2000 New York Gift Show Review: Nostalgic, Asian Trends Continue To Steer Design

This summer's excursion to the New York International Gift Show resulted in a wealth of new discoveries. The consumer's search inward continues to keep Asian-inspired tabletop hot, while the country's sense of nostalgia is also influencing design. Products illustrating the romance of the Victorian era also stood out at the show, along with designs created with alternative materials that ranged from hemp to resin.

Shelter Trends

Retro- and Asian-inspired trends in home design continue to heat the tabletop market with growing introductions of milk glass, square and rectangular shapes, and bubble glass.

A noticeable shift in Asian-inspired product is the introduction of brighter colors in both designs and solids. Laquerwood is also giving the Asian trend another power surge. Companies such as Asiaphile are generating interest with brightly colored laquerwood introductions in fuchsia, orange, red, and champagne.

Textured treatments made their own statement with several companies showing tabletop with raised patterns or embossed designs. Del Mar stoneware in trendy hues of azure, sand, seamist, and pearl has from Nancy Calhoun Inc. a deceivingly simplistic design comprised of a series of raised circles along the border. While the line offers a square serving platter, a standard in today's pattern offering, it also offers a unique square divided platter.

A clue to the popularity of textured design may be in the nostalgia movement. For example, At Home's Vintage Home collection is a modern transformation of baby boomers' childhood kitchens. Vintage Home comes in yellow-green, blue, and white and is complete with canisters, an embossed teapot-shaped spoon rest, and a trivet. Hackman Tabletop expanded its popular Aino Aalto design from iittala. Created in 1932, the design has been modernized with the introduction of a smoky Grey and a new charger plate. The glass design features graduated circular levels, creating grooved textures.

An antique design, the fleur de lis, had a high profile at the show with both formal and whimsical translations. In addition to being central to many wrought iron introductions such as wall-mounted plate holders, the French-inspired signature could be spotted in many tabletop introductions. Abigails introduced its Fleur de Lis pattern, an Italian-made white-glazed dinnerware line featuring crimped edges and fleur de lis accents.

Nature is also coming to life in tabletop. Dragonflies, roosters, and monkeys were popular creatures popping up in patterns throughout the show.

Present Tense is up to their own Monkey Business with a 9/-inch four-plate series depicting a whimsical monkey playing games. They also opened their doors to a rooster with Proud Fools,