The International Home + Housewares Show provides a unique opportunity each year to bring together a wide range of exhibitors that highlight up-and-coming trends related to personal home, environmental design, and lifestyle technology. Buyers, designers, and engineers alike are present to take it all in and will begin incorporating new trends, product offerings, and technology advancements into their plans for the year ahead. We loved experiencing this year’s show as a team and were excited to discover firsthand what’s new and exciting in this space! We captured four of our favorite trends from this year’s show below:

1. SMART EVERYTHING

The importance of a consistent brand-experience has never been more important and shoppers are less forgiving than ever. If the experience is inconsistent they will move on as they strive to eliminate negative experiences. This pattern of behavior enforces the need for a consistent omni-channel experience. This, however, does not mean the same experience across all channels. Customers are looking for tailored messaging and interactions depending on the moment and device in which they are interacting with your brand. No matter the interaction, brands that are winning are recognizable regardless of the format.

Hidrate Spark demonstrated the ability to integrate with other smart technology like fitbit that has already been embraced by consumers as a mature trend. Taking it to another level, their bottles offer an intuitive reminder system that will tell consumers when they need to drink more by emitting a soft glow.

2. CRAFT COCKTAILS “AT HOME” EDITION

Craft cocktails have been on the rise for quite some time, but now more than ever we are seeing brands building a bridge that helps take this experience into the home. Bartesian makes “craft cocktails on demand” a possibility through its Keurig-like offering of pre-mixed cocktail capsules that work in their proprietary 4-liquor machine. To hold these at-home craft cocktails, Viski, a True Brands brand, showcased their full portfolio of premium cocktail-making utensils and serveware.

Beyond product offerings that address this trend, we even saw the show itself dedicate significant time on the demonstration floor schedule to the art of craft cocktail making with a one hour demonstration by Lanie Bayless, Beverage Director at the Frontera Group.

3. RAW MATERIALS OVER ANYTHING

As consumers make efforts to simplify and streamline their daily life, any products that can bring them “down to earth” and create a sense of calm will get extra points. Beyond aesthetic appeal, thoughtful incorporation of raw materials or organic substances can help deliver peace of mind for consumers and implies a sense of care/responsibility from the brand.  We saw this come to life in a big way at Soma who is redefining what it means to be a water filter by introducing new technology based on raw, natural ingredients like coconut shells and other plant-based materials into their filters.

4. POWERFUL TEXTURES AND SHAPES TAKE THE LEAD

Beyond the color trends presented by Pantone, we were also impressed by the role that material, texture and strong, geometric shapes came to life across a range of new product offerings. Matte black textures showed up consistently across a range of housewares brands such as KitchenAid, Stanley, Bodum, and Nespresso, playing a key role in the design language for each brand. We saw purity of form in the geometric shapes that came to life in some of the home goods. Perfect circles, race track silhouettes, and simplified shapes were matched with just as powerful macro textures featuring ribbing, dot pattern, and metallic finishings.