What we learned at Clerkenwell Design Week
Luxury fabrics and cool colours led the way at last month’s trade show
Believe it or not, it was our first time showing at Clerkenwell Design Week this year and we had an excellent three days. It was great to see so much of the design industry out in force, and there was never a dull moment.
We were also thrilled with the response that two of our newest soft fabrics received during their maiden outing – Eden and Bouclé. If you missed them, Eden features a luxurious mouline yarn, woven in a distinct hopsack style with an irregular, slightly slubby texture, while Bouclé is a high-performing, durable take on the classic bouclé style with looped, curly yarns. We also showed a number of fabrics that were released early last year, including VerdEco, our first water-free recycled collection, and our two high performing velvets, Finezza and Primeira, all of which were well received.
There is undoubtedly a renewed interest in ‘luxury’ fabrics at present, or rather, fabrics with luxurious finishes and sophisticated textures. Alongside the aforementioned newer fabrics, which offer a premium finish to clients in workspace, hospitality and leisure alike, our Cord and Pearl collections also attracted a good deal of attention with their soft, tactile handles. We released Cord during the early stages of the pandemic, so this high-performing corduroy range hasn’t had much time out ‘in the wild’. To see friends and customers get their hands on its 18 sunny colours and respond so positively to the range was another highlight.
Trade shows are always interesting opportunities to take the industry’s temperature on colour trends, and our stand’s colourflow with its tinted neutrals and spectrum of soft greens (both categories we’ve been looking to develop over the past year) seemed to capture your collective attention. We predict that soft, cool, desaturated greens are going to be in for a good few years in the interiors space. Bouclé in Sage had the best reaction of all – deservedly so.
It really felt at CDW that the industry is getting back into the swing of socialising after a few years off for obvious reasons, and we were impressed by how many visitors had travelled the length or breadth of the country to visit the show. All the team present loved being part of the action, as we did partaking in some of CDW’s legendary parties. We’ve already signed up to present next year and the countdown has very much begun!
