The year ahead should prove colorful and perhaps a little more functional, or so the International Home + Housewares Show Preview held in New York suggested.
About 60 housewares vendors signed up for the event, hosted by the International Housewares Association.
Color and design were key considerations for housewares preview participants looking to entice consumers who are increasingly aware of trends in home fashion but who also want tasks to be more easily accomplished.
In response, vendors offered double-duty tools such as the Crane Classic 2-in-1 Warm Mist Humidifier & Steam Inhaler, the Butler Home Products Clorox 2 in 1 Scrub Brush and the Hamilton Beach 2-in-1 Oven and Toaster as well as multifunctional kitchen tools such as the Microplane Ultimate Bar Tool and Sabatier Edgekeeper Self-Sharpening Cutlery Collection.
A number of designs aimed to make food and beverage preparation simpler, including the easy-adjust Bialetti Manual Coffee Grinder, the Kuhn Rikon Piranha Peeler Set, the easily employed Progressive International PL8 Professional Slicer, the Bradshaw International/GoodCook Garlic Rock&Roll, the Perfect Pod EZ-Scoop for single serve refillable capsules, the 40-cup ZeroWater Filtered Glass Carafe, the menu-operated Zojirushi America Corp. Home Bakery Maestro Breadmaker, the Typhoon Homewares Kilner Fermentation Set, the Vitamix Ascent Series Blenders and the Dexas Bamboo Kitchen Work Board and Pastry Board.
In other instances, functional improvement came from application in design, often through technology, as in the case of the CCV Inc. Rechargeable Hot Water Bottle, the Fagor America Lux 360 Multi-Cooker and the Nespresso VertuoPlus brewer.
Form may follow function, but color is important to many consumers today. Many of those vendors who signed up for the preview event used color, particularly trending hues and intriguing patterns, to distinguish their products including Meyer with its Anolon Vesta Cast Iron in Umber and Anolon Advanced Onyx, World Kitchen with the Pyrex Watercolor Collection, the Charles Viancin Group with the Watermelon Silicone Lid and PackIt with its Freezable Classic Lunch Box in a bright southwestern pattern.
In terms of metal tones, copper gained as in the case of the Honey-Can-Do Copper Grid and Accessories and the Housekeeper Crockery Pure Tin-Lined Copper Cookware.
