The Moon from My Attic Blog

You gotta love the internet.  I was perusing an industry LinkedIN group I’m a member of one day and saw that the talented and fabulous Alex Colombo was looking for someone to attend the Chicago based International Home and Housewares show to report on trends for her blog.  Sometimes I forget that I live in this really big city that has exciting things like big, international trade shows, so it took me a minute to register that hey, I COULD DO THAT.  Fast forward a week or so and the AFB Team and I were officially acting as cub reporters for Alex’s blog.  In return for our intel from the show, Alex graciously wrote this great post on AFB.

So we’re a little excited about this blog feature but you are perhaps more interested in hearing about what we saw at the International Home and Housewares show.  Well…aprons.  Yes, aprons were everywhere, especially those with a nipped in waist and feminine details like the one above from Ladelle.  The shapeless, boxy aprons are still out there, but in a nod to all the interest in DIY in the kitchen plus customers’ desire for well-designed products, the lady-like apron has made a return.

The next big thing we saw was, to put it broadly, design applied to resuable, eco-friendly everyday objects.  Reusable totes, water bottles, food containers, cups, mugs, even plastic wrap holders were everywhere.  We really lost count of all the tote and water bottle products we saw!  These products are no longer just blah blah boring grays and blacks, they are sold in bright colors & festive designs that again reflect customers’ desires to have lasting products that are earth friendly but also attractive.  Above are:

– totes from Prairie Dog, a Japanese company that partners with indie Japanese designers to create these fab resuable (and super compact) totes

– resusable plastic wrap & alumnum folder boxes from Chic Wrap (the owners of this company graciously gave us a free sample, and let me tell you, these dispensers are life changing – no more grappling with exposed blades that mangle your hands as you’re wrangling plastic wrap)

– our absolute favorite, every single thing from the Built line – can you even stand that picnic set (it zips into a tote bag – genius!)?!?

Corollary to the eco-friendly trend was TONS of melamine that looks so great that you’ll never want to use disposable plates again.  Lots of indigo, nautical and nods to the craft food/beer movement were spotted across various lines of melamine.

Thanks to Alex for allowing us to report for her, and for the fantastic feature.