it. Yeah.
• 23:58
  We did see a lot of that. And then for like really loaded
• 24:02
  the ground sofas, if you're tall, I would assume this
• 24:06
  seating is probably deeper then right?
• 24:10
  I I think you're right. Yeah, it did seem like the the
• 24:13
  depth of a lot of these sofas were, were a lot deeper.
• 24:18
  Yeah, not obnoxious, nothing obnoxious.
• 24:21
  It was just, it was like tailored, very tailored looking.
• 24:25
  Very tailored, yeah. Send me a photo of the the claw
• 24:29
  fabric the. Jessa, everybody let me stop
• 24:34
  anyone that has cats and dogs, especially cats.
• 24:37
  Did you see the cat that was like on it?
• 24:40
  We walked past this one space and for those that don't know
• 24:44
  what we're talking about, there was a, a little stuffed animal
• 24:49
  kitten and they had attached it to some curtains and it was a
• 24:54
  fabric vendor. And basically it was like animal
• 25:00
  proof to a point. Now I did ask, I was like,
• 25:04
  because Lori, one of our other buyers mentioned it and I was
• 25:07
  like, well, I'll go ask. She was like, I don't know if
• 25:10
  that's going to stand up to like a cat, like clawing its way down
• 25:14
  with, you know, causing a, a pull or something like that.
• 25:18
  But it does withstand tears because he put the, the vendor
• 25:24
  put a took a pen, like opened a pen and like punched a hole in
• 25:28
  it and then worked out the fabric and it was magic.
• 25:33
  I thought I was watching another magic show and.
• 25:37
  Or something you know where. Like what's that it's?
• 25:39
  Almost like putty or like or like like goo or like, I don't
• 25:45
  know, like foam, like memory foam.
• 25:48
  It like naturally kind of heals itself maybe.
• 25:51
  Yeah, he like just rubbed it like bibbidi bobbidi Boo like
• 25:57
  the table and it was gone. It was cool.
• 26:01
  We did see a lot of pet friendly furniture, not just fabric that
• 26:09
  or I'm sorry, pet friendly fabrics, not just fabrics that
• 26:13
  clean stains or you know, that don't leave stains like the
• 26:17
  performance fabrics. It wasn't just that.
• 26:19
  It was beyond that specifically for people with pets.
• 26:24
  And that was everywhere. We saw that everywhere.
• 26:28
  Amazing because we love our pets but they just damage our
• 26:32
  furniture. I know I they do and we love
• 26:36
  them so much. We're not.
• 26:38
  We're not going to get rid of our pets anytime soon.
• 26:41
  We try to get some alternatives to scratch on like the cat trees
• 26:45
  but sometimes they just get angry and it or like annoyed
• 26:48
  with us and they just they do one of these on your sofa.
• 26:55
  Well, now if your cat jumps on the curtains and puts a hole in
• 26:58
  it, it'll. I forgot to make it do.
• 27:01
  That. The photo you sent me in Paris,
• 27:04
  the cat was calling onto the curtains and the one in in
• 27:09
  Germany, you saw them in both places and there was just like a
• 27:12
  cat on the packaging. So like I'm thinking of sofas,
• 27:17
  like the legs that cats scratch. But but I guess some cats do
• 27:21
  jump on curtains or they do scratch curtains.
• 27:24
  Yeah. OK.
• 27:25
  So it's. Cats are wild.
• 27:27
  Yeah, you never. Know what they're going to do.
• 27:30
  Yeah, yeah, you never. Know.
• 27:33
  You don't want your furniture to suffer.
• 27:34
  Well, that sounds promising. I'm excited about that.
• 27:37
  It's going to be great. It's going to make a world
• 27:39
  better. And we need good news about
• 27:41
  furniture, You know, it's. Yeah, so.
• 27:44
  Well, and we don't that's the thing too.
• 27:46
  It's we, we aren't just looking in the United States, we're
• 27:50
  looking out for other ideas and things that we can incorporate
• 27:54
  here and not just with furniture.
• 27:56
  I mean, even in finishes and just it's all like all together
• 28:02
  important in in what we all do, even like with what you all do
• 28:06
  at marketing because you have to know the latest trends and and
• 28:11
  colors. So it helps with your marketing
• 28:14
  and so it's all related. Yeah, well, colors, I think are
• 28:19
  like one of the buzziest, easiest things for people to get
• 28:22
  excited about because it's easy to process.
