Twice a year, the design world descends upon High Point, NC for the furniture market. I'm always asked by clients what I saw that was new and exciting at market. What's the new color? What is the latest trend? Honestly, when it's over, it's all a blur and I am exhausted! This market I tried to take lots of pictures to give you a glimpse of what market is all about.
First, I'll start by giving you some stats for High Point market.
Market consists of 11.5 million square feet (yes, I said million!)
That square footage is spread over 180 buildings and 2,000 exhibitors
Each market there are approximately 75,000 attendees with 10% of those being international
Thursday - Day One
We spend the first day in the Antique & Design Center. There we can peruse booth after booth of antiques, vintage rugs, and original art. We often find one-of-a-kind items for the shop here.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know I'm a sucker for anything greyhound. Antique & Design Center never fails to provide me plenty of statues and paintings to admire.
This antique tea cart has the prettiest details. It also has candy and water, two things essential for getting through market!
The patina on this antique French bistro table (circa 1890) is gorgeous!
And look how pretty the enamel top is!
This hand-carved Virgin Mary statue is circa 1700's. Another gorgeous patina.
We brought this fun little painting back with us from the Antique & Design Center.
This little chair also found it's way back to the shop with us.
Friday - Day Two
There is A LOT of up and down as we try out sofas, settees, club chairs, dining chairs and barstools. I usually try to photograph and make notes of styles that I find exceptionally comfortable or uncomfortable.
Wesley Hall's showroom is always full of color and they didn't disappoint this market. I love the green and blue combo!
This new fabric is so fun on this little stool.
The sleek lines on these swivel chairs are accented nicely by this subtle geometric fabric.
I spotted this in Wesley Hall's showroom and made a mental note to check out this companies showroom. I love stuff like this!
I had to get a close-up of the gorgeous finish on this chest from Woodbridge Furniture.
This faux shagreen cocktail table was a great looking introduction from Woodbridge Furniture.
Love, love, love this new dining table and finish from Woodbridge Furniture.
I can't wait to show this stool to a client. Great looks and comfort!
This new introduction from Carter is so comfortable. The metal base and the way the arm wraps around the seat cushion are unique details. Blush is a color we have been seeing for the past few markets and more and more of our fabric reps are showing us blush. Could it be the next big thing?
This showroom is in an old firehouse. They even still have the pole!
There was no sliding down the pole though. They have filled the hole with an acrylic floor...pretty cool.
This is a cute little slip-covered chair for a casual look.
This is a great looking, masculine desk chair. I hadn't even noticed the console behind it until just now! I may have to investigate that piece. It looks pretty interesting.
Saturday & Sunday - Days Three & Four
We usually take the weekend off. It's one of the perks of being only 20 minutes from High Point. The majority of attendees come in Friday and do a blitz of market over the weekend. I will often head over on the weekend for some of the many continuing education courses that are offered, to explore showrooms we can't fit into our schedule, or for a concert or two, followed by delicious crepes from Penny Path Cafe and Crepe Shop.
This market, one of the concerts they offered for market attendees was Trisha Yearwood. It's a nice break from work to take in a show and she still sounds great!
Follow the penny path to delicious crepes!
I'm a creature of habit and always stick with the apple crepe. Mitch prefers the sweet special with coconut. Just so you know, we requested half to go, so they are even larger than this!
Stay Tuned For Part Two - Days Five-Seven
So, there's my wrap up of the first few days at High Point market. I'm tired all over again! I'll pick up the last few days in part two of my recap. Stay tuned, there's a lot more to see!
Until next time,
