Showing posts with label products. Show all posts
Showing posts with label products. Show all posts
Sunday, September 22, 2013
As an interior designer, a problem we sometimes have with all the lovely products we see at Maison et Objet is that a lot of companies prefer to wholesale to big retailers. We were pleasantly surprised when we met furniture and accessory company Vical Home at their flexibility towards working with designers and their reasonable minimum order. The range of products is fantastic, something to suit every style and an especially good collection of chairs and lamps!
The good amount of variety is what we like to see - it makes it easy to show the catalogue to our clients and to find enough quantities of products to be able to place an order. Definitely one to keep in mind!
The good amount of variety is what we like to see - it makes it easy to show the catalogue to our clients and to find enough quantities of products to be able to place an order. Definitely one to keep in mind!
Maison et Objet - Vical Home
Friday, September 6, 2013
The decision to make that special purchase – whether it’s for our home, our office, or ourselves, is often made for aesthetic reasons alone. And, while leather and animal hide products or furniture can be undeniably beautiful, there are many other reasons than how it looks to opt for this natural material.
Durability
While other fabrics and materials may stain or tear, animal hide stands the test of time. Even if your little one puts sticky fingerprints on your Chesterfield sofa or you accidentally spill coffee on your leather desk diary, you should simply be able to wipe clean with a damp cloth.
Timeless style
Trends may come and go, but leather and animal hide never go out of fashion. The leather Barcelona chair designed 70 years ago looks just as good today. The cowhide rug you bought for your student pad looks equally at home in your family home. And, the leather briefcase your dad carried to work every day looks just as stylish now that it has passed on to you. Hide products truly are investment pieces which transcend seasons.
Easy care
Other materials may require endless washing and dry cleaning, or even become so stained as to render them unusable. But despite its high end looks, leather is actually very easy to care for. If you have a leather sofa or bedstead, for example, you can simple vacuum it before using a damp cloth to wipe it down.
Versatility
Whereas once leather and hide products may have been produced only in neutral colours and traditional styles, now the possibilities of colour and finish are endless. You could choose to mix the classic style of a Chesterfield sofa with a contemporary colour such as cobalt blue or rich plum. Or, you could choose to use leather or hide in the most unexpected of places – perhaps in floor tiles, or to cover a feature wall.
Natural elegance
Because leather and hide are natural materials, they retain a beauty imbued by Mother Nature, with every piece being completely unique because of its varying natural grain. And it is this naturalness which provides some of leather and hide’s many benefits. It is flexible, breathable and supple, allowing it to naturally repel moisture, retain its shape and resist any damage caused by heat or sun.
Acoustics and warmth
As well as exuding an air of welcoming warmth, leather and hide really do have insulating properties which can actually make a room warmer. They also provide acoustical value, as they absorb sound easily. That’s why they make great choices of material for the home, perhaps as an over-sized feature headboard for the bedroom or stunning floor tiles for the living room or office.
The wow factor
While leather and hide actually offer great value when you consider products and interiors which use these materials are so long lasting, they give a room, a piece of furniture or a product a feeling of richness and opulence. Choosing just one key hide piece can give an area a focal point, providing an impressive, professional finish.
Beautiful and practical, leather and hide are naturally stylish and durable, making them the ideal choice for a myriad of product and interior uses.
Bill began learning his artisan skills in Australia 30 years ago before opening his studio back in the 90’s. The studio creates bespoke products and interiors for individuals and companies across the world. Bill can be found in his London studio at Bill Amberg Studio.
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Guest Post: The benefits of using animal hides on products and interiors
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
We're so excited to be going to the Maison et Objet trade show in Paris again this year! We can't wait to meet new suppliers and to catch up with our well-known favourites. We're going to be looking for some new e-commerce suppliers as well in order to update our webshop for the new year. :)
As fantastic as Maison et Objet is, it takes a bit of planning to make sure you get the most of the time you have - this year, I am only going to have two days at the show, which means I will have to plan extra carefully or I might miss something important!
