HBL Colour Analysis: Vintage Pastels

WGSN product shot, Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market

A key colour palette at the US vintage markets this year were Vintage Pastels, an array of greyed-out tones seen across the country. Light pink, green and blue were seen faded to a nearly neutral shade.

HBL Tradeshows: Rocio Moreno at Decorex, London

The striking luminous colour of Spanish designer Rocio Moreno's tie-dye hangings stood out vividly on her stand at Decorex in London this week. The collection of hangings and silk brocades are produced in India on manual looms, using traditional techniques. The weavers that Rocio works with are unique, in that they continue to work the complex technique of brocade by hand, with the same methods used since the 15th and 16th centuries in Venice and other eastern countries. This type of silk cloth is loomed with a double-warp and specially treated silk, which results in the fabric's extraordinary beauty and lustrous satin finish.

HBL Think Tank: 12th Venice Architectural Biennale

Hylozoic Ground: Philip Beesley Architect Inc. at the Canadian Pavilion

To balance the widespread sense of delicacy and minimalism at this year's Venice Biennale, there was also an emerging trend for eclectic, organic, almost monstrous architecture. The British pavilion was titled Villa Frankenstein but the standout piece was Hylozoic Ground for the Canadian pavilion. This was an immersive, interactive environment made of digitally fabricated components fitted with sensors that flickered, twitched and crawled of their own accord.

Subscribers who wish to see the full report can do so by clicking here.

HBL Retail News: Paperchase Online Store

Paperchase, the UK contemporary stationery and card retailer, has relaunched its website with a new transactional online store. The new store allows customers to browse categories including occasions and events, home and travel, arts and crafts, collections, gifts, stationery, cards and gift wrap. Those outside of the UK are not to worry: online products can be delivered internationally.

For WGSN-Homebuildlife subscribers, find the full retail report here.

A Violet Maison

Arcade

This year's Maison & Objet was a colourful one, but tints of purple stood out as the colour of the season. We saw violet coloured ceramics, textiles and glassware and hues ranged from aubergine to light purple. WGSN-Homebuildlife has a full report of the show online, but here's a taste of the purple haze we saw in Paris this month.

Drop by Paul Cocksedge at LDF

One of the more attention-grabbing exhibits during this year's London Design Festival is Drop, a giant, magnetic brass coin by British designer Paul Cocksedge. Drop will be on display for the duration of the festival on London's Southbank, overlooking the Thames. WGSN-Homebuildlife met with Cocksedge to find out more about the project and the ideas behind it.

Displaced artists transform Guangzhou’s Xiaozhou village

Left: Jiang Ping; right: Zi Yun Tang



Xiaozhou, a small village in the Haizhu district of Guangzhou, southern China, is the seemingly unlikely setting for a community of innovative artists, who adopted the village as their refuge when they were driven out of the city centre in 2002 by rapid urban developments.

The new embroidery

Following the resurgence of knitting and crochet over the past few years, cross stitch is the latest arts and crafts practice to be modernised.

WGSN-homebuildlife will publish its full analysis of the trend this week; to whet your appetite, here’s a sneak peek at one aspect of the movement in particular.

Front for Höganäs Keramik

Swedish design trio Front have collaborated with Swedish ceramic company Höganäs Keramik to create a utilitarian ceramic collection inspired by Höganäs's extensive back catalogue of vintage designs.

Patriotism at Autumn Fair 2010

Left: Penny Kennedy; right: Landon Tyler

With 500,000 products on view from 1500 exhibitors, Autumn Fair is one of the most important gift and homewares tradeshows of the season. Trends spotted at the event this year will be picked up by retailers for seasonal gifting, spring/summer 2011, and beyond; so it's a great place to go to see what's new in interiors.

When WGSN-homebuildlife visited the fair on Monday, we were struck by the frequency with which we saw the Union Jack. The British flag was used as surface decoration for everything from giftbags and trays, to storage boxes and cushions. It was even used for furniture, emblazoned across cabinets and armchairs.

Ferm Living at Maison & Objet

 Earlier this week the WGSN Interiors team visited this year's second instalment of the Parisian design show Maison et Objet to seek out the latest in inspirational homeware design. As well as being impressed with the breadth of design on show, we were also excited to see some fantastic offerings amongst the new exhibitors at the fair, one of which was Danish company Ferm Living.