Design Inspiration

I had the great pleasure of attending the “Design Chicago” conference at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago in October.  A trip to the Mart is always an inspirational event.  It doesn’t matter what your profession is everyone needs a shot of inspiration to help them look at what they’re doing in a creative, new way. 

Each year the Mart has what they call the “Dream Home”.  Nine designers are selected to design a room.  They push design concepts to the limits by using materials in a new way and selecting furniture and accessories that are new to the market.  It is not designed to flow like a model home but instead inspire your creative side.  Click here to take a look at it: Dream Home.

As I strolled through the showrooms I was stimulated by:

Scalamandre’ – beautiful fabrics

 Gorgeous foosball table by Maitland-Smith

Grange – a bookcase wall system with sliding shelves to hide a flat screen TV

Martin Wood – painted accent furniture

Baker – new designs by Barbara Barry

I ended the afternoon with a seminar by my friend and colleague Lee Russ, who spoke on “The Height of Luxury: The rise of Art Deco and Haute Couture”, reminding us that the people and events of an era create the design trends for that period of time. 

Attending such an event exposes me to the new trends in home furnishings and provides creative ideas to carry through with my own clients.   Above all it will help me look at each project from a new perspective.