SNEAK PEEK: LIBBY LANGDON UNVEILS FIRST OUTDOOR RUGS FOR KAS AT ICFA PREVIEW SHOW
Libby Langdon introduced her first outdoor rug collection for KAS at the 2017 ICFA Preview Show July 11-13, at NorthCape's Chicago Mart showroom. Shown, the hand-hooked Highview rug.
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CHICAGO -- Celebrity designer Libby Langdon unveiled the first rugs in her new licensing partnership with KAS at last week's International Casual Furniture Association (ICFA) Preview Show at Chicago's Merchandise Mart.
Branded as Libby Langdon Outdoor Rugs for KAS, the full collection will officially debut at the Casual Market Chicago in September, to be followed by the launch of Langdon's indoor rugs at the fall 2017 High Point Market.
The Emerson outdoor rug by Libby Langdon for KAS is part of the debuting Hamptons collection, which is hand-hooked of UV-treated polypropylene.
While the designer's indoor rug collection will debut at the KAS Rugs High Point showroom, her outdoor designs displayed at the ICFA Preview were presented at the permanent Mart showroom of NorthCape, her outdoor furniture licensee. Buyers attending the ICFA preview event were immersed in Langdon's coordinated approach to outdoor decorating with lifestyle vignettes cross-merchandising her newest NorthCape furniture with licensee Crystorama's all-weather lighting and the premiering rugs.
RugNews.com caught up with Langdon as the three-day market came to a close, and asked her to talk about her new collection.
Was this your first time cross-merchandising outdoor rugs with your outdoor furniture line, NorthCape by Libby Langdon?
LL: This was a sneak preview of my new outdoor rug collection, Libby Langdon outdoor rugs for KAS, which we will be showing at the 2017 Casual Market Chicago in September (12-15). We introduced our NorthCape furniture collection last year, and this is the first time we've shown the rugs and furniture together.
I've shown my upholstery, my indoor lighting and accessories at High Point but that market's just not as specific as the outdoor market is. It's just so pinpointed, so focused, I thought we'd really be missing an opportunity if we didn't show our collection at the preview market and at the Casual Market in Chicago.
Why did you decide to design outdoor rugs?
The Madison outdoor rug by Libby Langdon for KAS, shown here in spa blue, coordinates with the designer's all-weather lighting and furniture -- all equally fashionable indoors.
LL: These days, we're really seeing ways to blur the line between interior design and exterior design, and people are realizing that they can create warm, beautiful, comfortable spaces outdoors just as they would in their indoor spaces. This is the reason I was so interested in moving into the outdoor home furnishings industry, whether it was furniture or rugs or my Crystorama lighting.
A lot of my furniture designs, rug designs and lighting could easily work indoors, but I think it's fun for people to feel there's a complete outdoor room. Rugs, honestly, end up being the foundation that defines an interior, and it's the exact same thing that holds true when you're working in an outdoor space.
As a designer, how do you feel about the role of rugs in your indoor and outdoor spaces?
LL: Rugs are, I think, that unexpected element that (causes) people sit down and say, "Wow, this is like an indoor room." So it's a wonderful tool as a designer to be able to show that to clients, and for me to be able to design rugs that I feel I can't find or that I can't really see out in the marketplace. The colorways that I see as trendy, I just think there's great value in that. And I just love the people at KAS; they're amazing. This partnership is really, really exciting for me.
What sort of response did you get from cross-merchandising your furniture, rugs and lighting at this preview market?
At the ICFA Preview Show, designer Libby Langdon created vignettes like this one, which coordinates her KAS Highview outdoor rug in Spa blue with NorthCape furniture.
LL: It was such an amazing reaction. People were so excited. First of all was the shock on their faces when they looked at the light fixtures and realized they were designed for outdoor use. What I said to the retailers was "I have the same challenge that you do. I'm out there in the marketplace trying to source stylish outdoor chandeliers and sconces for clients, and I can't find them.
So designing the outdoor lighting was meant to answer that call. Just to see the reactions and hear what people were saying was fantastic.
And it was the same with the rugs, because I was allowed to tie the rugs in with furniture and throw pillows and patterns, solids, and all the things I do in an indoor space. It gave the retailer a vision of how they could put it together in their stores.
What was the reaction to the rugs -- the quality and the price points?
The Hamptons collection of Libby Langdon Outdoor Rugs for KAS retails at $259 in 5x7 and is hand-hooked with a half-inch pile height.
LL: People love rugs. We're all tactile -- especially buyers: they want to grab onto things to feel the quality. So I loved their reaction: they reached down and they'd grab onto the rug and see what it felt like -- and they'd say, "These are beautiful." So I really feel, for our first outing, it was just so well received.
I'm so excited with the quality and feel of the materials used: they are hand-hooked indoor-outdoor rugs, in a half-inch pile height and made from UV-treated polypropylene. My outdoor collection is called the "Hamptons" -- where I live part of the week-- and each outdoor design has its own name based on one of the streets nearby my home in the Hamptons: Madison, Highview, Emerson. There are lots of sizes, which is important to me as a designer, and a 5x7 suggested retail is $259.
What makes your collection stand out from the competition, and are you highlighting any specific trends?
Libby Langdon forecasts a trending color, slate blue, will be big outdoors, and features it in her KAS Rugs and NorthCape furniture introductions.
LL: Well one neat thing about the vignette and the rugs, in the photo with me in it [pictured above], is the color story. The trend we're going to see in outdoor furniture, fabric, textiles and rugs over the next couple of years is going to be slate blue. In answer to the people who like navy and the people who like gray, but they'd like something in a happy medium.
I introduced slate in the Westin collection -- a new collection for NorthCape. If you were to see that collection just sitting on a deck with a couple of chairs and a table, the color story might not really resonate. But when you see it, and the rugs there to really support it and give it a design point of view, it really tells that story.
So I think slate is going to be a trend, and by design, my rug colors and pillow fabric were slate, and I wanted to show it really working together. And I will say that probably got a big reaction from people just walking by and saying, "Wow, this is fresh. This is something really new."
A detail of the Highview rug in slate and navy (above) and the Madison rug (below) in slate, a trending color in the Libby Langdon Outdoor Rug collection for KAS.
