SPRUCE, New Orleans
Dear Friends,
Spruce turned one on December 13 2009. We have had one amazing year and look forward for more to come. We learnt a whole lot about operating a small business, even more about innovations in the world of green design and most importantly established wonderful relationships with our clients and vendors. So now we move into a new year and with that we present our BLOG. We hope to bring you our personal experiences in creating wonderful green spaces, hunting down cutting edge designers and products and tidbits of our world at Spruce.
Our regular contributors will be myself, Nomita Joshi-Gupta, and my dear friend and business partner Cheryl Murphy. We will have guest contributors once in a while as well. Feel free to comment and post your thoughts…we love to listen.
My first entry for this year is my
Top Ten Trends for 2010
TECHNOLOGY
People are going to embrace more and more technology to make life easier in 2010. Gadgets that can do more like the popular iphone will stay in the forefront. Readers will replace printed magazines, books and newspapers with one device like the Kindle and the Plastic Logic Reader coming out in Jan 2010 will gain immense popularity. People are getting used to the idea of reading screens and this will further the birth of more blogs and deaths of more magazines. See our new blog
VALUE
I feel that after going through tough times people are really discovering a new value in goods and services. People are going to look for items and objects with not just an economic value but also an added value which is either a well designed object, precious and with a story. We carry interesting one of a kind art objects that are handmade and created by individual artists all over the world. These were popular over the holidays. Our customers wanted to own an object that meant something to them and spoke to them. Our ceramic Buddha teacups, organic bowl and hand painted tablecloths were popular.
Buddha and Winged Cups by Estudio Manus
LOCAL
People are going to continue to buy local and support local because they see this as a benefit to themselves in the long run-they are saving their own community. We had several people come and buy items from us just based on that fact. Even though some of our items can be bought on the web clients bought them from us! VERS iPhone shell case was a hot seller.
iPhone Case
http://sprucenola.com/item.php?item_id=213&category_id=45
HANDMADE
As much as people embrace technology people are going to embrace and value handmade as it becomes scarce. Objects that combine technology and handmade are even more enticing. Sites like etsy will be really popular for people looking for this stuff.
Woven Handbag by Alejandra Dunphy Designs
http://sprucenola.com/item.php?item_id=200&category_id=45
OUTDOORS
People are going to embrace their outdoor living spaces and enhance them to extend their living spaces. They will invest in beautiful surfaces, furniture, planters and fire places to really make these spaces special, They will look for new ways to create fountains, modern ways to group plants and create outdoor kitchens. People will want to vacation in their own backyards. Rock and container gardens, growing your own food and growing on walls and surfaces will be in. We will be carrying products that achieve these looks and goals. We have stunning outdoor fireplaces – Ecosmartfire and planters- Greenform and surfaces- Seastone (made with coral and seaglass)
Tower Fireplaces
http://sprucenola.com/category.php?category_id=19
DESIGN SERVICES
More and more people are taking design into their own hands. With design shows magazine and articles there is no denying the client base is becoming more savvy and wants to take control of designing and buying their own furnishings. Our Design In a Box service gives clients a frameworks and direction with a shopping list for a small fee and no markups. This gives them control over the timeline and cost of their own project.
http://sprucenola.com/category.php?category_id=20
COLOR
People want to wake themselves up and psychologically get out of the dreary 2009. The top color trends for 2010 are jolts of turquoise, yellow, fuscia, plum and reds……Pure clean color is in and for backdrops grey and navy will be the new black
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx
PATTERNS
Technology will dictate patterns and the pixel pattern will be big this year in colors and black and white. We will see gigantic geometrics and floral patterns made possible by technology in tiles and carpets and wallpapers. We have Madison and Grow wall paper and FLOR carpet to achieve these looks.
madison and grow wallpaper- estella
http://www.madisonandgrow.com/
GREEN
Last but not least the green movement will continue to grow and offer more choices. Some of the trends listed such as local, handmade, outdoors and value are all spokes of the green wheel but more innovation in the green industry continues. Fabrics, surfaces and furnishes made from recyclables continues to amaze us. Centuries old practices such as vegetables dyes, weaving, pottery as reinvented and re-imagined for our modern uses will be at the forefront as they coming technology, handmade and green values. This Spring we offer SORT of COAL. Sticks of white coal immersed in water to purify it from impurities and chlorine taste. Blocks of coal can be places in the bathroom and living spaces to absorb odor. In addition to being functional objects they are sculptural and beautiful.
Kishu Binchotan
http://shop.sortofcoal.com/products/bottle_kishu_binchotan
Also furniture lines like KALONSTUDIOS.com which combines high tech cutting technology and freeform designs (we are carrying in this in the Spring!) will be a stunning addition to any decor.
Isometric Chair by Kalon Studios
http://kalonstudios.com/signature.html
