I’ve just come home from Highpoint Market and wanted to report back on the trends I saw. This was my first in-person visit to Highpoint Market and it is just incredible! 

With over 10 million square feet of exhibit space, it is impossible to see it all, but I covered a lot of territory over 5 days, and the showrooms all manage to keep us well fed and watered!  The Market Authority runs transportation shuttles to make reaching all the far ranging showrooms easy.  It is an amazingly well run operation. 

As much fun as seeing all the new offerings and learning about all the products in all the beautiful showrooms, was getting together with old friends, meeting new friends, and meeting many of my design colleagues IRL for the first time!   

A word about trends.  

A trend, according to the Merriam-Webster definition, is just the prevalence of something currently popular or fashionable. Some trends take advantage of new technologies or innovations in manufacturing and become new classics, and some are fads that will fade.  

Smart vendors know that creating eye-catching, photographable displays is a great way to get social media attention and some were gorgeous, some were playful, and others were outrageous. 

This market, there was something for everyone!  From casual to formal, coastal to glam, and classically beautiful to waaaaaay out of the box.

Like this woven bed/cocoon which might be considered cozy, or might be categorized as an oversized dog bed or some sort of alien pod from a sci-fi flick.  

Equally perplexing was this fully upholstered chair and the one thing that kept popping into my head was “Michelin man”…maybe you have to be my age to be familiar with that one. 

Or this furry chair that would hopefully not be mistaken for a public toilet in your living room.  

While design these days, much like fashion, is the wild west of “anything goes”, there were a few things that turned up more often than not.

Texture

Interesting textures turned up everywhere and we’ll cover more on that in part 2, but here I want to talk about fabric textures.

If there is one word to sum up this years markets, it is probably boucle.  In case you aren’t familiar, boucle is that nubby textured loop weave fabric that can emulate anything from a 1950’s bathrobe to a Chanel Suit in texture.  

On the plus side, it looks inviting and comfy and cozy.  On the minus side, it would be challenging to keep clean and impossible to detangle claws from…so boucle is probably best reserved for fastidious adults without kids or pets.

If you happen to fall into that category though, nearly every showroom displayed some cozy boucle seating.

In addition to boucle, there was an abundance of soft velvets and chenilles, and accent pieces in hair-on-hide and faux fur and jute.

Color is Back

Another recurring theme at this market was color…it is officially back!  While some showrooms included some brights, we also saw corals from blush to terra cotta make a strong showing, as well as golden ochre tones.  And every shade of blue is still in evidence proving itself as an enduring classic. 

Blessedly, there was less gray - are we all not tired of seeing gray everywhere on everything yet? Neutrals tended toward crisp whites, dramatic blacks, and warm creams and beiges much more often than gray.  

But the most prevalent color by far was green - in every shade from olive to kelly to spruce and teal.  

The popularity of green is not surprising since green “plays well with others”… and every single major paint company has just named some version of green as the color of the year for 2022.

Trends give us a peek at what will be available and showing up at retailers, but decorating should always be personal.  Pick and choose what makes your heart sing - don’t ever select your decor just because something is popular. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Trend Report from Highpoint Market coming soon!