• 28:24
  But these new designs, it's almost like, you know, you're
• 28:29
  taking inspiration from not even just the show, but where you are
• 28:36
  and like what people are doing and kind of like melding the new
• 28:39
  technology with ways of life and other places.
• 28:44
  We did see where they were using AI to, for example, say you
• 28:53
  wanted a wallpaper or a fabric. And this program, it was really
• 28:59
  interesting. I wanted to learn more about it.
• 29:01
  This is how AI is going to help us in what we do.
• 29:04
  And it's just, it's just going to get better and better, right?
• 29:08
  But say you wanted, I don't know, flowers and horses on a
• 29:12
  piece of fabric. So it lets you pick the the
• 29:17
  horse and the flower, or if you have that flower and horse that
• 29:21
  you want them to put on the fabric.
• 29:23
  And then how many times do you want that to repeat on the
• 29:25
  fabric? Do you want it a big flower, a
• 29:27
  big horse, this color, that color and it helps you design
• 29:32
  without the the brain damage of designing that pattern that's
• 29:38
  going to go on the fabric. Yeah.
• 29:40
  So we were seeing a lot of innovative AI for home fashion.
• 29:46
  That was really cool too. So it kind of overlay the
• 29:50
  pattern on a piece of fabric virtually.
• 29:54
  Would it show you what it looked like on an actual sofa for
• 29:57
  example? It probably does that.
• 30:00
  We didn't get that far with it because we were moving along,
• 30:04
  but we did stop and watch part of the demonstration of how you
• 30:08
  can play with the pattern, how you can play with the scale of
• 30:11
  it, the color of it, and just how it's laid out.
• 30:15
  And that was pretty cool. Well, yeah, it's such a fun tool
• 30:18
  for visualization already. You know, like it just even I've
• 30:25
  in helping my grandparents move into a new space, taking a photo
• 30:32
  of the room and being like, where does a console table for
• 30:36
  the TV go in here, you know, and it suggested like, well, you
• 30:41
  could, you know, put it diagonally in this corner.
• 30:44
  And yes, we look really good. And I'm like, yeah.
• 30:46
  And that's what they ended up doing.
• 30:48
  And it looks awesome. So it's just a good tool for
• 30:51
  visualization. And I can see especially like
• 30:53
  you're saying wallpaper and like fabric designers just using that
• 30:58
  a lot. So that's.
• 31:00
  Cool. Yeah.
• 31:01
  Oh, another thing, talking about AI, this is somewhat the
• 31:06
  opposite of AAI. We did, and this is kind of
• 31:10
  random. I just thought of it.
• 31:12
  We did walk past this one booth and talk to the guy who had
• 31:17
  vintage wallpaper that was incredible.
• 31:22
  Like pieces, not rolls of it, but pieces and frame.
• 31:28
  Or use for an accent wall maybe? You could frame it, but he said
• 31:33
  a lot of people use it to create new fabrics, new Wallpapers from
• 31:39
  it and even to take the pattern to do that, to take the colors
• 31:44
  from it. Just looking to the past for
• 31:49
  bringing it into modern life. Yeah.
• 31:52
  That was really cool too. So cool because you were
• 31:55
  mentioning you saw like a lot of modern, like you didn't see a
• 31:58
  lot of traditional furniture. But we saw some Oh, go ahead.
• 32:03
  Sorry, I'm just saying no, it's. OK.
• 32:05
  Yeah, no. Excited.
• 32:08
  There's there's a lot of like, nods to the past though.
• 32:15
  Yeah, well, yes, there there was some knots to the past and if
• 32:20
  you look at even the color palettes and the interesting
• 32:23
  combos they put together, I'm sure some of those colors are
• 32:26
  from the past and they were able to pull from the past and bring
• 32:29
  to the to today. But no.
• 32:32
  But the the wallpaper, the old wallpaper and it was old.
• 32:38
  It was so unique. I should have got one to show
• 32:41
  you. I do have a picture of it.
• 32:43
  I'll I'll show you that. Yeah, that would be great.
• 32:45
  Yeah, it has a little color chips at the bottom.
• 32:48
  It's just the coolest thing. But rug vendors will buy those
• 32:53
  pieces, those old wallpaper pieces, and then create rugs
• 32:58
  from them. Oh my gosh.
