Top Drawer and Home London- SS14 Trends

Yesterday Earls Court opened its doors once again for Top Drawer and Home London, two shows specialising in gifts, lifestyle and fashion accessories, and homewares and interiors.  I love this event…as well as seeing what new pieces the well established wholesalers have to offer, it’s a great opportunity to meet new independent designers and makers.  It’s great when you see a product from a new company and you just know the product will sell and they’re going to have a successful year- you feel excited for them!

The two shows cover such a large variety of product in so many different design styles, there really is something for everyone there.  I’ve pulled together some of the trends that stood out for me…

COOL COLOUR PALETTE

Cool blues, off whites, greys and purples seemed to be the predominant colour palette with occasional burnt orange, yellow and teal accent colours.

METALLICS

Metallics were strong again this year.  They were used either minimally to highlight a detail for example the outline of an illustration or a fitting on a table, or they were used in a more unusual way but on a larger scale to be the main feature of that particular product.

1-  Another Country are exhibiting some beautiful crafted furniture which use simple brass fixtures and fittings that compliment the matte finish of the wood.  I also love their Another Desktop Series 2 accessory set shown on top of the bench which uses brass sheet to highlight the function of the stationary item.

2-  LSAs striking Polka Collection combines an all over metallic glaze with a strong colour palette.

3-  Independent surface pattern designer Claire Murray is exhibiting her new Birds and Butterflies wallpaper on the Heart Home Magazine stand.  The pattern has also been printed onto fabric for cushions and lampshades but I like how the slightly metallic grey background to the wallpaper really makes the pattern’s lemon yellows, oranges, pinks and teals pop out.

4-  Love the dimpled texture and contrasting gold and gun metal finishes of Lisbeth Dahls trays.

5-  Sabre Paris have done a range of metallic acrylic cutlery which would be great for entertaining.

6-  Get me one of these Broste Copenhagen rugs!  I love them so much!  The natural palette works really well with the skinny strips of copper woven through.

SIMPLICITY

Of course there are a fair amount of more detailed, and ornate, and shabby chic items on show, but for me, the really striking pieces were the more stripped back simple products, either simple in their form, their finish or texture.

1-  The simple radiating chevron pattern on Rorstrands Swedish Grace collection works really well with the pale glaze.

2-  Absolutely love Maia Ming Designs porcelain Salt & Pepper Rings with one ring having a matte finish, and the other being gloss.

3-  Selettis Desktructure range is good fun.  I like how the clean coloured band running along the bottom edge helps give the blocks presence.

4-  Another product by Seletti.  The Multilamp comes in various forms, but this tall floor standing lamp is my favourite.  The simple matte finish frame, clean angles, and neat 6 lamp grid work really well.

5-  I spent ages looking at Royal Doultons 1815 range.  The rep explained how they created the collection by going right back to their beginnings (in 1815) when Royal Doulton created more everyday utility pieces.  This shows in the clean forms and simple dipped glaze finish.  I really like the range of colours they’ve chosen and it will be interesting to see how they develop the range for the bicentennial anniversary next year.

6-  Chives wall bricks are about as simple as you can go and they just work so well as a striking indoor or outdoor wall feature.

FACES

Quite a random trend, but faces seemed to pop up every now and then.  Following on from the Simplicity trend above, they were often simple line only illustrations on simple white forms with the face being the only detail.

1-  The Nordic Element stand showcased pieces by Finnsdottir.  The Babushka vases really stood out.

2-  The Po: range of character mugs and egg cup holders with silicon hats on the Gilberts stand were good fun.

3-  The New English exhibited Paul Bishops Seemore family.  Meet Cyril, Kevin and Duane.

There was of course animal products everywhere but that is a whole other post!  Top Drawer and Home London are open until Tuesday 5pm.  You can register for free at www.topdrawer.co.uk or www.home-london.net.  If you do go down, make sure you wear comfy shoes- there is alot to see!