Here at Livingetc, our contributing editor Keith Flanagan keeps his finger on the pulse of what's happening on the US design scene — and reports his findings back to us. Keith is a design expert, an editor with an exceptional eye who has a talent for spotting trends as they happen... and often just before they're about to.
Design inspiration in New York comes in numerous forms and from many places in New York, and yet the city's creative community still manages to surprise us again and again – be it with with a striking new exhibition or, in the case of this month's round-up, a cool new stone showroom (yes, we said stone showroom). In fact, Keith is seeing a boom in new materials all over the city, from a sumptuous indoor-outdoor velvet jacquard to a new bamboo leather finish for an iconic furniture piece.
Read on to check out the latest from the US scene, including the best home decor stores and the new launches setting the tone for this year's biggest interior design trends.
Rad jacquard
At Pollack, a decades-old boutique in NYC, textiles tend to get technical: the studio makes a point to hire trained textile designers who obsess over fine details (they consider themselves architects of cloth, and are weavers at heart), which means their collections often stretch and showcase the many possibilities of yarn. Finesse was fully on display during a recent visit to Pollack at its Hudson Square studio, where Rachel Doriss, the design director, walked me through the textile maker’s sumptuous new ‘Happy Hour’ collection.
The standout for me was no doubt Weather Report, an indoor-outdoor fabric Rachel calls voided velvet, otherwise known as velvet jacquard; in between playfully colored velvet plain weaves, designers filled in voids (blank areas where backing shows through) with a bouncy and neutral boucle, giving the material a range of fun textures. Available in a range of bright colors, this pattern could brighten up any outdoor living room even on a cloudy day – cheers to that.
Border line
Stripes are everywhere in interior decor, which makes it all the more exciting when designers manage to give the pattern an update. Consider Esprit de Stripe, a new collection by New York rug maker Patterson Flynn that uses materials like jute, silk, and textural linen to transform one-dimensional lines; stripes simply hit different across such dynamic materials, often creating a surprisingly fresh watercolor effect.
My personal favorite is the hand-knotted Majorelle, a wool rug that creates new stripes out of seemingly traditional decorative borders (repeating motifs like flowers and Greek key) placed in alternating concentric lines. Borders on borders? It’s worth a double take.
Haute rocks
Anyone who's visited a stone yard knows they’re more gritty than glamorous (it comes with the territory). But NYC’s BAS Stone cut a different path when it opened a sunny new destination in Long Island City. Here, the new 42,000 square foot showroom includes a chic 4,500 square foot communal space complete with a bar, lounge, and meeting area – a gorgeous spot for architects and designers to sit with clients as they gush over 650 different variations like blue agate and pink quartz.
What’s behind this fresh take? Perhaps it’s no surprise to learn that the family-owned company’s management team happens to be led by women, offering a new perspective in the otherwise male-dominated world of stone and marble.
Bamboo beauty
Few chairs have a hold on the design community like the Eames Lounge Chair, and although it was first introduced in 1956, it still has new tricks. Herman Miller is now offering the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman in bamboo-based leather alternative, keeping the midcentury American icon fresh as sustainable materials gain momentum throughout the furniture and fashion industry.
Why bamboo? It’s fast-growing and requires less water than fellow plants, and has a high CO2 absorption rate (the new bamboo-based upholstery can apparently reduce the chair’s materials carbon footprint by up to 35%). The other perks? Plant-based material is soft yet durable, and apparently more scratch-resistant and colorfast than any other material – a real boon for a piece of furniture bound to stay in your family for many generations.
