Hi! Lilly here, the most recent addition to the RWD team! Of course, I was beyond excited when I found out I would be able to go to the Las Vegas Market with the team this year! It seemed like a dream come true – being completely surrounded by beautiful pieces of furniture and being able to sit in chairs that I had admired on websites. Actually being there to feel and experience them in person was thrilling. Not to mention, this was also my first time to Las Vegas. I had heard so much about all of the hotel designs on the strip, and about Vegas in general, that going there was also so exciting! We stayed in the Bellagio, which was completely gorgeous. The sheer size of everything, including the hotel, was overwhelming.
Market itself was everything I hoped it would be. With Rebecca as my guide, I got to go into all of the vendor showrooms that we source from for our clients, and we got to explore and learn about some new companies too. Much of the furniture that we saw was distinct for its quality, ingenuity, creativity and comfort, which is, in my opinion, everything you would want from a piece of furniture. Below are a few of my favorite things that I saw at Market!
The first piece of furniture I saw which excited me was a cabinet from Studio A Home. At first glance, it just looks like an attractive Mid-Century cabinet. But it has a really cool feature! The slats in the front of the piece are offset, so that when you push back the cabinet door, the intertwined slats create a solid face. The functionality and simplicity of it combined with how much I liked the look of it when it was opened, closed, or even partly open, is what made me so excited about the piece.
We are BIG fans of Four Hands furniture here at RWD, so going to their showroom was a must for me! Needless to say, it did not disappoint. Not only were they serving the best food (very important), but I may have found the most comfortable chair on earth there. We went back multiple times, and each time made sure to spend some time on this heavenly chair, one time even running toward it only to have someone else sit down out of nowhere, stealing our seats. We of course waited patiently for them to move and then swooped in swiftly so that they were not stolen again. This chair really did make you feel as though you were sitting on a cloud. We also found a bookcase that really spoke to us. It is a simple design but also gorgeous, and is definitely something I could see in a client’s home, or in my own!
Another unforgettable experience was walking through the Christopher Guy showroom. Just being in this showroom was a luxurious experience. Lots of incredible colors, textures and shapes overwhelmed your senses as you walked through. My favorite items to look at and experience were the mosaic art pieces which adorned the walls. Each piece was incredibly intricate, and the colors and shine of the tiles made it an experience in and of itself. We learned from our sales rep that there were often thousands of pieces of tile in each piece, and that they were handmade, sometimes taking thousands of hours to create just one. They were massive, looming over you as you viewed it, making it just that more impactful.
There were quite a few pieces at Oly that I really liked. The first thing I noticed when walking into the showroom was this four poster bed frame. I am a big fan of four poster beds and this one was particularly cool. The materials (wood and metal) and the simple shape of the posters put a modern twist on a piece of furniture that is usually rather traditional and historical. They also had multiple pieces made out of capiz shells, my favorite being this nightstand, and a runner up being the floor lamp. Capiz shell is just plain pretty.
As my old classmates can attest to, I love a little blush, and at Bungalow 5, they had some blush furniture! One chair’s fabric was a velvety wood pattern. And it was blush! Yes please! They also had these Clover side tables which were cute on their own, but bunch them together and you get a coffee table like no other. Not only did I like them because of their form and unique functionality, but I thought it was fun to have a piece of furniture that could be pulled apart into smaller pieces if you needed more side tables while entertaining, or wanted a room opened up for kids to play.
Leftbank was rolling out a new line of art which I really enjoyed. It was so quirky, fun and different that it immediately grabbed my attention. They were portraits with a twist: an elegant Victorian women who just so happens to be a bird, a stately gentleman in an elegant robe… with a tiger’s head, and a revolutionary man adorned in metals, his face obscured by butterflies. These are just three examples from the collection and each one is so fun and unexpected that it is hard not to be a little silly in the presence of such a piece, as we discovered as we contemplated which of the bird ladies we would be (the one below is me).
We came across a furniture company that we didn’t previously know about, but are now very excited to use! It’s called Black Label Home, and we talked to Robert Wylie, the founder of the company, while we were there. All I really have to say about this company is that sitting on one of the couches, I could have stayed there all day. I mean, REALLY comfortable. The designs were good and were customizable (which is always a plus) and talking to Robert, you could tell how knowledgeable and passionate he was about building quality furniture. It was such a good experience talking to him, and it gave us a reason to sit on his couch for a while, so that we didn’t have to just loiter in his showroom!
I have loved Loloi for their rugs, but I was reminded at Market that they also have the cutest pillows. One section of the showroom was like a pillow wonderland! Not only do they have a line from Ellen DeGeneres (my fave), but they also have lots of other pillows with amazing texture, pattern and color. It made me excited to have another place to look when on the hunt for fun pillows for our clients.
These are just a few of the pieces and showrooms that blew my mind. Everywhere I went had cool things to see and comfortable furniture to sit on, as well as yummy food, drinks, and some candy to enjoy! What’s not to love about that!? As a recently graduated designer, an experience like this is so valuable and I am so happy that I had Rebecca to show me the ropes! Getting to go the Luxe cocktail party, explore the hotels on the strip, and go out with the girls was amazing, and it gave me a taste of the Las Vegas experience. Can’t wait for next time!
