By: Mandy Kelso
August 26, 2010
The right now retail trend in home accessories is everything nautical. I am seeing tons of retail dollars going toward sail cloth inspired bedding, clean bright colored paint and shiny nautical inspired lighting.
Some are a literal translation with everything from artwork to window treatments involving sails and flags, such as the huge full color spread in this month’s Elle Décor. Other interior publications have evolved the trend to include mid-century inspired pieces and found objects with driftwood sculptures, canvas slip-covered furniture and wood louvered shudders, like in this month’s issue of Veranda. No matter how you interpret the trend, it is a spot-on, can’t miss classic direction to go for yourself, your business or your client. The clean lines and minimal color stories are pleasing to virtually every eye.
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By: IMAX Worldwide Imports
August 20, 2010
IMAX Worldwide Home has been named one of only four finalists for the 22nd Annual ARTS Awards to be presented in Dallas in January 2011.
This is the fifth consecutive year for the company to receive a nomination.
“We are honored to be considered again for the ARTS awards,” said Rex Yoakley, IMAX Vice President of Enterprise Sales. “We would like to thank our customers and the ART council for the nomination, and congratulate our fellow finalists.”
The ARTS Awards is the premier awards program for the home decorative accessories industry and is held each January during the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market. This year’s gala will take place on Saturday, January 22, 2011 in The Grand Pavilion at the Trade Mart.
For more information on IMAX Worldwide Home, visit www.imaxcorp.com.
For more information on the ARTS Awards, visit www.dallasmarketcenter.com/awards/
By: IMAX Worldwide Imports
August 16, 2010
Few people in the industry have a better view of what appeals to consumers that Michelle Lamb of The Trend Curve. She’s spent years researching how consumers behave.
In the challenging economic times of today, she says consumers are looking for fresh colors and designs.
“The best defense against slow sales,” she says, “is innovative designs.” And, as news reports are saying, consumers at all income levels are being cautious and looking for good quality at a good value.
Both are proving to be the drawing cards at the summer markets as retailers shop IMAX for fresh designs and good pricing.
IMAX Vice President of Sales Rex Yoakley said IMAX customers are buying broad, especially in the new Parisienne and Elements Collections. The more contemporary Honeybee Collection sold well in Atlanta and Dallas, and he expects it to be even stronger with buyers in Las Vegas.
Take a look at some of the products retailers are choosing in IMAX showrooms this summer:
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By: Mandy Kelso
August 9, 2010
The relationship of fashion and interiors has long been a courtship made in heaven. Dating back to the 1800’s, as ladies’ fashion became more elaborate with side bustling and cages, chairs lost their arms to allow us to actually sit.
Of course, these days the congruency of fashion and interiors has less to do with practicality and more to do with aesthetics. As all of us in the interior and home accessory business scramble to find our proverbial crystal ball and put our psychics to work on predicting and forecasting what will be hot for the next three seasons, it should be noted that virtually all of those decisions might have already been made by a select few on Fashion Avenue in New York.
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By: Mandy Kelso
July 27, 2010
Last week marked the end of the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market. The Atlanta show attracts gift buyers far and wide but has also become a hub for designers and home accessory buyers. The metropolitan Atlanta area, like much of the sunbelt, has experienced explosive growth in the past decade and announced itself as a major media market. AmericasMart has never been more appealing to buyers with it’s great Southern location and more hotels within walking distance to the market center than anywhere else.
Atlanta had a vibrant focus on wall color, keeping it to a one or two color story and pairing it with accessories with traditional lines in neutral patterns and texture. The color story was strengthened with a layer of accent textiles, like pillows and throws in tonal or complimentary looks. Artwork took a backseat to structured wall décor incorporating mirrors and other reflective surfaces.
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By: Mandy Kelso
June 28, 2010
It was Sunday 7:30 a.m. at the World Trade Center in Dallas. When they say everything is bigger in Texas, they aren’t kidding. Fourteen floors, comprising over 2,000 customized showrooms, displaying over 25,000 individual lines of merchandise are just waking up, getting ready for another blissfully sunny day at the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market. Before all of the buyers made it to the trade center, I was able to make my rounds window-shopping. The market gives an overall feeling of a destination vibe in Paris and I’m not talking about Paris, TX. Nope, the other Paris. Everything was covered as far as color trends – vignettes dripping with violets, golds, blues and reds to displays of pale, muted neutrals. The French kiss on any interior can suit virtually every person’s discriminate taste – be it rich, bold jewel tones and the bohemian beauty of boudoir-influenced home fashions, or the pastel serenity of a traditional French country nook nearly absent of color.
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By: IMAX Worldwide Imports
June 28, 2010
When you place an order with IMAX, your money will go further than you could imagine. IMAX Worldwide Home will make a donation for every show order through spring of 2011 to Gift for Life to support AIDS research and education.
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By: Becky Boswell Smith
June 3, 2010
How much of your time at work is focused on employees? In fact, often only one or two employees.
The answer probably is too much. We all have one of those people for whom nothing is ever quite good enough. We listen, we support, we negotiate, we compromise – whatever we do, we can’t make that person happy.
Well, a smart retailer in Chicago named Jay Goltz has one answer, maybe the best one. He shared his thoughts in an op-ed piece in The New York Times recently and I liked what he said.
His solution: fire the unhappy ones.
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By: IMAX Worldwide Imports
May 24, 2010
No name more quickly conjures up images of luxury and high style than Donald Trump.
Now Trump makes a fashion statement with The Trump Home™ Room Décor Collection, exclusive to IMAX and coming on strong for the summer markets.
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By: Becky Boswell Smith
May 12, 2010
Wight’s Home and Garden just outside Seattle has been attracting customers from miles away for most of its 47 years of business. Its vastness in size – 23,000 square feet inside and another 45,000 square feet in outside nursery – and in product mix lures customers all year long.
According to Maria Fox, general manager of Wight’s, the store moved into home décor sales about 12 years ago and began its relationship with IMAX not long after.
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