Filed under: Kitchen, Your Home, Design, etc, News & Trends
What's new at the International Home + Housewares Show 2011? More celeb chef lines, eco-friendly cups and, yes, a fresh take on the cupcake pan.Every March, the International Home & Housewares Show showcases the latest designs in dining, cookware, housekeeping and personal wellness markets -- both practical innovations like single-serve coffee makers and surprising inventions like a CitiKitty Cat Toilet Training Kit. With over 2,000 exhibitors from around the globe, this show is a great place to spot trends in the home and housewares markets for the coming year., so we took a look around. Here's what we found.
Chef Cat Cora at the International Home + Housewares Show Photo: IHA
Chef's Choice
As in past years, celebrity chefs continued to be a presence at the show, both in person and through licensing deals. Show attendees were particularly a-twitter about Mario Batali's new wares for Dansk. Other chef lines included Cat Cora for Starfrit, Top Chef's Fabiano Viviani for Bialetti and three new partnerships for Emeril with Sterling Home, Viking Culinary Group and Zak Design. While chefs rule the show, we hear that a line of Twilight-themed hairdryers made its debut at the show -- really!
Photos (clockwise from left): Design for Living, ALEX Bottle, Elevate Brands and KOR
Eco-friendly and re-usable housewares have been a trend for several years, but 2011 seems to be the year of the water bottle. Many manufacturers displayed innovative spins on the water-carrier. Design for Living exhibited Stackable Water Bottles with square sides for easy fridge storage. KOR Delta set out to tackle many common water bottle mishaps with their easy-to-open, push-button cap, ergonomic handle and safety-latch-enhanced sipper. Elevate Brands' Sip N' Go is a foldable reusable water bottle that folds up to a pocket-size. The ALEX Bottle is a new design that unscrews into two parts and packs inside itself from pro-snowboarder Gretchen Beiler.
Photos: Vynebar (left), ZEbag (right)
When it comes to new wine-related design, manufacturers seem to have an attitude of wine not? Wine racks, carriers and even wine glass cozies were on display this year. Among the most stylish was the ZEbag, a geometric wine tote/rack new to the U.S. market that should retail for about $65 when it hits stores. Meanwhile, Vynebar is a wall-mounted wine rack that turns your wine collection into wall art. True wine buffs might scoff, but when you want to keep your white wine cold, you might try out an Original Woozie(R) -- that's right, a koozie for your stemware.
Photos: Bella Cupcake Couture (left), Chicago Metallics (right)
Foodies may be predicting that whoopee pies and macaroons are the new baked goods du jour, but cupcakes paraphenalia were everywhere at the Home + Housewares Show. From fancy wrappers to specialized baking cups, these mini-cakes were center stage.
A very clever Surprise Cupcake Pan from Chicago Metallic lets bakers place fillings (small chocolates, cherries, meringue, etc.) on posts inside each cupcake opening so each cupcake has a filling. Zak Designs showed a cupcake-shaped Confetti Cupcake Tray in the company's signature, speckled plastic. Cupcake wrapper couturier Bella Cupcake Couture was also in attendance with their gorgeous cupcake wrappers. One company even offered a cupcake pan that made soccer ball-shaped cakes!
For more great trend stories, don't miss:
Kitchen Trends 2011
Bath Trends 2011
Trend Spotting: 2011's Hot Color Combos
Here's a video on what's new in home decor.