When it comes to surviving High Point Market’s packed agenda of previews, panels, and cocktail parties, sometimes you need a boost. I was standing in the Century showroom, checking out designer Windsor Smith’s new Greco-Roman Anthelion collection, when I pulled out a ginger juice shot I had carried on the plane from New York. Suddenly, Smith herself was beside me, raising her own bottle of ginger juice. “This is my High Point secret weapon,” she said, introducing me to local juice shop Organic AF (a 5-minute drive from IHFC). “It’s my go-to, pre-Market stop.” We clinked bottles and downed our energizing elixirs.
That boost came in handy. Fall Market’s cold-weather curse, layered with gusty winds and rain, was in full effect over the weekend. Luckily, there was plenty of excitement indoors. Oohing and ahhing could be heard at Hudson Valley Lighting, as the company relaunched Schoolhouse (acquired in Food52’s bankruptcy auction earlier this year), returning much-needed color, pattern, and coziness back to the Portland, Oregon-bred brand. And new-ish exhibition halls 313 Space and Broad Hall corralled a smart mix of fresh vendors and non-furniture players like Monogram, Artistic Tile, Cosentino, and Miele—generating some of the most compelling displays at Market.
Read on for the emerging design trends, industry chatter, and fresh perspectives coming out of the furniture fair this fall.
The Burl Effect
The Rainey sectional by Four Hands is wrapped in a walnut burlwood.
Photo: Wendy Cassidy
Richly grained, high-contrast burlwood has emerged across aesthetics. Whether crafted into a traditional Biedermeier silhouette or a low-slung Modernist coffee table, this distinctive material is one designers of all stripes seem to agree on. As Adam Dunn, senior vice president of design and creative director at Four Hands, told me, “Anything with high-figure, deep piles, and an energy that makes you want to walk up and touch it—that’s in.” On the way out, he added, are
“really flat, dull veneers—anything that’s a plain, straight-grain material that doesn’t have any movement.”
Four Hands is doubling-down with the Rainey sectional, an elegant ellipse-shaped seat wrapped in walnut burl. Meanwhile, Theodore Alexander satisfies traditional tastes with its new Stephen Church collection, in which the English cabinetmaker employs jaunty okoume, khaya, and satinwood veneers.
Every issue, every era. Explore 100+ years of the Architectural Digest Archive, an unparalleled digital resource for research and inspiration. Start Searching
Gilded Age
The metallic moire High Society wallcovering, part of Donghia’s new Skyline collection, was a High Point Market standout.
Photo: Frank Frances StudioMany of this season’s collections took a note from the S/S27 Paris runways, where Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent farewell glittered in gold and a high-shine mesh halter dress won raves at Schiaparelli. Hudson Valley Lighting brought the glamour with its Hollis Hills pendant, featuring scalloped capiz shells radiating a golden iridescence, while Bernhardt introduced a burnished gold finish for the desk and coffee table in its new Chatham Park collection. In an edgier take, Four Hands dreamt up an acid-wash antiqued brass finish for several SKUs in its 30th Anniversary capsule. One of the biggest Market standouts was Donghia’s Skyline wallcovering collection, articulating artisan techniques in alluring, cosmopolitan style. From the metallic moire High Society to the tonal jacquard weave of Rolling Hills, digital lookbooks simply don’t do these designs justice.
Nature’s Way
At 313 Space at High Point Market, Little Green celebrated Marle (355), its 2027 Color of the Year.
There was a lot of playing-it-safe when it came to palettes—a prevalence of muted blues and greens (known bestsellers) with doses of beet, butterscotch, and chocolate. Regina Andrew launched its antique brass Veiller lighting collection with fan-pleated shades in Olive, Mist Blue, and Oyster colorways. Little Greene celebrated its 2027 Color of the Year, Marle (355), a quiet, reflective brown. And while he wasn’t launching any new SKUs this season, Thomas O’Brien refreshed his always-inspiring Century vignettes in the shades, revealing Silken Pine and Fresh Brew as Benjamin Moore varieties that he returns to time and again.
The Veiller sconce by Regina Andrew, shown in Olive.
Photography courtesy of Regina AndrewBrown Jordan’s outdoor palette of Butter (a yellow), Canyon (terracotta), Harbor (gray-blue), Bamboo (a crisp green) felt especially spot-on. The hues—a capsule of the outdoor furniture maker’s 25 frame finishes—shined on the latest clean-lined Vero collection (Brown Jordan’s more affordable line). But the real treasure was seeing it on the neoclassical Venetian Collection, designed by Richard Frinier in 1987 and still a brand bestseller today. Exciting news for outdoor living: The company just announced that it’s expanding its furniture color palette to the cabinetry range for Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens.
The Common Thread
A first look at the Pooky x Samuel & Sons collaboration, a 13-piece lighting collection that launches of November 3.
Photography courtesy of PookyAcross many of the new collections, the sentiment from creative directors was clear: We’re seeing a shift away from precision and perfection toward textures and techniques that reveal the artisan’s touch. “I think we’re all craving a sense of humanness,” said designer Anne-Marie Barton, who launched several richly tactile new fixtures for Visual Comfort & Co, of emerging design trends. Sean Lavin, chief design officer for Visual Comfort, echoed the sentiment. “Our factory team are saints given the amount of times I had them readjust panels and re-weld marks,” he said, pointing out how the company’s new faceted brass and alabaster pendants reveal their joinery welds. “That’s the maker’s hand.”
The Margaux flush mount, part of the Pooky and Samuel & Sons collaboration.
This return to craft resonated at Morris & Co., which previewed its very first embroidered grasscloth (available to the trade in January), and at lighting maker Pooky, whose dashing new collaboration with passementerie house Samuel & Sons officially launches on November 3. Artisan tassels and trimmings elevate pleated silk shades in punchy hues of coral, light blue, and emerald green. The Margaux flush mount, bordered in Samuel & Sons’s handwoven Crete trim, was a High Point crowd-favorite, said Chief Creative Director Jo Plant. Hinting at collections to come, she emphasized the lighting maker’s focus on all things artisan. “We’ve also been bringing out a lot more ceramics, reactive glazes, and textural forms. It feels a bit handmade, and people understand that not every piece will look the same,” she said. “They appreciate that it’s an artisan process.”