“It’s lovely to be recognised by the Furniture News readers once again, and particularly for the Decorative Accessories category,” says Bluebone Imports’ sales manager, Elaine Anderson …
“Homeware is the beating heart of Bluebone – it’s how we started, and we have always sought the unconventional, and sometimes eccentric designs,” she continues.
“Over the many years we’ve been trading, we’ve consciously developed our furniture collections, focusing on dining, living and garden furniture. However, like so many industries, the perfect storm of pandemic and war, resulting in escalating living costs, has affected the furniture-buying patterns directly.
“In the last 18 months we’ve found the market for larger-ticket furniture purchases to be increasingly fickle, yet the demand for smaller ‘feel-good’ homeware items has remained buoyant.
“We’ve approached our last few sourcing trips with this in mind, and have enjoyed finding some wonderful and talented craftspeople, whose individual skills include glass blowing, wood carving, metal work and painting – and, from this pool of unique talent, we’ve curated our new homeware collections for autumn/winter 2023.
“Fine art canvases feature subtle abstracts, character portraits, bold New York graffiti and vintage botanicals, and come in variety of sizes, from small 50 x 50cm squares, right up to extra-large 180cm wall panels.
“Molten glass is hand blown directly onto pieces of recycled teak to create our Green Cuisine tableware range, while petrified wood and marble form beautifully tactile decorative links, slices, bowls and bookends.
“Everybody’s favourite wooden ‘drunken duck’ is joined by an equally appealing pair of wooden pigs, and you’ll also find oversize rustic water vessels, pebble tealight holders, beaded chandeliers and teak dome lampshades.
“Throughout the design and development process, we always champion small artisan businesses and craftspeople. We play to their strengths, and in doing so, our homewares retain an individuality and hand-made appeal that sets them apart from the mass market.
“Careful placement of our homewares in-store can draw the eye to an area, and help to create an aesthetic that will resonate with the end-consumer. A fantastic example of this was the collection of painted wooden birds we launched a few years ago. By grouping the collection together, we found there was a greater impact which increased sales from these displays, and generated repeat purchases as customers built their own collections of birds.
“Plans for 2024 include a host of new designs, plus new branding and packaging for our homeware collections. Garden games, outdoor tableware and textiles are all in the pipeline, and we’ll continue to hone our range and provide accessories that will charm and delight,” concludes Elaine.
The supplier’s full range of furniture and homewares is also available to view at its showroom in Manchester – contact Bluebone’s office on 0161 330 8959 to book a visit, or arrange it via the website’s booking form.
