Spent yesterday at Buildex. Always go - never get round to every booth though. Amazing array of bathroom fixtures this year... thought it was only me whose business seems to revolve around bathrooms (7 on the go right now)!
Fortunately, amongst all the wildly contemporary lines, there are now more transitional models available. Which is good, because I can't think of a client who will buy the more extreme modernistic faucets knowing they have to live with them for years. But they love the more modern take on traditional styles. Or they just want traditional (sigh).
Attended the Kitchen and Bath trends seminar and yes, again it's the Boomers with the money to spend, and interestingly enough, they want to go green. In amongst the trend-talk, we looked at universal design and how barrier-free can be beautiful. And then the presenter, Donna Riddell of Artistry Design Group, showed us winners of the NKBA's design awards and although there were some VERY trendy new spaces, lo and behold, there were plenty of OTT traditional winners in there too. Worth a look at
http://nkba.org/consumer_inspiration_2010_dc_winners.aspx.
Spent valuable few hours at the Lighting Lab - highly technical, but good to get the refresher and some very useful pointers from the three presenters. LEDs have come a long way :)
You had to look carefully at what was on offer on the trade show floor - everyone who doesn't have a truly eco-friendly product has figured out a green angle on their old product, but there are truly plenty of gorgeous finishes and FF&E that are more Earth friendly. Question: since that volcano erupted and made us realise how much of what we spec comes from Europe, can someone not find a way to manufacture some of these products here in Canada? Better for our economy and I'll bet lead times will fall radically... meaning happier designers and clients.
And since it's Earth Day today (and every day in our office), maybe we can all take a look at just one product we can show to clients that will replace an old one that does more harm than good? And then one more tomorrow, and another the day after?
If you follow us on Twitter, you will have seen our tweets on some of our trade show finds...