If you've been going for years, you might already have your own routine for how to get through the show, but incase you are going for the first or second time, you might benefit from our Maison et Objet tips:
Planning your Visit
We like to plan ahead in terms of what we are going to see - not that we don't aim to get through everything, row by row and hall by hall, but pre-planning the suppliers you'd most like to see gives your visit a bit of structure. I like to divide my suppliers by TYPE - lighting, furniture, bed linens, accessories and so on and choose 5-10 suppliers in each category, in a mix of known suppliers I'd like to re-visit and new suppliers I've never seen but would like to find out more about. I like to be very organised and to organise the suppliers I want to see by HALL and also by STAND, so that when I walk through each hall I know which of my planned suppliers is coming up next.
Survival Guide
In order to get through 2-3 days of full-on walking, meeting suppliers and recording new information, it's not enough to just be organised because if you're not physically and mentally prepared, you won't get through everything you want to see. Therefore, you should carefully plan what to wear, what to carry and what to eat. Rule number one is to be comfortable - bring a change of shoes because your feet will hurt after day one enough to not want to wear the same shoes twice. The weather can be unpredictable and depending on how fast you are walking, you may get too hot - wear layers so that you can quickly get comfortable again.
Also, pack into a suitcase with wheels so in case you don't have time to put your bag into the cloakroom, at least you can wheel it around with you (I mean a cabin size bag, not a 2-week sun holiday). In terms of what to carry, bring a bag with plenty of space that you can fit all the business cards and brochures you pick up. I prefer to bring a backpack so that it doesn't feel too heavy to carry around. Also, in terms of collecting information from suppliers, try to avoid taking home huge catalogues because you will not want to carry these around for the whole day (more on this in 'Recording What you See')! Although there are plenty of places to grab a snack, I like to bring some healthy cereal bars or fruit with me in case I get hungry and just want to carry on.
We like to take lots of photos and tweet what we see (and also it's easy to get lost from your colleagues so we also phone and text each other a lot) - possibly the most important rule of the survival guide is to get yourself a battery booster for your phone, or you might find yourself stranded!
Recording What you See
There is a lot of information to take in at Maison et Objet and recording everything you see and like in an organised way so that you can make sense of the information when you come back can be a bit difficult. We have worked out a way to make the best sense of everything.
1. Photograph the name of the brand you like, then the items you like. As long as you always stick to this, it will be easier to remember what product was from which supplier when you get back.
2. Collect business cards of the people you spoke to so that you have a contact to get in touch with when you need them.
3. Collect brochures or postcards from your preferred suppliers and staple these together - try not to pick up heavy catalogues.
4. Register your details and hand out your business cards to suppliers. You can request that these suppliers send you their full catalogues by post or by PDF after the show.
5. Make a note of which suppliers you spoke to and what you are waiting to hear back from them, or what information you need to send to them.
6. The key questions to ask are price (euros or pounds, trade or retail, including or excluding VAT), lead time, choice of material and colour, can they supply samples and so on.
How to Connect Post-Show
A lot of the organising of information takes place when you are back at the office. We like to organise our business cards and brochures into labeled folders around the office so that when we need to find, for example, a ceramic tile, we look under the tiles folder. We also save a record of our suppliers photos, contact details, catalogues and price lists on a shared folder in Dropbox where everyone can access the data. However, before we do any of this we share all of our information with our colleagues, in case we have picked up some of the same information (which is often the case).
Once everything is organised and recorded, we run through our notes on each supplier and put together a list of who to contact (if you picked up business cards of the reps at the show, you should have plenty of contacts). It's polite to give you suppliers a week or so before you overwhelm them with a barrage of emails and phone calls (they've had a longer week than you have for sure). However, do keep a track of what you are still waiting for and from whom, and if price lists and catalogues don't start showing up, send them a friendly email as a reminder. In fact, it's good to regularly email the contacts you have made so that suppliers remember to keep you updated on their newest products. We like to register to all the newsletters so that we remember the brands we liked and always know what's going on with our favourite suppliers.
I hope that our Paris survival guide will be helpful to you and good luck to all of you going to the show - hope to see you there!
As fantastic as Maison et Objet is, it takes a bit of planning to make sure you get the most of the time you have - this year, I am only going to have two days at the show, which means I will have to plan extra carefully or I might miss something important!
