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www.kitchenwarenews.com n JANUARY 2014 n VIETRI Celebrates Dedication Ceremony of Home Built with Habitat for Humanity VIETRI Inc., America's largest importer of fine Italian handcrafted dinnerware, flatware, glassware, linens, decorative accessories, and garden urns, is celebrating 30 years in business in 2013. To honor this special milestone anniversary, VIETRI partnered with SunTrust Bank and Warren-Hay Mechanical Contractors, Inc. to build a home with Habitat for Humanity in Orange County, NC. Founder Susan Gravely was joined by her sister, Frances, and mother, Lee, to Textiles (Cont. from Page 1) These are touchable and elegant and their natural color would be lovely on a breakfast or brunch table. The placemats measure 14" x 20" and retail for $23.49. Jazz up your table with the Jazz Striped Napkins in either black or green. These napkins are 53 percent linen and 47 percent cotton, and they retail for $12.99 for the 20" x 20" napkins. They can be custom-made in any size. For folks who prefer elegant white napery with a soft touch and an inviting rustic texture, LinenMe offers the Rustic White Napkin in 100-percent pre-washed linen. These retail for $19.99 for the 19" x 19" size. Pair them with the Rustic White Runner, which is also pre-washed 100 percent linen for a lightweight soft runner with handmade fringes on each edge. The runner retails for $34.99 for an 18" x 55" runner. Both of these Rustic White items can be made in any size. Finally from LinenMe, there are Striped White Natural Tea Towels, which are lintfree 100 percent linen fabric with beautiful stripe patterns to add a little fillip of frivolity to the kitchen. These retail for $29.99 for a set of two 18" x 28" towels. Tuck the napkins into napkin rings from Calamarie, which will be showing tabletop products inspired by the beauty of orange peel spirals and handcrafted by women artisans from Colombia. These products incorporate painted orange peel spirals collected from street juice vendors in 7 beloved artisans from the Venzo family of Nove, Italy, to design this special mug, and Mariano, a member of the Venzo family, traveled from Italy to join Susan and the rest of the VIETRI family in this celebration. Susan, Frances, and mother, Lee, founded VIETRI in 1983 after a family trip to Italy where they fell in love with a colorful hand painted dinnerware from the Amalfi Coast. VIETRI has grown from a small company representing one Italian factory to the largest importer of handcrafted Italian products in the American tabletop industry. VIETRI serves a customer base of over 2,000 top specialty stores in all 50 states, plus Canada, England, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia. VIETRI now represents approximately 30 manufacturers throughout Italy. Renowned for its classic Italian designs as well as innovative, trend-setting collections inspired by Italian haute couture colors and patterns, VIETRI introduces new products twice a year at major gift and tabletop shows across the US. "For 30 years, VIETRI has been a part of many homes and lives. Our customers have been both passionate about their relationship with VIETRI and encouraging to us with their stories and traditions. Now, we want to give back to a family who needs a home in honor of the many homes that have been a part of our success. We have built VIETRI with the work of many hands, and now we have built a home in the same way, together." said CEO Susan Gravely. since its June, 2012 buy-out by Centre Partners, a New York private equity firm, in conjunction with Rob Kay, who became Executive Chairman. Since Kay joined Taylor, the company has broadened its product offerings through new product development and strategic acquisitions. The acquisition of Metrokane and a niche bath and kitchen scale brand have now increased Taylor's revenues by more than 50 percent. Kay commented, "We are extremely excited to be adding the world class brands and products of Metrokane, who created the wine accessory category over the past 15 years. This combination will further enhance Taylor's capability to offer the most meaningful brands and products to our retail trade partners and builds a strong cornerstone addition to our growing portfolio." Taylor will retain the sales, marketing and product design capabilities that have been the hallmark of Metrokane's success. Said Kay, "The founders, Riki Kane and Bob Larimer, will remain with the company for a long transition period. We respect what Riki Kane and her team have accomplished and will continue to support their brands, products and innovations in product design and packaging." Affirmed Riki Kane, "Rob's vision for growth makes it clear that Taylor is the right partner for Metrokane, with the resources to take our business to the next level." Kane founded Metrokane in New York in 1983, starting with a manual citrus juicer she discovered in Mexico. In 2000, the company introduced the Rabbit Corkscrew, the first of more than a hundred wine accessory and barware products that created and now lead the category. Colombia and covered with durable resin to create functional, modern and unique home accessories. The Orange Hoop Napkin Ring Set retails for $68 for a set of four, as does the Orange Triangle Napkin Ring Set, and the Half Moon Napkin Holder retails for $48. The