Boston Design Center Glitters and Wows

The Boston Design Center held the “Boston Design Market” Oct 5-6, 2016, a two-day celebration with an abundance of presentations from renowned designers, new showroom openings, design courses, a pop-up market featuring Boston artisans, and of course, loads of fresh and vibrant design inspiration.  Eye candy everywhere, furniture, fabrics, wallpaper, and the party atmosphere made this event a bright spot for this “just west of I-128” Boson metro designer who loves to go to the Design Center when something special is going on.  What a resource!  And on a beautiful crisp October day, design inspiration was abundant inside and outside the Boston seaport locale.

I also had an the opportunity to note design themes at the showrooms, particularly Chinoiserie fretwork in furniture and ceramics, styling of DR and coffee tables with trios of elegantly shaped but unadorned ceramics, the continuing chevron trend (but on lamps, wallpaper, and tile), metallic wallpaper used in small quantities for amazing punctuation of design, Navy as the feature color for elegant living spaces, and interesting statement chandeliers with Sputniks and celestial-inspired themes, all using the newer bulb technologies.  To my view, the showrooms featured an edited and serene look for our interiors, not so cluttered and fussy as years gone by, with each table and case goods piece a work of art in itself whether metal, stone, or fine grain wood.  Proportions were spare, not chunky, definitely transitional and a touch of mid-century modern, but done in a super elegant way.  I also noticed lots of gold leaf, especially on cool mirrors and accents on tables, like at the new Lee Jofa/Kravet showroom.

The wallpaper at the Market was incredibly beautiful too, and served as the backdrops for many seating vignettes in the showroom windows.  My favorite wall coverings vendor Phillip Jeffries showed their new offerings, including printed panels of clouds and botanical subjects that are digitally printed in different colorways on numerous ground cloths.  I must confess I am a supreme fan of PJ, and have sold an amazing amount of their “Vinyl Max’s Metallic Raffia,” a metallic vinyl grasscloth in 52” wide bolts to for my clients’ entry and dining spaces.    The PJ offerings and those seen at Lee Jofa, Kravet, and Ailanthus are unique, and provide that understated textural punch to the walls we will also adorn with fabric…the wall coverings also look great at the back of built-ins…well maybe that is the subject of another piece entirely.  Chen of Fabricut presented a great class on wallcoverings at Ailanthus, and explained all the mystery of the “priced by single roll, sold by double roll” and European vs American papers, history, and nuances. ​

Colorwise, you may ask if I saw ubiquitous and trendy gray everywhere?  Actually, no, I suppose it was there as a supporting player, but navy, blue, and turquoise really stole the show.   I saw gorgeous fabrics with large-scale embroidery, bright, fresh and sophisticated patterns, and geometrics used very effectively on pillows.  Coral and turquoise were paired in some very happy vignettes, and that color theme is carried out in the hallways of the BDC along with white fretwork bamboo chairs…Boston is coastal too.  I noted the upholstered pieces in the showrooms were done in understated solid tones, with a bit of texture.  Therefore, the pillows in bright fabrics really livened up the seating groups.  Ottomans and occasional chairs did sport some great patterns too.  ​

Overall, the Boston Design Market was an excellent show!  Thanks, BDC for delighting us with your incredible design and business-of-design programs and feast for the eyes.  Can’t wait to bring my clients to the BDC so they can take in all the scrumptious offerings in one easy trip.