**You may remember our announcement in March that we were chosen as one of 10 participants in High Point Market’s Design Bloggers Spring Tour 2018. Our attendance and this blog post were sponsored by High Point Market and the brands mentioned here. However, as always, all views are entirely our own!
Hello again, friends!
If you’ve been following us for a while, you already know that we’re a very family-focused brand and we’re always keeping our eyes open for products that allow for an easier form of family living. We’ve just returned from a wonderful few days at High Point Market and we’re so excited to share some new products with you that are the perfect fit for the modern family lifestyle.
Truthfully, we can’t believe Market is over already. It’s been a total whirlwind and we’re still in awe of the amount of knowledge we gained in just a matter of days. We hope you were able to follow along on our Instagram Stories. We’re excited to share this post with you for a more in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at some of our favorite products and trends.
This is just the first in a series of posts from Market, so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and keep your eyes peeled for future blogs!
On Our Radar: Performance Fabrics
We’re a real family-focused brand and we’re always on the lookout for products and trends that fit with a modern family lifestyle. So, it’s no surprise that performance fabrics really caught our eye at Market this year. Crypton was a name that really stood out to us. This fabric company uses an incredible technology, soaking their yarns in a way that means the performance features are embedded within the fabric, not just on top of them.
This effect lasts the whole lifetime of the fabric, making for some true investment pieces. No matter what you spill on Crypton’s performance fabrics (really, anything… we’re talking red wine, mustard, ketchup…) it will bead up immediately. It’s just a quick blot (never a rub!) with a paper towel, or some simple soap and water if the stain starts to set. Crypton has partnered up with some high-end brands like Henredon, Rowe, Highland House and Century to create beautiful, durable furniture – perfect for family homes.
Along the same lines, Sunbrella is a fabric manufacturing company that specialises in fabrics that hold up to UV and all other organic elements of nature. We were really excited to learn that they’re starting to do a bigger push on the use of their fabrics inside as well (you’ll agree when you see how beautiful they are).
Finally, Perennials Social has teamed up with EJ Victor to offer a more affordable way to use their endurance fabric through an exclusive line of furniture pieces. They use a nano-seal technology in the final step of their weaving practice so that any spills simply bead up to be blotted away!
I know, it sounds too good to be true – but just take a look at this video and see it for yourself!
What Performance Fabrics Mean For The Design Industry
Things can get pretty limited when you’re trying to design a living space for a busy, growing, (let’s face it) messy family. When it comes to finding furniture that’s durable, we often find ourselves limited to… well, leather. And not much else.
These performance fabrics, though, are totally changing the game. They’re perfect for families with small children (or clumsy teenagers) and pets, offering up a way for them to live a normal lifestyle without worrying about being limited in their design options. We’re always looking for brands that will grow as a family grows, and these performance fabrics promise to last longer, no matter how often you have to clean them.
Once upon a time, we would have never dreamed of putting a white sofa in a family home. But now? Just blot with a little bit of soap and water and voila.
Thanks to technologies like these, we really think you’re going to start seeing softer, more layered looks reappear in family homes.
All Our Thanks
We couldn’t possibly write this post without mentioning what a wonderful experience we had at Market. Everything and everyone involved was absolutely lovely, and we were honoured to have been able to take part.
We were totally overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge shared and the graciousness expressed. This was our fourth year at Market, and it was an incredible experience to get to know the background and stories behind these companies. We want to give a warm thank you to the company owners, CEOs, marketing directors and everyone who played a part in this event, especially Adam and Luba.
It was truly exciting to put faces behind the names of some of the bloggers we’d built relationships with online but had never been able to meet in person. We left Market feeling as though we had truly gained some new friends, and we feel so honored by the deep connections made these last few days.
The other nine bloggers on the Design Bloggers Tour made this experience extra wonderful for us thanks to their individual perspectives.
Be sure to check out all the other bloggers on the tour for even more info on the products and trends we saw over the last few days:
Monica Benavidez ~ Monica Wants It
Courtney ~ French Country Cottage
Cindy Hattersly ~ Cindy Hattersly Design
Joanna Hawley ~ JoJoTastic
Kyla Herbes ~ House of Hipsters
Mary Ann Pickett ~ Classic Casual Home
Ivonne Ronderos ~ dkor Living
Danny Russo ~ Danny Russo
Claire Staszak ~ Centered by Design
Don’t forget – there’s more where this came from! We’ll be bringing you a few more blog posts about what we saw at High Point Market over the next few weeks.
See you then!
-Heather French
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