Hello, NYC!

Friday morning, we flew to NYC for the menswear show. Remember when we came to Mrket in January? This trip has been a lot of fun and oh-so busy! James will be working Mrket for the next few days, and I’ll be visiting it as well as a couple other shows while we’re in the city. I’ll blog a full report but here are a couple of shots I took yesterday before things were up & running.

This trip, I’m trying to pay more attention to the details. One way I’m doing that is: less pictures, more doodles. I’ve been thinking a lot about memory since I read this article in the NY Times about some performance art Oliver Jeffers has been doing. 

What we see as individuals is so interesting because it’s often different from what others see. What our brains remember is a totally different story that’s even more exclusive. Fascinating, right?

 But there’s one place k haven’t been able to resist the urge to take more than a few photos. We’ve gotten to take a couple of boat rides, including one that went all the way around Manhattan and right by Lady Liberty. Thus, the rad views in the photos below…

 

As i said on Instagram, we did pose for some photos, but somehow this felt more realistic 😉

 

   
 I love this city!

High Point Market 2015

Hannah B. at High Point Market in the Mr. Brown showroom | Hannah & Husband

This amazing mirror was in the Mr. Brown showroom.

This week, I was lucky enough to go over to North Carolina for a couple days of High Point Market 2015. Each Fall and Spring, the market takes over the town of High Point, North Carolina nearly doubling the population and setting up 11.5 million sq ft of showspace–they literally take over the town. How crazy is that?

North Carolina has long been known for it’s furniture manufacturing so it’s only appropriate that the biggest furniture show would take place there. Much like “Mrket” in NYC, High Point Market is where furniture buyers and interior designers gather to view the collections for the next season.

It was a frenzy of inspiration that will be showing up in posts and future projects, but today I thought I would bring you the highlights. These are some of the trends I think may inspire you as much as they did me.

Whimsical Statement Pieces

When I was in college, it became a running joke that the word “whimsical” always popped up when people were talking about my work. So you can imagine how happy I was to see how playful so many of the pieces were. You can, of course, add as many or as few of these touches as you’d like because often one piece makes a huge impact.

Animal Farm as Comedy

On that same whimsical note, I am pleased to report that designers are finding ways to incorporate animals into designs without real-life taxidermy. Of course, real taxidermy was there because this place had everything. 2 notes from my notebook worth sharing:

1. When given the option to walk past a taxidermy giraffe to use the restroom and just holding it, I will always just hold it. (Husband may find this noteworthy for future road trips.)

2. On booth that shall remain nameless:  If Gaston lived in a Toby Keith song, it would look like this showroom.

But, with a couple of real-life exceptions, play animals were used as fanciful accessories that came in every sort of style, shape, and size. A few of my fav examples…

Animals at High Point Market, Spring 2015 | Hannah & Husband

Top Left Clockwise: POLaRT / Sunpan / BOBO / Jaipur / Sunpan

I, of course, also adored the hive pattern that kept showing up. I chose to include the picture below because I heart the bees too!

Furniture can make you feel feelings.

One thing I really love about interior design is it’s ability to make you feel a certain way without you really thinking about it. For instance, I’m pretty sure the Palm Springs-inspired collection by Celerie Kemble on a patio would make me feel like Myrna Loy. Likewise, the soft, touchy-feely items like ticking fabric and rag rugs reminded me of the home I grew up in.

Home-y Items at High Point Market, Spring 2015 | Hannah & Husband

Top Right Clockwise: Celerie Kemble for Lane Venture / Loloi / Chandra / Loloi / Bunakara

Wood + Concrete

Aside from the natural wood like is shown above, there were so many ways that I saw wood and concrete used to make very modern pieces.

Concrete + Wood at High Point Market, Spring 2015 | Hannah & Husband

Top Left Clockwise: Seasonal Living / Sunpan / Mr. Brown

Let there be lights!

At the end of my first night I went to an event at Visual Comfort and discovered that Heaven, for me, is probably some version of a lighting gallery. Some of my lighting picks are below, and we’ll be talking to some of these makers in the coming weeks!

Another trend often showed with lights inside were old-school, grandma-style cloches.

Lesson Learned: Anything under glass looks way more expensive and important.

Cloches at High Point Market, Spring 2015 | Hannah & Husband

Top Clockwise: Mercana / Chandra / Schwung / BOBO

Mid-Century Modern

Mid-century modern is a trend that is not going away. We all secretly want to live a Mad Men bar-in-the-office lifestyle and be Charles & Ray Eames. What’s wrong with that? Not a thing. The organic lines (check out the pattern on the front of that Dwell Studio sideboard) and the natural woods are beautiful and, in my opinion, can stick around for as long as they like.

Mid-Century Modern at High Point Market, Spring 2015 | Hannah & Husband

Top Left Clockwise: Chandra / Dwell Studio / Nuevo / Joyride

We’ll talk more about some of these makers and how to incorporate these trends into your own home in the coming weeks. For now, I’m off to enjoy the weekend!

Happy Saturday!

NYC Sketchbook

Hannah's NYC Sketchbook | Hannah & Husband

If you have been on Instagram in the past week, you may have noticed that we’ve been in New York City for Mrket. Anytime we travel, I fill my sketchbook with doodles of where we went and what we saw so I thought I’d share pages from my NYC Sketchbook with you!

Hannah's NYC Sketchbook | Hannah & Husband

I’ll post more about Mrket (& Husband’s new gig) tomorrow.

Hannah's NYC Sketchbook | Hannah & Husband