ICFF 'details' soft fabrics with color

NEW YORK — Soft, drapey fabrics with lots of construction detail, kinetic effects translated onto area rug designs, decorative pillows with unusual treatments and embellishments and quilts with a contemporary flavor highlighted the home textiles offerings at the 14th International Contemporary Furniture Fair here last week. And color clearly outshone naturals and neutrals, with red the hands-down favorite and hints of bold aqua, orange and a golden yellow also making their marks.

The show is attracting more and more non-furniture exhibitors, which see the variety of the visitor base of retailers, display people, architects, designers and museums as important to their distribution.

Said Bill Kerr, who, with his wife Weeks Ringle, designs and owns Fun Quilts "it's been great, generally wonderful. The right people come to this one."

"We ran out of promotional material early; it's been very good," was the assessment of Anne Kyyro Quinn, designer/ owner of her namesake contemporary textiles company, whose collection of unusual pillows fashioned of industrial felt were noteworthy. And Julie Austin, sales manager for Foreign Accents, said, "We've written business and in our first time here have had a wonderful response" to a line of mercerized cotton area rugs with a silky hand.

Targeting bed fashions for the teen market, Malcolm Curzon of Dormitory called response to the product offerings "very good. People like our approach for kids with attitude." Angela Adams, designer and owner of her namesake fabrics, pillows, rugs, furniture and accessories company pointed out that "business is heating up again. We had a lot of serious shoppers, a great show and lots of new information gathering."