| Perspective |
Good News & More News
J
uly has always been our Fabric issue. It was selected to coincide with the ICFA Preview Show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. That show is really the first time patio retailers get to see next year’s offerings of both fabrics and frames (see new fabrics on pages 10 to 21). It wasn’t always that way. We’re old enough to remember when manufacturers found a four-day market in September to be sufficient. Then along came a new CEO at Brown Jordan, who had the brilliant idea of beating other manufacturers to the retailers’ wallets.
| Outdoor Fabric Designers |
Inspiration IS EVERYWHERE It could be found at a trade show in Milan, the fresh colors on a new car, on a runway in Paris, or in a Netflix movie – it could even be from the feathers of a peacock.
By Larry Thomas
W
hether they are at the grocery store, enjoying a European vacation, or just about anywhere in between, fabric designers are always on call. True, they may ignore their inbox and shut off their business phones when they are not officially on the clock, but they can’t predict when the creative juices will be stimulated. It could be the unusual color palette on the shirt of a passerby, or a mural painted on the side of an aging building undergoing renovation, or a piece of furniture on a television show. When the juices start flowing, out comes a camera phone, tablet, or even an old-school sketch-pad. When they are designing a new line, it doesn’t take long for them to accumulate hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures and sketches – all of which have to be reviewed, along with the usual sources of inspiration such as shelter magazines, design journals, industry trade shows, and social media sites such as Pinterest. Inspiration, in a word, is everywhere. Designers just have to be keen enough to recognize it. What follows is a brief look at what inspires some of today’s top outdoor fabric designers. They also discuss how they entered the fabric business, and highlight a few innovations we can expect to see in their product lineup for 2021 and beyond.
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He lined up 18 18-wheelers (or so the story goes) and headed for Lake Las Vegas where he had struck a deal to exclusively place Brown Jordan furniture throughout the grounds of the Hyatt hotel (I think). Well, the stampede was on! The ICFA and its manufacturers decided to create a three-day show at the Merchandise Mart in July, and it existed until the coronavirus came to town. Will it exist once more when it’s safe to go out? Who knows? But the better question is – is it really necessary? That’s a question that always stimulates conflicting answers. Most patio manufacturers like it for it gives them a chance to work with their larger, most important customers at a leisurely pace (unlike the hectic atmosphere of Casual Market Chicago in September).
But this is a new day, with a new reluctance to gather in groups unless absolutely necessary. If the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) can handle 4,400 exhibitors and 170,000 attendees in four days, and the International Builders Show (IBS) can accommodate 95,000 attendees in three days, then it stands to reason that Casual Market Chicago could easily do so in four days. Just sayin’. Need Some Good News? Leave it to writer Lisa Readie Mayer to uncover sunshine on a cloudy day, or terrific sales in the time of COVIC-19. Case in point . . . “One of the neat things we’re seeing is families are reuniting around the grill,” says Lisa Gilliatt, owner of The Grill Works in Marion, Iowa. “People are home, they have time to cook, and they’re looking for ways to keep the family busy.” By May, Gilliatt’s grill sales were up 78% over last year, with growth across all grill categories, accessories, and fuels. “We’re selling grills so fast we can’t keep them in stock,” she says. “We would receive 45 grills on a Monday, and they were all presold. We would have another 95 grills coming in the following two weeks, and most of those were already presold.” For more good news, turn to page 50. Much More Than Electric Fireplaces If you believe that Glen Dimplex is just a manufacturer of electric fireplaces, you’re wrong, and not alone. It also manufactures wood-burning hearth products, other domestic appliances, cooling, ventilation, and renewable energy sources. Want to learn more about Glen Dimplex? Turn to page 42 and meet Robert Bartucci, chief executive of Glen Dimplex Americas. He’s someone that you really should know. Be careful. Be smart.
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