First San Francisco Furniture Market of the New Millennium Confirms Some Trends Sets New Pace

Furniture World News

The San Francisco gathering of important furniture pacesetters was an opportunity to confirm some trends and test acceptance of some groups, which had medium acceptance last fall. The more times change, the more important are the successes of the Past. Two trends seemed to dominate. There will be more mixing of wood species within each furniture unit, which has added visual impact in coloration and figure emphasis. Some woods can be better sculpted or deeply embossed than others. An impressive border with a raised panel inset give dramatic depth, width or height to a wall or entertainment unit. A flush, smooth panel with some contrastive figure will minimize size and still maintain its center of interest and multiple function. The second trend was in finishes. There is often a plus side in mixing wood species with some adding stability and performance as well as a more competitive price. A manufacturer must always consider balancing the coefficient of movement within the range of 6% to 14% moisture content in planning such combinations. Alder is one of the woods of preference with its color and dimension stability. No longer are certain wood species synonymous with certain style categories. This San Francisco study with more than 1600 tabulations by wood species and style shows all major woods appearing in the seven basic style combinations. The light bright fruitwood tones and the honey tones are best obtained with the close grain woods of alder, maple and birch. The percentages by dominate species does not always reflect the wide use of such woods as white ash, at 0.6% and northwest alder at 7. 1 %. Oak, which is the dominate wood with which ash is matched, was tabulated at 33.9% of the showroom presentations. This was up from 29.2% last year and closely matches the Carolina (High Point) survey at 32.0%. Pine dropped 36% from last year's 21.3% to 13.7%. Still in second place, pine was followed by maple-birch at 12. 1 % with cherry closely following at 11.9%. The combined close grain woods of maple, birch, alder and cherry accounted for almost a third of the market. Mahogany was tabulated at 2. 1 % with the combined "juglans family" of walnut and pecan at 2.0%. Other woods increased to 3.7% but burls dropped to 1.5%. Painted units rated 5.7% of the spaces, being matched with 5.7% printed and plastic in line with last year, but less than the eastern study. The style story showed an increase in American Traditional at 42.3% and a comparative drop in contemporary to 34.3%. English traditional exceeded French at 7.5% to 5.6%. Oriental motifs were noted in 5.9% of the spaces, considerably higher than in Carolina as was expected. 'Italian, including some metal based units coupled with sturdy Spanish adaptations increased slightly to 2.4% with rustic-ranch and miscellaneous at 2.0%. The finishes story is especially interesting. The starved, clear look diminished from 11.2% last year to 5.7%. New criteria separating warm fruitwood tones from the lighter, brighter warm browns came in at 21.5% and 20.3% respectively making the combination a high 41.8% of the showings. These coupled with tan and honey at 20.2% and the diminished bleach-gray at 2.4% confirms the overall trend to lighter and brighter finishes. There were dramatic introductions in the darker tones such as cordovan-mahogany at 5.7% and burnished pines and oaks at 3. 1 %. The consistent, cool brown of oiled oak and walnut browns had an impressive following in 14.9% of the display spaces. With the expansion of e-mail and faxing, attendance was lighter with most buyers looking for bargains, especially in the farm and less payroll advantaged areas. Winners from last fall received the most attention, but there were plenty of new introductions and added units to older successes to make buyer's time productive. Survey Prepared by Northwest Hardwoods Division - Weyerhaeuser Co.