New York – You saw it everywhere you looked at this year’s Architectural Digest Home Design Show: Green, green, green.
Not the color, but the concept.
Consumers are increasingly asking for “green” furniture and accessories, or those with an ecological sensibility. And designers are responding with enthusiasm and thoughtfulness, while still maintaining a level of high style that often includes high-tech detail.
Examples on show:
-At Design Mobel, a bed of spare ultramodern design, made of specially grown sustainable wood, included an iPod dock linked to a Bose speaker and lam ps set into its attached night-tables.
-At Studio Mix, a pearly looking mosaic made of recycled camel bones covered a table of understated elegance.
-Flooring made of 400-year-old elm recovered from China found its place alongside a range of other sustainable materials the high-tech Zephyr kitchen carefully designed to be accessible for the handicapped.
“Overwhelmingly, nothing compares to people’s requests for green material, sustainably harvested material,” interior designer and show exhibitor Tucker Robbins said. He’s long been enthusiastic about conservation in regions around the world where the wood originates, he said. “It’s about teaching people in the forest that this is a valuable commodity – utilizing it and protecting it.”
This was the sixth annual Architectural Digest show, held on Pier 94 on Manhattan’s West Side, March 8-11, with exhibits of home design products from some 300 design companies.
The presence of manufacturers from abroad taking part in the show pointed up the growing global nature of design and marketing.
Most now offer Web sites for consumers anywhere to make purchases or find local stockists.
Here’s the takeaway, according to those who were there:
– Giulio Capua, Architectural Digest’s vice president and publisher: “One thing we’re seeing more and more is smaller companies doing high-quality custom work … and the notion of being ‘green’ is coming into the process at all parts of society.”
– New York interior designer Victoria Imperioli: “Very vibrant colors – new colors, nice greens and beautiful browns.” This year she’s seeing an emphasis on metallics and modern design, she added. And a lot of use of wood she called “international.”
“There’s a traditional style of using it, from Japan,” she explained, “now I notice American companies doing it, combining other influences to Westernize it.”
– Bill Stubbs, interior designer from Houston, Texas: “This year they have a nice presence of kitchens. I saw a softer, contemporary look – not all stainless steel, but warmed up with wood and natural marble.”
An individual item he found original and new: “I was struck by a couple of displays of antique prints – one had organic frames, of coral, for botanical prints.”
