The furniture business is basically AI-Proof. Until someone designs robots with sensitivity in their posterior regions, chairs and couches will mostly benefit humans. What I discovered at this year’s High Point Market (the world’s largest furniture show) is that where AI is applied to home furnishings, it is for the better.
For example, a developer client in Aspen, Colorado asked me to brand a successful staging company. They rejected my proposed name “Cocoon” and things went downhill from there. Imagine my pleasure when I discovered an app at High Point that should obsolete such obstinate staging companies for good.
The Imagine Home app uses AI and LIDAR technologies to help designers highlight complete interiors on their iPhones. What makes this app distinctive is their partnerships with high end brands like Azzurro Living, Loloi Rugs and more that show actual products.
Paper floor plans with swatches are now replaced by 3-D images of exactly how a home will be furnished, from the wallpaper to the carpeting and everything in-between. No more friction between interior designers, architects, and their clients who can now see what a 30-foot kilim woven runner can do for a long hallway. Or not.
Speaking of hallways, I have always admired how wood lends richness and depth to narrow spaces, like this one for the new Film North HQ in Saint Paul, MN. I imagine their architects would be interested in a company from Argentina called FWW (Fine Wood Walls) that manufactures stick-on wood walls. No more nails, glue, or other messes.
Like the app mentioned previously, what makes this unusual product special is the diversity of product. They have used AI in their manufacturing processes to process tigerwood, chinaberry and guayabera panels at just the right tensile strength to keep them from snapping. Which is something that is difficult to avoid even with conventional methods.
Finally, at the end of my trip, I literally stumbled across what I consider the brass ring, of sorts, for business cards, from Worthen Custom Iron and Brass. I see business cards making a comeback in the age of AI. They combine tactility with touch that people appreciate, especially when you create a foil stamped card like this.
P.S. I realize this reads more like a paid post than an article, but no one pays me to say anything. To do so for a newsletter would be, how do you say, artificial. If you crave a business conversation, click here.
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About Us – FWW - Feeling Wood Walls
Brands We Love – Imagine Home
Worthen Custom Iron & Brass Furniture | Home & Hospitality