Inspiration Magazine

Useful tips and resources prepared by business, industry and design experts to help retailers grow their businesses!

Creating an Emotive Space

by Terri Winter, co-owner and founder of retail store top3 by design in Australia. Interior design elicits an emotive response. You can feel energized, calm or cocooned in a space based largely on the choice of color. Color Using color and texture can affect the emotions of visitors to your store or to your home. Explore the opportunity to create various moods in…

Iberian Spirit SS18

by Jenna Galley, Marketing and Insight Assistant, Trend Bible Trend Bible is a home and interiors-dedicated forecasting agency working with leading international brands to help them understand the future of their market. They forecast future trends in the behavior of consumers in a two-to-five year timeframe and analyze how this will impact the home environment. Looking…

PANTONE®VIEW home + interiors 2018 Communicating with Color/Design: Inspiring and Defining Essential Trends

by Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director Pantone Color Institute Key color stories for 2018 break free from traditional thinking. Colors are revitalized, hues are mixed in novel combinations and new color directions instantly and effectively express a fresh approach that satisfies the consumers continuing need for newness. Metallics we know are classic, but they have…

Discovering Design: Nambé

by Vicki Matranga Design Programs + Services, International Housewares Association IHA speaks with Laura Perri, senior manager, digital content and brand marketing at Nambé, to hear the about the latest developments at the company known for its trendsetting tableware and gift items. IHA: Laura, where does Nambé find inspiration in designing new products? LP: We…

Design Stars – Design Highlights from the gia Product Design Awards

Discover Design, the premier design destination at the International Home + Housewares Show, offers a collection of companies showcasing the latest designs found in housewares. Exhibitors are based on recommendations from and approval by the retail and design community. At the 2017 Show, several exhibitors from Discover Design were selected finalists in the IHA Global…

Show to Sell: Cross Merchandising

by Martin M. Pegler Visual Merchandising is really a very simple concept to understand. “Visual” refers to sight and “showing” while “Merchandising” is about “selling”. WE—people who believe in and are practitioners of VM—believe that it is very important to show your products in a way that makes the shopping process simple—easy—convenient for the shoppers. It is important…

Smart Home: Keeping Connected

Michelle Hespe meets Carley Knobloch (or Carley K, like her blog is called), a digital lifestyle expert, to chat about the Internet of Things and the smart home. As a retailer, you need to embrace this new wave of technology or risk falling behind your competitors. A couple of years ago, most people hadn’t heard of Internet of Things (IoT) or the smart home. Even 12 months ago…

Generations of Inspiration

Michelle Hespe speaks to Patricia Lockhart, owner and director of Uruguay’s award-winning retail store, Bazar La Iberica and its focus on generations of inspiration. Achieving 100 years in business is something worth talking about. But Bazar La Iberica, a family-run retailer operating in a country with only 3 million inhabitants (half of which live on very low income) has…

Discovering Design: Stelton

Forming a Design Brand More than 50 years ago, two friends, Stellan and Carton, merged their first names to form Stelton, which became one of Denmark’s best-known design brands. Niels Stellan Høm and Carton Madelaire partnered to start a trading company in 1960. After marketing sports shoes and furniture, they learned about a small factory in Fårevejle, Denmark, Danish…