This Year’s International Home & Housewares Show Highlights

The hippest and boldest designers release their newest innovations in home décor and renovations at the International Home & Housewares Show which takes place inChicago. The latest in technology, style and furniture for residential spaces are typically intended to amaze and astonish for that “Wow” factor that will make the designer’s moniker a household name.

When the show wraps up, images of the outrageous looks for kitchens, baths and living spaces will make it around the world in a heartbeat over media and online distribution channels. The interior design styles that make the most impact are those that have shock value. A living room with furniture entirely constructed of clear plastic is a jaw dropping look that puts a designer on the front page. A nicely carved oak desk, while beautiful, does not turn heads.

But the statement pieces unveiled by the top interior designers to make their reputation bloom aren’t exactly suitable for many home owners. These are considered novelties rather than staples, and are too extreme to serve the dual-use purpose that is popular for home design pieces: function and form. A top PR firm wants to focus on those consumers who want to find something in between the plastic furniture and the predictable desk; something fun to look at, but still serves a purpose.

It’s up to a home lifestyle public relations firm like 5WPR, working with their client partners, to understand the vision of the designer and absorb the intent behind the radical designs. Because we consider it our job to anticipate consumer tastes, our team makes suggestions to our clients that serve to tone down the extreme nature of the products. We recommend ways that they can soften the sharpness of a chair so that we can bring it to the consumer on a more understated level.

A top PR agency has the expertise to go beyond this initial step: we will go the extra mile to figure out ways that still appeal to the cutting edge nature of the person who created that animal print wallpaper. A successful marketing campaign means spinning these trends into more streamlined and toned down versions that are still reminiscent of the products seen at the nation’s biggest home décor shows.