This week in design, those in search of a fast home refresh may not need to travel further than their local supermarket. Stay in the know with our weekly roundup of headlines, launches, events, recommended reading and more.
Hurricane Helene
Hurricane Helene carved a destructive path through the Southeast over the weekend, starting last Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region and sweeping across Georgia and into the Carolinas, leading to more than 100 deaths across six states so far, Reuters reports. The western region of North Carolina was hit particularly hard, with the storm causing severe damage to homes and property and leading to at least 35 deaths in the state, all within the county surrounding Asheville, North Carolina. Hundreds in the area remain cut off from communications and in need of basic resources due to the ongoing flooding of major roads. The state will be President Joe Biden’s first stop on a visit throughout the affected states, set to begin on Wednesday.
North Carolina’s huge design community—particularly in hard-hit Asheville—is now dealing with the aftermath of the storm. The hurricane has forced numerous locally based operations to come to a halt, including pottery maker East Fork, which announced that it is temporarily unable to ship orders due to the storm; local furniture and decor purveyor Antique Tobacco Barn, which has documented its retail store’s destruction on social media; antique furniture store Atomic Furnishing & Design, which also saw its retail space extensively damaged by the storm and is looking to raise funds in order to rebuild; and vintage decor importer Sunnyside Trading Co., whose retail space was also destroyed. Meanwhile, House Beautiful’s Whole Home 2024 showhouse was set to debut later this month in an Asheville vacation home—at press time, it’s unclear whether the opening will proceed as planned.
Amid rescue and recovery efforts, the design industry is helping to raise funds to support those affected by the hurricane. High Point Market Authority directed followers on Instagram to support the Red Cross of North Carolina, and Raleigh-based designer MA Allen also posted to social media, encouraging followers to support local nonprofit BeLoved Asheville and relief organization Operation Airdrop.
Business News
Dockworkers all along the East and Gulf coasts began striking today over disputed contract negotiations, setting the stage to disrupt the shipment of goods to some of the country’s biggest ports, CNN reports. Ocean shipping companies say the walkout will likely have an effect on container prices, which could increase $1,500 to $3,000 or more if the strike extends up to five days. According to experts, the disruptions could cost the U.S. economy between $3.8 billion and $4.5 billion per day (which could be partially recovered once trade resumes).
Zillow will begin including details about climate risks alongside its real estate property listings, The Verge reports. With data provided through a partnership with climate risk financial modeling company First Street, the site will feature data like a listing’s vulnerability to wildfires, flooding, extreme temperatures, high winds and poor air quality, as well as recommended insurance, forecasted risk severity and potential cost increases in the future. Additionally, its search map will now include color-coding to indicate areas affected by key climate risks. According to the company, the new tags will affect a significant portion of its listings—in August, 16.7 percent of new listings were at major risk for wildfire and 12.8 percent for flooding.
Danish family-owned furniture manufacturer Carl Hansen & Søn has announced a series of cost-cutting measures after recording a loss of roughly $1.6 million—the company’s first deficit since 2007, Interior Daily reports. Along with making changes at the top, including replacing the brand’s marketing director, the company plans to lay off 10 employees (of the roughly 360-person workforce), and will no longer fill 13 open positions. It will also close its two showrooms in London and New York when their leases expire, and will consolidate lighting offerings from the recently acquired Pandul and Okholm Lighting companies under the Okholm brand.
In an effort to invent a biodegradable replacement for single-use plastics, Colombian product development company Glasst Innovation instead created a new kind of product: peelable paint. As Fast Company reports, the new material—which the company is calling Unpaint—is applied like regular paint (to indoor surfaces only) and after drying, can be removed by hand. The product is currently available on Glasst Innovation’s website, retailing for $30 for a quarter gallon and $60 for a gallon, in a variety of shades and custom options.
Launches and Collaborations
Samsung teamed up with Ashley Furniture for the launch of The Connected Home Experience—a showroom displaying a blend of home decor and smart technology within the furniture brand’s flagship store in Brentwood, Tennessee. The space will include several home vignettes exhibiting how smart home tech and furnishings can work together, ranging from work-from-home setups to bedrooms. Additional showrooms are set to roll out in other Ashley store locations in the coming months.
Tablescape company Atelier Saucier partnered with CW Stockwell to craft an assortment of napkins, table runners and placemats in the heritage brand’s most iconic prints. Made in Los Angeles with hand-printed fabrics, the collection features bright and colorful patterns like Martinique, Cabana and Million Flowers.
Louis Vuitton has rolled out two new versions of its trunk bed—originally designed in 1868 for long journeys—reimagined by the brand’s artistic director of women’s collections, Nicolas Ghesquière, and men’s creative director Pharrell Williams. According to Robb Report, Ghesquière’s piece takes a futuristic spin on the 19th century bed, adorning it with engraved metal plates juxtaposed with soft floral bedding, while Williams’s version includes a distressed striped pattern inspired by the original, along with embroidery spelling out the “LV Lovers” branding.
Recommended Reading
Amid a rocky period for the art market at large, no one is currently feeling the pain more than Sotheby’s—or more specifically, the auction house’s billionaire owner, Patrick Drahi. For The Wall Street Journal, Kelly Crow, Matt Wirz and Ben Foldy unpack why the auction house is suddenly stalling on payments to art sellers, shippers, conservators and even its own staff, as Drahi faces ballooning debt and mounting losses.
In the early days of the pandemic, the future looked bright for Food52, which saw its revenue nearly triple between 2019 and 2021. By 2022, the company’s luck had turned, and a misguided growth strategy quickly spurred executive turnover, rounds of layoffs and rapidly declining revenue. As Mark Stenberg writes for AdWeek, the company is hoping former Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan can stage a comeback for the embattled brand, via changes like new video programming and a more curated product portfolio with the goal of building back a future for the once-thriving company.
For the family behind Assouline, business is about more than just selling books—as Alexandre Assouline, the son of the company’s founders, told The New York Times, “Just don’t call us publishers; we are a luxury brand.” In the article, Ruth La Ferla profiles the family behind the LVMH-backed coffee table book empire, which has begun venturing into podcasting, digital magazines and interior design through curation of libraries for corporate and private clients—and seen business volume double over the past five years, thanks in part to a blueprint borrowed from the world of luxury fashion.
Cue the Applause
The Bienenstock Furniture Library has awarded scholarships to three emerging design students following the completion of its fourth annual Future Designers Summit last month. The Verellen Furniture Scholarship for furniture design went to Appalachian State University student Mason McKay; the Broyhill Family Foundation Scholarship for interior design went to High Point University student Arianna Repack; and the John Black Scholarship for interior design went to Mount Mary University student Elise DeGraef.
