This week in design, those embracing small-space living are in luck: Tiny paintings are apparently the art world’s “next big thing.” Stay in the know with our weekly roundup of headlines, launches, events, recommended reading and more.
Business News
The 50th edition of the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York has been postponed after the event’s location—an Upper East Side townhouse—fell through. Originally set to take place from May 2 through May 28, the showhouse’s organizers announced that they are now actively looking for locations to host the event in the fall. In the meantime, the organization plans to move ahead with its annual President’s Dinner on April 3, which will honor landscape architect Ed Hollander with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Wayfair is cutting 340 jobs amid a broader internal tech reorganization, The Wall Street Journal reports. The reduction efforts follow the company’s transition to a cloud-computing model, and includes the closure of its technology development center in Austin. Wayfair projects that the layoffs will cost the company $33 million to $38 million before resulting in savings starting in the second half of the year. In other news, the e-commerce giant announced this week a private offering of $700 million in senior secured notes—or low-risk, high-yield bonds that take precedence over other more “junior” debts. The money, according to the company, will largely be used to pay down prior debt obligations.
Rocket Mortgage is set to acquire residential real estate platform Redfin in an all-stock deal valued at $1.75 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports. Following the purchase, Redfin chief executive Glenn Kelman will continue leading the business, reporting to Rocket chief executive Varun Krishna. The deal will allow Rocket Mortgage to market more effectively to Redfin’s nearly 50 million monthly visitors by matching home buyers with real estate agents and loan officers across both companies with the help of each platform’s combined data. Rocket also plans to use Redfin’s data to strengthen its AI models for “more personalized and automated consumer experiences.” Already approved by the boards of both companies, the deal is expected to close in the second or third quarter of the year following approval from Redfin shareholders and regulators.
Sherwin-Williams is set to downsize staff at its Cleveland, Ohio-based corporate headquarters. According to Cleveland Magazine, two company sources shared under the condition of anonymity that Sherwin-Williams made an internal announcement last week, stating that it would be offering early retirements and/or voluntary layoffs to certain employees; the exact number had not yet been released. The sources say the reductions will affect three of the company’s business units—including the finance, enterprise technology and business services departments—which all “have experienced transformative change in the past few years and would benefit from reducing complexity.”
Textile-to-textile recycling startup Circ has completed a $25 million funding round, which it will use to bring its technology to the commercial market, Business of Fashion reports. The new capital—which came from investment firm Taranis and Zara parent company Inditex—will go toward developing plans for a commercial-scale plant, which Circ aims to begin building within the next 12 to 17 months. The news comes just a few days after Circ, along with fellow textile-to-textile recyclers Circulose, Syre and Re&Up Recycling Technologies announced the launch of the T2T Alliance: a joint initiative geared toward driving policy change to support circularity in the textile industry.
Last week, Saltillo, Mississippi–based furniture manufacturer Bauhaus Furniture notified employees that the company would be shutting down effective March 10, citing challenges such as tariff uncertainty, a softened business environment and difficulties related to its new software system. As Home News Now reports, this week the company’s situation changed: According to an executive, operations are back on as Bauhaus negotiates and finalizes a deal to be acquired. Bauhaus has not yet named its prospective buyer but expects a purchase agreement to be reached by the end of the week.
Canadian department store Hudson’s Bay Company—which also operates Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off Fifth locations in the country—has initiated restructuring proceedings that are the equivalent of filing for bankruptcy protection, Retail Dive reports. The retailer cited the Trump administration’s recent tariffs and continued post-pandemic economic struggles for the filing, which revealed that the company is facing an “urgent liquidity crisis,” leaving it unable to pay suppliers and nearly unable to fund payroll for its 9,400-person workforce. In response, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved 16 million Canadian dollars in debtor-in-possession financing, which Hudson’s Bay Company plans to use to liquidate certain stores and reduce its portfolio to a “core number of locations.”
Laguna Beach, California–based brand Business & Pleasure Co.—which specializes in outdoor products like umbrellas, beach chairs and poolside loungers—has completed a $16 million minority stake investment led by Silas Capital. With the new funding, the company plans to focus on initiatives such as strengthening its sales network and distribution channels in support of trade and hospitality customers; honing direct-to-consumer channels by building out its e-commerce team and brand marketing initiatives; and expanding its retail fleet with multiple new national and international locations.
