new zealand based distributor zest products has had a huge reaction to new homewares brand general eclectic after only a few sneak peeks on facebook and an ad in the home & giving fair catalogue.
the business created the collection to compliment its children’s toy label lily & george. designs were inspired by an overseas trip.
“in february myself and my colleague tania coster, our general manager, took a trip to europe and were impressed by the fantastic homeware ranges available there,” says owner sarah parker. “there was lots of colour and great mixtures of styles across different periods and looks and they weren’t afraid to put it all together and mix things up to give a home real personality.
“we were really excited as we are so bored of the neutral beige interiors that have been the trend for so long. the colours in europe were quite muted though, so we decided we needed to turn up the brightness for the ‘down under lifestyle’ and the strong sunlight.”
retailers can choose from a wide range of products at varying price points. the variety and size of the launch collection is reflective of the brand’s name.
“the range is quite large for a first launch but we felt it needed to be to make it eclectic as the name suggests. there are almost 400 lines in the first catalogue and they range from a greeting card retailing at a few dollars to gorgeous over-dyed vintage rugs at a few thousand dollars, and every point in between. some of the key categories are vases, cushions, glassware, storage, furniture, wall art, clocks and much more,” she explains.
general eclectic has been six months in the making and just a couple of weeks out from the launch in melbourne, parker has been overwhelmed by the reaction.
“[it’s] beyond my wildest dreams,” she adds. “the first ad went out in the home & giving book a couple of weeks ago and before we had even got our copy we were inundated with enquiries and the catalogue was not even at the printers yet.
“we have also been posting tasters of the product on our facebook page and have had great responses with orders and requests for exclusive areas coming in already and they haven’t even seen the catalogue. we are now just so excited to get the stand set up at the home & giving fair as this will be the first time we will have seen all the finished product together and looking gorgeous.”
