Exploring Trends and New Products in Window Fashions - IWCE 2018 Highlights

Happy Spring to all my readers!  I just returned from the International Window Coverings Expo (IWCE) show in Tampa - an amazing 52-hour trip filled with inspiration and fun. It was great to see all the new window covering product offerings arriving on the market, meet many talented designers and window covering professionals, and catch up on the business of design with my colleagues. Oh, and the 78 degree weather and beautiful sunsets at the downtown Tampa Convention Center location were especially fine since it was snowing in Massachusetts.

During the show I tried to see all the vendors and attend as many of the presentations as I could fit in. Here are my 5 design takeaways from what I saw:

• #1) Motorization of shades and window treatments is totally mainstream now.  Costs are way down, and there are lots of options out there in terms of systems and vendors.  There were so many booths with motorized shades!  Do you remember the days before TV remotes and cell phones?  No? Well, window treatment motorization is entering the territory of must-have, or at least, “if it saves me time, let’s do it!”  I even saw a motorized mosquito screen shade, very cool.
• #2) Bold banding on the leading edge of drapery panels. There is a trend toward bolder (and wider) patterned tapes on the leading edge of the drapery (the part toward the center of the window). Several vendors, including Creative Threads and Trimland, featured these new wider tapes. As shown in the photo below, Creative Threads showed linen/cotton blend panels with beautiful embroidered 5” banding on the leading edge.  What a statement those panels would make in a room!

​From what I saw the new trims from Trimland are fresh and transitional…perfect for a family room, living room, or bedroom.   

• #3)  New drapery hardware options showed the trend toward smaller diameter drapery rods (3/4” to 1-1/8” metal), more metallic finishes, simpler finials, and better traversing mechanisms. Menagerie, one of my favorite vendors for traversing rods, showed new metallic finishes and styles for integrated cornice-traverse rods. Copper was all the rage at the show, as well as brushed nickel and pewter finishes.  As you can see in the photo below, the metallic colors and designs are really becoming increasingly complex and consequently more interesting. I also saw some lucite rods and finials paired with metal rings, a nice look for elegance in a sleek and modern way.  Fussy is definitely out in drapery hardware.

• #4) Business topics discussed in the seminars held during the show focused on designing for the millennial client who is tech focused, well-informed, and values personalized service.  I am in total agreement with my colleagues here - my millennial clients are fun, motivated to get things done, and have a developed sense of style. In fact, they often inspire me to come up with one-of-a-kind designs that function and are tailored specifically for them.  No cookie cutters here.
• #5) The keynote speakers, Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke (designers and the founders of the “Madcap Cottage” collection of fabrics available at Robert Allen) were insightful and just all around charming.  I enjoyed their talk and “passion for prints” very much.  Here is a link to the website for the Madcap Cottage line:  https://madcapcottage.com/. What struck me most about their décor style is that they live what they love (and sell), and showed many photographs from their own residences where they have used bold colors and motifs.  Why be boring, indeed?

Even though it was a quick trip what I saw and learned was well worth the time and travel adventures. Major kudos and thanks to the IWCE 2018 organizers for arranging such a terrific show!