Top designers gather for North Carolina furniture festival

HIGH POINT, N.C. — Twice a year, furniture makers venture to North Carolina for the International Home Furnishing Market. Thousands of manufacturers from around the world vie for the attention of media, interior designers and, most importantly, buyers.

This fall's festival of furnishings featured hundreds of eye-catching pieces with exceptional craftsmanship, playful designs and sometimes both. Here are just a few of the many standouts you will be seeing in retail shops in the spring.

Lilly Pulitzer showed several ceramic creature-themed accent tables (or stools), including a turtle, Foo dogs and a goldfish, that come in white, green, orange turquoise and pink.

Some pieces, such as Theodore Alexander's bar cabinet with mirrored windows, stopped visitors in their tracks because it towered over smaller pieces. It makes the perfect home for bottles of wine in two lower side cabinets and spirits and tumblers above in glass inset shelves.

Speaking of tumbling, Steven Shell's stacked drawers chest held together by a lacquered rope is a jumble of fun. Multiple colors, sizes and positions add up to chaotic organization and some conversation. It must have been inspired by a famous museum piece.

Museum-quality craftsmanship describes the Keno Brothers' new Ocean Chest on nickel-plated brass feet. Inlaid rosewood waves wash across blond maple doors made with fiddle-back sycamore veneer, creating optical opulence. Twin brothers Leslie and Leigh Keno created the piece and others for Theodore Alexander.

Bennett Galleries and Co., known for its attention to detail in reproduction pieces, debuted a walnut-veneer three-drawer chest in oyster finished with painted black trim around the feet, the drawers and the top of the chest.

Red Egg caused a stir at market, winning best showroom design and grabbing lots of attention for its Tattoo Table. A digital photograph of the painted ceiling of a Tibetan monastery was printed onto the varnished maple plywood surface, resulting in “Faithful Sidekick.” The side table comes in solid lacquer colors and has flat carved Chinese horseshoe feet to add detail.

Century Furniture came out with many new pieces, including a cleverly hinged sofa console, or display shelf, on brass casters. It closes to form deeper shelving or opens for a longer, narrower effect.

Hooker Furniture used bold stripes of deep red and gray and nail trim for a handsome profile on its high-backed Sam Moore settee. So enamored with certain shades this market, Hooker featured scarlet painted wood frames on chairs as well as deep red bombé chests. Everything is coming up rose red.

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams debuted Black Label, a collection of luxurious, rich upholstery and case goods along with some simply smile-worthy additions, including the Lincoln Sugar pull-up table. Cut from logs, the top is hand-waxed and the sides are a high-gloss paint in three colors: black, white or silver. The new exclusive butterfly fabric is designed so that when you sit down it looks like the butterflies are on your shoulder. Very Disney, just delightful.

Rachel Ashwell, the founder of Shabby Chic, still loves soft pinks and white, but is going more sleek than shabby with her new introductions. But the aesthetic remains the same — furniture that will stand the test of time. A new upholstered bench for Treasures, a line sold only on the Home Shopping Network, is easy to place in any setting. In her most recent book, “Shabby Chic Inspiration,” she asks us to look at how she sees design today. Her new button-tufted linen headboard and bed frame and very clean profiled sectional for Miles Talbott, which will be available in the spring, speak to a more modern lifestyle.

An intellectually inspiring piece of home furnishings came from French Heritage. It took a page from Rudyard Kipling, literally, lining its new bookshelf with his written word. It looks so good that it might be hard to hide it behind real books.

At this market, it was clear manufacturers were reading the writing on the wall and making sure their products were worth a second look in a stalled economy.

For more information:

Bennett Galleries and Co.: www.bennettgalleries.com

Hooker Furniture: www.hookerfurniture.com

Keno Brothers/Theodore Alexander: www.theodorealexander.com

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams: www.mgandbw.com

French Heritage: www.frenchheritage.com

Red Egg: www.redegg.com

Shabby Chic: www.ShabbyChic.com

Steven Shell: www.stevenshell.com