HIGH POINT – Hooker Furnishings has unveiled a new lifestyle furniture brand that aims to attract and introduce the company to a younger consumer with an assortment of trend-setting and globally inspired designs.
Commerce & Market debuted at the April Premarket with about 70 pieces of accent and occasional tables, consoles, side tables, chests and other storage pieces.
Sourced from India, Mexico and Vietnam, these are slightly smaller in scale, making them more affordable and more appropriately sized for a younger audience living in smaller homes compared to the step up Mélange accent furniture line.
The company originally developed some test product for the brand with its St. Armand group of occasional tables. This group includes cocktails, end tables, nesting tables, martini tables and desks, which are smaller in scale and offer clean-lined designs that appeal to many younger consumers. These pieces are now part of the Commerce & Market assortment.
Yet most of the pieces were developed over the past year during what has probably been the most challenging time for the industry since World War II due to the pandemic.
Design and product development professionals led by Tim O’Hare, senior vice president, merchandising and design, met the challenge, working virtually through Microsoft Teams with international source factories to create the product.
“Without good partners and relationships, it would have been difficult to get this product over here,” O’Hare said of the design and development process. “I don’t know how many hours we spent on Microsoft Teams going through it all and not giving up.”
“Plus, they had to hit our price points,” he added. “We were aggressive with our price points as this is a whole new area for us. We said, ‘If we can get really good product at really good price points and focus on our audience, we might have something here.’”
The result, which involved samples being shipped to the U.S. from abroad and fine- tuned according to the company’s standards, is a globally inspired design palette that incorporates the best talents and materials from each country.
For example, the product from Vietnam illustrates the county’s strong suits in solid woods and veneers and offers finishes that complement those wood species, while also incorporating various mixed media elements.
Products from India highlight its capabilities in metal, indigenous woods such as mango as well as other mixed media elements such as bone and slate.
The mix from Mexico, meanwhile, incorporates different types of metals, wood species, woven materials and stones that are indigenous to that country.
The product is being shown in a roughly 4,000-square-foot space in the Hooker showroom in space C -1058 of the International Home Furnishings Center.
Reaction to the line was positive at Premarket, officials said.
“We couldn’t be more excited with the reaction we got the effort,” said Mike Harris, president of Hooker Case Good and Upholstery. “It exceeded every expectation we had. … We are super excited about it.”
He also believes the effort will help introduce the Hooker brand to younger consumers with product that is designed and scaled according to their needs.
“We want to create a relationship with the younger consumer, and we want that consumer to be with us as they get older,” Harris added. “We are creating a much broader demographic and trying to meet as many of the needs in the home as we can.”
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May 04, 2021 at 05:03AM
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Hooker Furnishings unveils Commerce & Market line - Furniture Today
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