• 33:00
  We'll take these old patterns and turn them into rugs and
• 33:03
  probably use that AI that we were talking about.
• 33:06
  Yeah. Put that old wallpaper in it.
• 33:09
  I'm just making this up, but I I can see how that AI would work
• 33:12
  with like this old wallpaper and then move it around and make it
• 33:16
  bigger, make it smaller or bring it over here.
• 33:18
  Make that plain, you know, plain.
• 33:21
  And then the pattern, who knows, but people are using it.
• 33:26
  That is so cool. Yeah.
• 33:28
  Even if you're not using something directly as
• 33:30
  inspiration too, to kind of like make something new.
• 33:34
  It's still. Just awesome.
• 33:36
  I love that you know and it wash you can make like that same
• 33:40
  pattern in a washable. Rug.
• 33:43
  Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Any way you want to, you know,
• 33:49
  produce it. Yeah.
• 33:51
  Well, I'm so excited to see the new things that you start
• 33:55
  designing with your inspiration. I feel like we got to put
• 33:58
  together some trend rooms now, but we do.
• 34:01
  Yeah, we do. I know it will still be fun to
• 34:08
  come back and then, you know, just take a moment and put
• 34:13
  everything together and then just really dig in.
• 34:17
  I mean, I am every day that we go to these shows, you know, I'm
• 34:22
  just, it's so exciting, like everything's exciting.
• 34:27
  And then I've got a million pictures that I've taken on my
• 34:29
  phone and then to go back and yeah, and then to review it
• 34:35
  again will be fun. And then how to use that for
• 34:38
  this. And you'll you're going to use a
• 34:40
  lot of it too for what you. Do I'm sure like like an
• 34:44
  inspiration board in Canva and just like get together some
• 34:48
  boards for things that you were seeing and then we can put
• 34:51
  together some, some room designs and I feel like it'll be so
• 34:55
  creative and colorful and fun. OK, you're on.
• 34:59
  Let's let's do it. Oh, the other thing that this
• 35:03
  conversation is making me think of like I'm still just kind of
• 35:08
  doing on this modern plus vintage concept.
• 35:11
  And we've been saying it a lot, but just really like visualizing
• 35:15
  what it is. And I think one of the things
• 35:17
  that makes me understand what you're talking about the most is
• 35:20
  when I was at Contemps print, Tom in Tom in New York, which
• 35:28
  is, you know, started in Paris in France.
• 35:32
  Yes, I hope we can go there. I don't know that we are, but it
• 35:35
  would be. Well, there's one in the US if
• 35:37
  you know, you don't get time in Paris.
• 35:39
  But I remember there's this room and it had these like really
• 35:45
  modern orange walls. It was like in the bar area.
• 35:49
  And then they had. The upstairs or the downstairs?
• 35:52
  Downstairs and but it wasn't like the main floor that you
• 35:57
  walk into. It was like the bar and then
• 36:00
  behind the bar there's like the restaurant, but there is like
• 36:03
  this orange column in the bar and they had this antique, all
• 36:09
  these antique glass pieces on a modern orange wall and it was
• 36:14
  like antique candlesticks and things like that.
• 36:17
  So kind of just like, you know, glass is becoming a modern thing
• 36:24
  and like people want to incorporate it in their house,
• 36:26
  but you can bring in antique glass and then mix it with
• 36:31
  really modern colors to to have that modern vintage contrast.
• 36:36
  Oh absolutely. And we did see, we did see a lot
• 36:40
  of vintage inspired and vintage pieces too.
• 36:44
  I was just talking about like the upholstery that seemed very
• 36:46
  modern. But we did see a lot of glass
• 36:50
  for sure and a lot of vintage looking glass.
• 36:55
  And then we actually saw some vintage glass as well.
• 36:59
  And I do think people are mixing it like you said when you were
• 37:01
  in pantom. I people are definitely mixing
• 37:05
  old and new together or old looking with new.
• 37:09
  We saw a mid century modern sofa in Germany and it had, it was
• 37:14
  mid century modern style, right? And the entire cover was a
• 37:20
  tapestry. That was the other one I was
• 37:22
  telling you about or wanted to tell you about.
• 37:24
  Tapestry was a big, big thing that we saw on fabrics too, but
• 37:29
  it was this floral tapestry over the entire sofa.