If you've been going for years, you might already have your own routine for how to get through the show, but incase you are going for the first or second time, you might benefit from our Maison et Objet tips:
Planning your Visit
We like to plan ahead in terms of what we are going to see - not that we don't aim to get through everything, row by row and hall by hall, but pre-planning the suppliers you'd most like to see gives your visit a bit of structure. I like to divide my suppliers by TYPE - lighting, furniture, bed linens, accessories and so on and choose 5-10 suppliers in each category, in a mix of known suppliers I'd like to re-visit and new suppliers I've never seen but would like to find out more about. I like to be very organised and to organise the suppliers I want to see by HALL and also by STAND, so that when I walk through each hall I know which of my planned suppliers is coming up next.
Survival Guide
In order to get through 2-3 days of full-on walking, meeting suppliers and recording new information, it's not enough to just be organised because if you're not physically and mentally prepared, you won't get through everything you want to see. Therefore, you should carefully plan what to wear, what to carry and what to eat. Rule number one is to be comfortable - bring a change of shoes because your feet will hurt after day one enough to not want to wear the same shoes twice. The weather can be unpredictable and depending on how fast you are walking, you may get too hot - wear layers so that you can quickly get comfortable again.
Also, pack into a suitcase with wheels so in case you don't have time to put your bag into the cloakroom, at least you can wheel it around with you (I mean a cabin size bag, not a 2-week sun holiday). In terms of what to carry, bring a bag with plenty of space that you can fit all the business cards and brochures you pick up. I prefer to bring a backpack so that it doesn't feel too heavy to carry around. Also, in terms of collecting information from suppliers, try to avoid taking home huge catalogues because you will not want to carry these around for the whole day (more on this in 'Recording What you See')! Although there are plenty of places to grab a snack, I like to bring some healthy cereal bars or fruit with me in case I get hungry and just want to carry on.
We like to take lots of photos and tweet what we see (and also it's easy to get lost from your colleagues so we also phone and text each other a lot) - possibly the most important rule of the survival guide is to get yourself a battery booster for your phone, or you might find yourself stranded!
Recording What you See
There is a lot of information to take in at Maison et Objet and recording everything you see and like in an organised way so that you can make sense of the information when you come back can be a bit difficult. We have worked out a way to make the best sense of everything.
1. Photograph the name of the brand you like, then the items you like. As long as you always stick to this, it will be easier to remember what product was from which supplier when you get back.
2. Collect business cards of the people you spoke to so that you have a contact to get in touch with when you need them.
3. Collect brochures or postcards from your preferred suppliers and staple these together - try not to pick up heavy catalogues.
4. Register your details and hand out your business cards to suppliers. You can request that these suppliers send you their full catalogues by post or by PDF after the show.
5. Make a note of which suppliers you spoke to and what you are waiting to hear back from them, or what information you need to send to them.
6. The key questions to ask are price (euros or pounds, trade or retail, including or excluding VAT), lead time, choice of material and colour, can they supply samples and so on.
How to Connect Post-Show
A lot of the organising of information takes place when you are back at the office. We like to organise our business cards and brochures into labeled folders around the office so that when we need to find, for example, a ceramic tile, we look under the tiles folder. We also save a record of our suppliers photos, contact details, catalogues and price lists on a shared folder in Dropbox where everyone can access the data. However, before we do any of this we share all of our information with our colleagues, in case we have picked up some of the same information (which is often the case).
Once everything is organised and recorded, we run through our notes on each supplier and put together a list of who to contact (if you picked up business cards of the reps at the show, you should have plenty of contacts). It's polite to give you suppliers a week or so before you overwhelm them with a barrage of emails and phone calls (they've had a longer week than you have for sure). However, do keep a track of what you are still waiting for and from whom, and if price lists and catalogues don't start showing up, send them a friendly email as a reminder. In fact, it's good to regularly email the contacts you have made so that suppliers remember to keep you updated on their newest products. We like to register to all the newsletters so that we remember the brands we liked and always know what's going on with our favourite suppliers.
I hope that our Paris survival guide will be helpful to you and good luck to all of you going to the show - hope to see you there!
A Guide to Paris - Maison et Objet
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