by Nissa Hanna
Last week, Iconoculture’s Home and Outdoor Living team took the pulse of our beat at the 2012 International Home and Housewares Show. Chicago’s McCormick Place buzzed with 2,000 exhibitors and 60,000 industry attendees from around the globe. The annual show features organization and cleaning solutions, tools for wired living and wellness, and cooking and tabletop products. And it wasn’t just demonstrations by top chefs that energized the appetite — a culinary color palette pervaded every exhibit area.
Styles popped up in a gelateria of colors: creamy pistachio (Natural Home’s plastic-alternative bamboo utensils), icy raspberry (Charles Viancin’s Spatula Bouquet) and juicy blood orange (Bodum’s tea kettle). Aladdin served up a garden of tasteful hues with the launch of its collapsible food storage collection in a beefsteak-tomato red, deep eggplant purple and bright tomatillo green. Citrusy tangerine (perhaps inspired by Pantone’s 2012 color of the year, Tangerine Tango) made multiple appearances on Wesco’s spacey trash can, Crane’s water-drop-shaped humidifier and KitchenAid’s appliance lineup. We spotted a buttery yellow on Olio’s innovative iron, while a crisper lemon tone appeared in Broksonic’s line of vase-like humidifiers (a rich chocolate pigment is another option).
WHAT THIS MEANS TO MARKETERS:
As consumers awaken from a recessionary slumber, stimulate their aesthetic appetites with vibrant colors. Take a cue from the mainstreaming foodie culture and explore patches of exotic fruits, heirloom veggies and even indulgent treats. After all, design feeds the soul through the eyes.