• 37:33
  So is upholstered in it. Yeah.
• 37:36
  Oh, that's so cool. So.
• 37:37
  Sounds like that's really cool. And or a contemporary frame and
• 37:41
  then a. Like mid century modern style.
• 37:45
  Yeah, the little legs on it and the curves is just.
• 37:49
  Yeah, cool. And then in antique fabric.
• 37:52
  So that's another cool. Mix.
• 37:54
  Yeah, like a tapestry floral. Yeah, yeah, 'cause that's a
• 37:58
  great way for people to be able to mix the heirlooms that they
• 38:01
  have with their modern life. Yeah.
• 38:05
  Jen I love that. It's so cool.
• 38:09
  It is, yeah. Well.
• 38:15
  We still have two more shows to go to.
• 38:18
  I'm so excited to just learn about everything that you're
• 38:23
  seeing at the other two shows as well and see what takeaways you
• 38:28
  get. Make some mood boards feel like
• 38:31
  it's going to be exciting. We're going to come up with some
• 38:33
  really inspirational rooms from this.
• 38:35
  Absolutely. And then you need to come with
• 38:37
  us the next time too 'cause you need to see this, you need to be
• 38:41
  here and see it in person. I wouldn't be opposed and I I
• 38:44
  think that there could be a really positive use case for
• 38:49
  that knowledge that I would gain so.
• 38:52
  There you go. Yeah, we'll have a lot more
• 38:54
  pictures to show you from the next two shows we're going to.
• 38:59
  Some people pronounce it Birmingham, some people
• 39:03
  pronounce it Birmingham. And then we're going, and that's
• 39:08
  in England and then we're going to Cologne, Germany.
• 39:11
  So back to Germany and to the show in Cologne.
• 39:15
  So I we're gonna just be seeing a lot more.
• 39:18
  So who knows what those trends will be, if it'll be similar,
• 39:22
  Maybe we'll see. I'm excited to see what you see
• 39:26
  in the Birmingham show because is that that's a show as well.
• 39:31
  Yeah, it's in England, Yeah. Like how maybe like slight
• 39:36
  nuances between English style, French style and German style,
• 39:41
  you know, if there is a big nuance or difference.
• 39:44
  I mean, obviously there is in the architecture of the city,
• 39:48
  but like in their actual interior design can are there
• 39:52
  differences that you'll be able to see?
• 39:53
  I'm not sure. See, I'm not sure either.
• 39:56
  It's been about, it's been a long time since I was at the
• 39:59
  Birmingham show, so I don't even know what to expect.
• 40:04
  Yeah. At all and I can't wait to go
• 40:07
  and see. I think the people that are
• 40:09
  watching seated are going to be really excited about it too, so.
• 40:14
  I think they are. We should talk fashion sometime
• 40:17
  too. Maybe that's another episode,
• 40:18
  because watching the fashion here has been so much.
• 40:23
  Fun. We have fun things coming up
• 40:24
  related to fashion with this whole December Fashion Week
• 40:28
  collaboration we're continuing on with, so we'll definitely
• 40:32
  talk fashion. Yes, I can definitely see where
• 40:35
  that will be mixed in and just even like colors that we're
• 40:39
  seeing here and fabrics that we're seeing here, how that's
• 40:42
  even going to translate into what we see in fashion.
• 40:46
  So yeah, absolutely. It's all connected.
• 40:49
  It's like it is creativity vein so, well, cool.
• 40:55
  Very well. Art of Law, Barb and.
• 41:02
  Yeah, later, Gator. Yeah, right.
• 41:05
  We'll see everybody again soon. If you guys want to learn more
• 41:11
  about European style trends, just keep following us on
• 41:17
  socials because we'll have more updates from the Birmingham and
• 41:22
  Cologne shows, as well as some of the visuals from Paris and
• 41:29
  and your early German explorations.
• 41:32
  Frankfurt, Frankfurt, yeah, cool.
• 41:37
  So yeah, everybody stay tuned and, and, and you will keep
• 41:43
  giving you the the trend updates, the trend reports from
• 41:47
  around the world. We will do our best.
• 41:51
  Yeah. All right.
• 41:52
  We'll see everyone later. All right, Bye everyone.
• 41:56
  Thanks for choosing.