May 07 2010
Creativity in the Spotlight at High Point International Home Furnishings Show
Everyone gets in a rut now and then. Mine usually come towards the end of a long season – like this past winter. A season which, for those of us in the south, was quite brutal. Getting away from routines always perks things up, and in the Triad in spring, the biggest getaway from the normal is the High Point International Home Furnishings Show.
Despite not being able to book a restaurant, hotel or rental car for a 10-day stretch, I love living next to the furniture capital of the world. It’s where the world’s finest in design convene for a three-city, six-day trade show. Trade show is a bit of a misnomer, for it conjures up images of 10-foot by 10-foot booths, swathed in scrim and decorated with vinyl signs. High Point’s “trade show” spaces range from 10-feet-square to 10,000 square feet. Showrooms are brimming with not only the latest product but also the most updated way to merchandise it. For example, these scrimshaw brushes from Peninsula Collection, are used as a curtain to create spatial separation or vertical art.
High Point hosts the international giants and the intrepid young artists. Ben Caldwell, a young entrepreneur from South Carolina, made his debut this market with some eye-raising yet sustainable and chat-worthy designs. This chair is made from 350 retired decks of Las Vegas playing cards. And yes, you can sit in it. I tried.
The most exciting addition to High Point’s round up hasn’t been an exhibitor, it’s been an exhibit. For the past two shows, attendees have been entertained, bumfuzzled and bewildered by the Amazed exhibit. Last year the exhibit interpreted a “Trip to Ahhs” for the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz, through a series of artists’ vignettes. My personal favorite was Glenda the Good Witch, made entirely of bubble gum, and her antithesis, the Wicked Witch of the West, fashioned from Tootsie Rolls. There were national monuments made from crayons and world icons on toast.
This spring, the theme was the “Ten Senses of Good Vibration”. Artists took inspiration from classic songs and develop a sort of visual performance art to express their ideas. Most striking, albeit morbid, was one artist’s take on the first music video ever shown on MTV. Ironically, ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ was chosen to make MTV history. As the vignette below shows, the artist mimicked the literal death of the radio star (tucked inside the casket, wrapped in miles of VCR tape).
Using edible materials seemed to be in some artists minds again this year. But this time, no candy. Serious food stuffs — in the form of pasta, herbs, beans and spices depicted leaders of social change.
Some portraits made a literal translation from materials to man. Like Che Guevara, for instance, whose visage was formed from spicy peppercorns.
On the other hand, I have no idea why JFK was made from lasagna and rotini. But contemplating the reasons a historied president was developed from complex carbohydrates did cause me to think about creating things other than dinner. The imagination of these artists and the innovation they bring to the Market reminds me that while furniture manufacturing has moved offshore (and had significant consequences on the economy in North Carolina), the inspiration for what will shape our lives is still vibrant and alive.
On the other hand, I have no idea why JFK was made from lasagna and rotini. But contemplating the reasons a historied president was developed from complex carbohydrates did cause me to think about creating things other than dinner. The imagination of these artists and the innovation they bring to the Market reminds me that while furniture manufacturing has moved offshore (and had significant consequences on the economy in North Carolina), the inspiration for what will shape our lives is still vibrant and alive.
