Soft sell

Alexa Yablonski -- Interior Design, 10/31/2002 12:00:00 AM

	Fall 2002
Accessories | Building Products | Eco-friendly | Fabrics & Wallcoverings | Flooring | Furniture Kitchen & Bath | Lighting | Outdoor Furniture |

Innovative design isn't easy to achieve. Innovative and soothing design can seem utterly unattainable. With some regret, we've noticed that inventive has all too often come to mean hard-edged and incomprehensible. And so we went in pursuit of products made for people seeking a bit of cosseting in their oh-so-contemporary lives. And we found. Case in point: the fabrics shown in "A Delicate Balance," our feature story shot by Laura Johansen. These textiles wow with forward-looking fabrications, but many of them appear tender enough to brush against your cheek—just beware of the Designtex Group's Spider Sheet, made of bonded fishing lure: better to feel this one between your fingers, gingerly.

Our ongoing search for progressive designs causes us to contemplate the future from time to time. Not surprisingly, we think it's well worth safeguarding. In this edition, we've added an eco-friendly section to our coverage. It's a bit small, but we hope the segment provides at least a spark of inspiration, as it highlights beautiful items—which don't come at the expense of the surroundings in which they were made—and the conscientious manufacturers who help produce them. It's truly a category of products poised to boom…and we can't wait to see what's next.