Launches and Collaborations
Koelnmesse—the organizer of German furniture fair IMM Cologne—has announced the launch of a new interior design–focused trade show set to take place this fall, Furniture Today reports. The new show, called IDD Cologne, will be held in the German city of the same name from October 26 through October 29, and will subsequently take place every two years. The news comes after the fair’s organizers announced last year that the January 2025 edition of IMM Cologne would be canceled following challenges in the furniture industry and German economy. Now, a Koelnmesse spokesperson says that IDD Cologne and the next IMM Cologne, scheduled for January 2026, will target different audiences: the former to focus on “inspirational designs and high-end brands,” and the latter to serve the “consumer-oriented interior design segment, showcasing in-demand, market-ready product trends for all areas of home living.”
Home textile wholesaler Town & Country Living has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Reese Witherspoon–founded lifestyle brand Draper James. The partnership will see Town & Country bring the brand’s Southern style to a full-scale home collection, featuring touches like scalloped kitchen textiles, lace-accented window treatments and floral-inspired area rugs.
CB2 has debuted a new White Lotus–inspired home goods collection. The collection ranges from smaller items like trays, pillows and serveware to large-scale pieces like sofas, bedding, wallpaper and rugs, each endowed with opulent and botanical styles elements drawn from design traditions in Thailand—the setting of the show’s current season.
Showhouses
The annual WOW!house designer showhouse—hosted annually in the Design Centre in London’s Chelsea Harbour—has debuted this year’s lineup of design professionals selected to reimagine the space. The 22-person list includes designers Chad Dorsey, Alessandra Branca, Nicola Harding, Ben Pentreath and Darren Price, among others. The space will be open to the public from June 3 through July 3, with a percentage of ticket proceeds to benefit the organization’s charity partner, United in Design.
Recommended Reading
One environmental concern that comes with buying plastic furniture and home goods is that once they’ve been discarded, such pieces will sit in a landfill forever (a simple plastic water bottle, for reference, takes an estimated 450 years to decompose). As Diana Budds writes for Fast Company, a company called Worry Free Plastics has created an enzyme that, when incorporated into plastic items, speeds up that process to as little as five years—and has already made its way into batches of products made by high-end furniture brand Heller.
According to Pinterest, the hottest tablescaping trend in 2025 will be “surreal soiree,” with searches up 40 percent on the platform for “curvy candlesticks, fantastical flowers and gravity-defying centerpieces” (a trend BOH’s market editor Caroline Biggs spotted in late 2024). As Salvador Dalí fans know, the uncanny aesthetic has deep roots in high fashion and interior design. For ArtNet News, Jo Lawson-Tancred offers a tour through the artist’s greatest home hits, ranging from the Mae West Lips Sofa to the Lobster Telephone.
Call for Entries
Submissions are now open for the 11th Annual ANDYZ Awards—a contest sponsored by Andmore, recognizing the best in residential and commercial design projects. The competition spans 14 categories, covering residential and commercial spaces of varying sizes, custom furnishings, kitchen, bath, showrooms and more. For more information or to make a submission before the April 1 deadline, click here.
In Memoriam
Woodworker, author and entrepreneur Thomas F. Moser—who founded Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers alongside his wife, Mary, in 1972—passed away last week at the age of 90. As Architectural Record reports, Moser was a self-taught woodworker who drew inspiration from the 18th-century wood frame houses common to his home state of Maine. After launching his business with the proclamation that “each piece is made as it would have been 150 years ago,” Moser went on to grow the venture alongside his wife and three sons, expanding into dedicated showrooms in major cities. The brand soon found success in the contract furnishings market, collaborating with leading architectural firms like Venturi Scott Brown, SANAA, and Snøhetta. Along the way, Moser also worked to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of woodworkers, authoring five books and teaching architecture students at the University of Pennsylvania. “His core beliefs remained steadfast,” his son Aaron Moser told Architectural Record. “Quality and product were always the most important things to him. Employees, number two, and customers, number three.”
David Sellers, an architect who helped establish the design-build movement, passed away last month at the age of 86, The New York Times reports. In 1965, Sellers, alongside fellow recent graduate of the Yale School of Architecture William Reineke, purchased 425 acres in the Mad River Valley of Vermont to explore a then-radical notion: If architects controlled the construction process, buildings could become more functional, beautiful and sustainable. Their ethos inspired countless architects from across the country to convene at Prickly Mountain (their name for the newly acquired plot of land) and construct their own designs, many of which incorporate green energy features like passive solar and wind design. “What always came through was his sheer genius and talent,” former collaborator Jack Wadsworth told the NYT. “And his ability to make just about anything.”
