Early this month, buyers from 84 countries came to Chicago to meet with 1,016 exhibitors from 40 countries at the Inspired Home Show. While the show was smaller than in previous years, the benefits for those attending were tremendous.
“Many exhibitors expressed they connected with key retailers like never before—they received meetings and those meetings lasted longer than anticipated,” says IHA president and CEO, Derek Miller.
“Retailers expressed that they found new companies, brands and products not seen in the past. Yes, 2022 was different, but different can be good—quality over quantity as they say.”
Below are some of the highlights of the show by Michelle Hespe, who visited the Inspired Home Show.
The Gibson stand was bursting at the seams with colour and fun/lively designs. Bold orange, yellow, red and blue plates—all of the primary colours and softer pastels too such as pale pink, spearmint and mauve.
“After the last couple of years, people need more colour and enjoyable aesthetics in the home and kitchen,” a Gibson rep said.
It’s also all about bringing the outside inside as we all had to spend so much more time at home—we’re talking flowers, butterflies and motifs. There was also an exotic/island kind of theme on the picnicware/BBQ/cheese platters—palm fronds, parrots and frangipanis. All of this reflects our desire to travel again and being outdoors after being stuck indoors for long periods of time due to Covid.
The Portobello collapsible ‘on the go’ cup from W10, using patent pending technology, is a 400ml collapsible cup with a stainless steel outer shell and a BPA free plastic liner, that collapses from 13.8cm down to just 6.5cm. It’s sold with a pouch and can be easily carried in bags or a jacket pocket.
Le Creuset is known for its bright colours that really pop—primary red and deep blue pots, but this show the company also had its No Knead French Oven Bread pot that is perfect for ‘easy, no stress bread making, for even the novice baker. The loaf is made with just four pantry-staples: flour, salt, yeast and water’.
During Covid, breadmaking became a huge trend because it’s relaxing, rewarding and people couldn’t go out and sit in their favourite cafes or restaurants and eat ‘chef-made’ sourdough or bread.
Umbra’s big focus is on sustainability and taking care of the planet, and even the stand was made of recyclable materials. They are all about making products to last and the focus was on earthy tones and plants.
The grey, black and neutral tones with splashes of rust/orange really set off the plants. Lots of natural woods and whites with a contemporary design.
Dreamfarm is always doing something new and has kept its bright happy colours, which was really important during Covid.
“We took some of the original, classis Dreamfarm products and made smaller versions of them,” says the rep.
“For instance, the mini suppoon scrape and the mini suppoon cooking spoon and mini chopula.”
The mini suppoon means you can get all of the last bits of your food out of jars such as vegemite. In line with the trend of making things that you would normally buy or eat in a café or restaurant, Dreamfarm’s ice cream sandwich maker (Icepo) was a hit as you can make an ice cream sandwich with two cookies and it serves up the perfect amount.
There was a big dog boom just like in Australia during Covid and people are spending more money and time on their dogs.
Dog by Dr Lisa is all about gentle, natural products. Its wipes are very popular, as so many people travel with their dogs and you can wipe sand, slobber or even poop off easily. The wee cleaner is also doing well.
There is a big focus on being compostable and environmentally friendly with biodegradable and compostable dog bags, etc. It’s all about making dog owning easier and less messy.
Happy Sinks is all about making your sink area look nice, neat and clean, and giving people without much space in their kitchen a way of having everything they need on hand.
“I don’t have room for a dish drying rack in my tiny kitchen,” one of the reps said. The dish drying rack is made of steel and you just roll it out above your sink and place things on it to dry.
“Then it simply rolls away and is easily stored under the sink.”
Its magnetic dish cloth holders simply stick on the inside of your sink so that the cloths are out of sight. The new limited edition one is ‘rainbow’ in lovely reflective colours. The dish cloths are organic and eco-friendly and the brand has teamed up with a Finish fashion brand called Papu for the cool designs.
Stasher is about making it easy to store things, but also about taking care of the environment and encouraging people to eliminate single-use plastic. The brand also gives one per cent of every sale to non-profits who work to protect the planet.
At the show Stasher launched its ‘Endangered Seas Earth Month’ collection which benefits the Surfrider Foundation. The colours represent the different seas that they aim to protect plus they are super handy and stash well in your fridge or pantry.
