Sarah and I took one day to drive up to High Point for the furniture market last week.
It’s really not fair to say that this post does the market any justice. With over 180 separate buildings and something like 2000 vendors, we knew we’d never see it all, even if we DID go every day.
Prior to my first furniture market experience in Vegas a few months back, I really thought that this was a magical event hidden behind a large curtain that I was unable to peek behind. But the veil was lifted, and it was a bit Wizard of Oz. I believe that Sarah might agree – it was a little underwhelming. Certainly not all, but most of the vendors that we met with were not our style. I was hoping for this wildly stylish world to open up before us. It’s not the case.
But, we take that as our mission, to wade through what the world has to offer and select only the best of the best, for you to choose from, in our lovely and carefully selected environment.
That being said, we skipped the riffraff, and below we are sharing only the beautiful things that we saw.
We started out by attending a panel. Sarah and I are both big fans of Lauren Liess, so it was great to be in the audience while she, along with fellow designer Meg Braff and the editorial folks at Southern Living & Coastal Living talked about the IDEA HOUSES for their respective magazines. Sarah and I both walked away wishing they had gotten a bit more into the weeds.
We relegated ourselves to the Design & Antiques section and we visited with many of the smaller, global vendors that were stationed in the same building at Market Square. Here is where I found a 100 year old gymnastics bench from Germany. I sat and stared at it for some time, trying to contemplate how to get it back to California. Sarah felt like it was maybe a little TOO “California vibez” for what is happening in our SoPi shop. So, I will instead catalog this idea and begin a new search out here on this side of the country. That butter soft leather though….
I wish I had gotten a better picture to do this pottery justice, but Middle Kingdom had a new matte glaze that we were really into. They were style spotted by Anne Sage, so we had a few laughs over that because we have a TON of mini vases and bowls from Middle Kingdom at shop TEOT. They make really great collector pieces. I enjoyed visiting with this company and I’m glad Sarah chose to carry them.
Look, we are really into hampers and catchall baskets. If you don’t know by now, large totes and stylish baskets around the house can make ALL the difference in the world where it comes to clutter. Have you ever had one of those moments where you get a call, and your mother-in-law is stopping by in ten minutes. Now you are running maniacally through the house trying to hide all your family’s mess. These are the answer. You just put your mess in there! :)
Blue and white forever, y’all already know. This vendor had great mix of vintage and new reproductions. Sarah and I have debated over a few different options for carrying these classic pieces in the shop. I like the shapes and the price point here.
Fantastic dog beds, and some were even big enough for my 130 pound puppy.
Nothing haunts you like the things you didn’t buy. This will be one of those things. The colors and the pattern were special.
We loved the green backing on this rug.
Color blocked baskets are making their way to us sooner rather than later.
We hung with Hassan, in the Moroccan booth for awhile. He had some interesting things to say about Sabra silk and he also said he manages tours to Morocco where he can arrange on site visits with some of his vendors that he works directly with. It sounded like a great way to take the trip.
Lovely lines on a vintage Italian sofa, that was marked sold.
I’d love to have visited Interhall, as my understanding that this is the juried exhibition space for emerging talent. It would be full of more up and coming vendors with something exciting going on. I also thought we might pop in to touch the arms of all of the Lee Industries sofas, but since our aspirations are a bit larger to our current reality and there are plenty of markets to attend in the future, we skipped large soft upholstery and furniture vendors for this trip.
Sarah is doing some more wheeling and dealing here in the Jaipur booth, where we oohed and aahed over the textiles.
Handpainted tiles from Turkey.
A large collection of old bread boards caught our eye. This vendor deals in Raleigh, NC and they had some great stuff.
Sarah and I stood in the Zoe Bios booth for quite some time, chatting through which pieces we’d like to take home for ourselves. The colors here are perfect!
So that’s it. Shopping the market is really one of the fantasy perks of this job, so it was awesome to get out there and experience the vendors in person, and while we are together. I look forward to plenty more buying trips in the future.
