To help the furniture industry shake off the winter chill, home furnishings designer Joe Ruggiero will debut an Island Home Collection of Sunbrella fabrics during Furniture Market in High Point in April.
"Even if you don't live in the islands, I believe we can all relate to the warm breezes, bright colors and relaxed lifestyle of island living," Ruggiero said. "Our Island Home Collection captures the essence of island living, overlaid with an English Colonial spirit."
Inspired by island surroundings, such as swaying palm trees, blue waters and exotic flowers, the soft pastel colors in Island Home go beyond classic island florals. With a relaxed yet proper environment, this collection looks to its elegant past of colonial influences in architecture and furniture design.
Many unusual patterns are included in the Island Home Collection including a certain showstopper - Tex - which has the look and feel of hand-woven textiles. While the lead colors in Island Home are Kiwi, Spring and Breeze, look for Tex to appear throughout Ruggiero's various collections in Pebble, Malt, Spring, Kiwi, Sunset and Pool.
Other patterns in the Island Home collection include Hibiscus, island flowers against a Kiwi ground, and Maui, a traditional island floral stripe.
In addition to Island Home, Ruggiero is introducing four other new collections during Furniture Market - Mountain View, Country Lites, Dorset Hall and Artist Studio.
The subtle tones of mountain wild flowers and aspen leaves set the mood for the décor of the rustic Mountain View collection. Prints and textures create the perfect cozy environment for a mountain retreat or any nature loving homeowner. Patterns featured in this collection include Montreal, delicately drawn maple leaves strewn against a textured background, and a stripped pattern, Southport, in Taupe, Beige and Ivory.
Shades of Beige, Ochre and Pale White combine to give Country Lites a simpler, lighter feeling. Country prints mixed with checks, stripes and textured wovens result in décor with a handmade textile feeling. This collection includes Blossoms, a traditional early American floral print, and Ribbon Stripe, colorful ribbons against a Carmel ground.
The popular English Country style continues to add charm to almost any home, as evidenced by the Dorset Hall collection. The rich history of woven damasks and elegant stripes combine with warm plaids to create an English heritage look. Colors of blush and gold combine for an environment of serenity, overlaid with an English accent. Highlights include Grand Venetian, an overblown damask in shades of Gold and Blush, and Bamboozle, intricately woven stripes with tufts of chenille.
Bright colors of blues, greens and orange create an artist's palette of whimsical combinations in Artist Studio. The bold use of color is reflected not only in the woven stripes but also in the textural fabrics that combine most of these colors. Like an artist's studio, this is a fun, fashion-forward space fitting an artist-in-residence.
The featured pattern in Artists Studio is Joe's Leaf, a new leaf pattern based on the success of another Ruggiero design, Joe's Tulip. Joe's Leaf is a freehand sketched leaf pattern that is fun and fanciful in Wheat.
"Our Sunbrella collection since the initial introduction in 2002 has been growing rapidly, and this market represents our single largest introduction of original patterns," Ruggiero said. "We are identifying design directions that are successful and building on those themes. One example is our focus on chenille, which you will see in a number of new patterns this season.
"In terms of color palette, we are moving in two directions," he said. "Neutral colors remain very popular and we are addressing this need, while we are also including a number of bright colors based on our island themes."
Chenille remains an important part of the Ruggiero Collection, including new patterns for Furniture Market featuring touches of chenille - Novelty Check, which is a classic country check, and Bamboozle, which is an intricate "go-with" pattern. Ruggiero's highly successful chenille pattern, Chenillela, will be featured in new colors, including Moss and Palm.
Stripes will also be an important part of the Ruggiero story. New stripe patterns include Southport and Lyon, which create bolder, broader stripes through the interplay of narrow stripes.
"I continue to see bold stripes as an important part of my upholstery collection," Ruggiero said.
Joseph Ruggiero & Associates, Inc. is a multi-media home design and television production company in Los Angeles. Ruggiero designs furniture for Norwalk Furniture, along with a complementary collection of Sunbrella brand performance fabrics and Phoenix trims for residential interiors. Most recently, Ruggiero launched a new collection of casual furniture for Terra Furniture of California and a new collection of wood furniture by Caperton Furnitureworks of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.
Ruggiero's home furnishing designs have received accolades from the design profession, including the American Society of Furniture Designers Pinnacle Award, the America Furniture Award for outstanding achievement in furniture design and the ADEX platinum award for textile design. He is currently preparing a new program for PBS. On the web at www.joeruggiero.com.