Circle of Dreams Coaster Set, a set of four 3.5" coasters retails for $78 and is available in several colorways. See them in booth #237 in the Handmade Global Design division of NY Now. Nine Space is also offering striped kitchen towels, this time on 100 percent Turkish cotton for the Bali Kitchen Towel, available in slate, indigo, emerald, gold, white and red for a suggested retail price of $24.00 for the 30" x 20" towels, and the Deck Kitchen Towel in beige, gray, navy and teal, which also retails for $24 for a 30" x 20" towel. See them in booth #2845 at NY Now. Call 909.930.1237 to place wholesale orders and visit online at www.shopninespace.com. For a truly multi-tasking textile, see the Fouta hammam towels at FOCALPOINT HOME in booth #532 at NYNow. This Australian company supplies handcrafted textiles made from natural fibers imported from Tunisia, and close ties with artisans ensure that the company offers unique products obtained under fair trade practices. The range is constantly evolving with new trends in color and design. The Fouta hammam towel is made from 100 percent Egyptian cotton and with its generous 38" x 78" dimensions, it can be used as a picnic throw, a beach towel, a tablecloth, a sarong or a summer wrap. In a range of bold colors and with gorgeous hand fringing, the Fouta hammam retails for $45. The 72" x 100" tablecloths in 100 percent Egyptian cotton retail for $125. Find FOCALPOINT HOME in booth #532 in the Global Handmade division of NY Now, and after the show, visit online at www.focalpointhome.com.au. For those who find images from nature more appealing than geometrics, Linen Way offers Cavallo, 100 percent linen 17" x 28" tea towels in packs of six. Images of thoroughbred horses from a by-gone era run across these linen towels. Available in two colorways, natural linen with a black print of thoroughbred horses or natural linen with an ivory print of thoroughbred horses. Suggested retail price is $14 each. Fern, also 17" x 28" 100 percent linen tea towels, are printed with ferns and are available in four colorways: light sage/dark sage print on lightweight ivory linen, dark teal/light teal print on lightweight ivory linen, garnet/ dusty garnet print on lightweight ivory linen and putty/straw print on lightweight ivory linen. These retail for $12 each and are also offered in packs of six. Of course, not every party happens in the kitchen and dining room. Sometimes the guests also take an iced drink out onto the terrace. Zoku will be showing off the new patent-pending Zoku® Ice Ball in booth #3058 at NY Now. The Zoku Ice Ball adds a little more fun to your drinks, and because it melts at a very even rate in your glass, it doesn't dilute the flavor as much as multiple ice cubes can. It's very easy to use. You just fill the food-safe silicone mold with water, freeze it, and then pull the halves apart to reveal the perfectly formed ice sphere. The Zoku® Ice Ball comes in a stackable set of two. Taking up minimal space in the freezer, each unit is just 2.75" tall and 3.6"s diameter. The Ice Ball is BPA- and phthalate-free and has a suggested retail price of $16.95 for a set of two. It is available for immediate shipment. For more information, visit www.zokuhome.com. And just as some things are beautiful because they just work so well, so some things are beautiful because they just force us to stop, stand and admire. Count on Japan to bring that to New York. Take time during NY Now to visit BlueBird Trading Company in booth #3983 at the Japan Pavilion in the Accent on Design section of Home on level 3 and take a look at the Wajima Lacquer Titanium Hollow Cup. These cups build on a 9,000-year-old Japanese tradition of applying lacquer to iron armor and Nanbu Ironware to prevent it from rusting. Now, the folks making the Wajima Lacquer Titanium Hollow Cup have adapted that technology to the application of lacquer onto a base of titanium to produce objects that continue to season and grow in beauty as they are used. Only after 14 years from the time it begins to be used is the product truly finished. In the same BlueBird Trading Company booth at NY Now, you can see glass jewelry and sake cups by Mieko Noguchi, an upand-coming glass artist from Yokohama, Japan. She is showing her glass jewelry and objects for the first time at NY Now, although she's been showing her work in Japan since 2003. begin construction on the build site in March, surrounded by VIETRI colleagues, friends, customers, and press. On November 26 at 10:30 a.m., they joined together to celebrate the dedication ceremony for the completed home. In order to raise $78,000 for the build, VIETRI created limited-edition handcrafted mugs, sold in retail stores and on www.vietri.com, with all proceeds going toward building this new home. Susan worked with one of VIETRI's most Taylor Precision Products Acquires Metrokane Taylor Precision Products, Inc., a pioneer in consumer and professional measurement devices and the leading brand of bath and kitchen scales in the U.S., recently announced the acquisition of Metrokane, Inc., the leading North American marketer of wine accessories and barware, sold primarily under the Rabbit® and Houdini™ brand names. Metrokane is Taylor's second acquisition GENERAL NEWS KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW

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