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O C G S h o w D a i l y Fe b ru a r y 1 & 2 , 2 0 1 4 8 TEXTILES TAKE THE FORE AT NY NOW By Lorrie Baumann With the explosion of interest in entertain- ing at home, and particularly in entertain- ing in and around the kitchen, more retail- ers are looking for products to offer their customers who are interested in making their kitchens a place to show off their design and artistic sensibilities. Textiles are a way to make that kind of statement rela- tively inexpensively and without a sacri- fice of valuable counter space. And just as retailers are interested in offering their cus- tomers the products that meet those needs, so the artisans at NY Now are eager to offer those products to the retailers who will be flocking to New York in January to see the best of design-forward products for gifts and home. During your tour of NY Now, stop by booth #416 in the Galleria to see and touch the OMO kitchen towels from WOVEN PROMISES. These OMO tow- els are handwoven in Ethiopia of rich, soft yet durable Ethiopian cotton. These absorbent towels come in stripes of natu- ral color with either blue, gold, gray, tan- gerine, with a few new colors, including purple and turquoise, for the spring and summer of 2014. They are a generous 20- inch by 30-inch and are machine wash- able. Suggested retail price is $28. LinenMe is also offering some beau- tiful home textiles. The LinenMe Felt Placemat is a rustic-style placemat made from rough non-woven linen fabric. These are touchable and elegant and their natural color would be lovely on a break- fast or brunch table. The placemats meas- ure 14-inch by 20-inch 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-inch by 20-inch 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- inch by 19-inch size. Pair them with the Rustic White Runner, which is also pre- washed 100 percent linen for a light- weight soft runner with handmade fringes on each edge. The runner retails for $34.99 for an 18-inch by 55-inch run- ner. Both of these Rustic White items can be made in any size. Finally from LinenMe, there are Striped White Natural Tea Towels, which are lint- free 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-inch by 28-inch 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 ven- dors in Colombia and covered with durable resin to create functional, mod- ern 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-inch 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-inch by 20-inch towels, and the Deck Kitchen Towel in beige, gray, navy and teal, which also retails for $24 for a 30-inch by 20-inch 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 FOCAL- POINT HOME in booth #532 at NYNow. This Australian company sup- plies handcrafted textiles made from nat- ural 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-inch by 78-inch 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 fring- ing, the Fouta hammam retails for $45. The 72-inch by 100-inch tablecloths in 100 percent Egyptian cotton retail for $125. Find FOCALPOINT HOME in booth #532 in the Global Handmade divi- sion 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-inch by 28-inch tea towels in packs of six. Images of thoroughbred horses from a by-gone era run across these linen towels. Available in two col- orways, natural linen with a black print of thoroughbred horses or natural linen with an ivory print of thoroughbred hors- es. Suggested retail price is $14 each. Fern, also 17-inch by 28-inch 100 per- cent 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 sil- icone mold with water, freeze it, and then pull the halves apart to reveal the perfect- ly 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-inches tall and 3.6-inches 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 avail- able 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 beau- ty 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 up-and-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. KEURIG LAUNCHES COLLEGE-BRANDED K-CUP BREWERS Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., Waterbury, Vt., has introduced unique col- lege-branded Keurig K-Cup Mini Plus brewers to let students and alumni express school spirit all year long. Retailing for $99.99, the new college-branded MINI Plus brewer is available exclusively online at www.keurig.com/college. Keurig, the North American leader in single cup brewing systems, offers consumers the perfect personal bever- age with its more than 250 varieties of Keurig Brewed coffees, teas, cocoas and more. Keurig is expanding that per- sonalization with the introduction of a collegiate collection for its popular Keurig Mini Plus brewer. The NCAA Division 1 schools with decaled brew- ers include: University of Arizona, University of Arkansas, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Miami (FL), University of Mississippi, University of Nebraska, Rutgers University, University of Texas, Washington State University. Available in three color options – black, white, or platinum – the $99.99 Keurig Mini Plus college brewer is the per- fect accessory that will satisfy the need to brew a great cup of coffee at the touch of a button while proudly displaying team alle- giance to friends, coworkers, or rivals. The above individual college decals are also available for purchase separately for $19.99 and can be applied to any Keurig Mini Plus brewer. Both the new college- branded Keurig Mini Plus and the individ- ual college decals are available exclusively online at www.keurig.com/college. These college decals are officially licensed to GMCR by IMG College LLC ("IMG") and its licensing affiliate The Collegiate Licensing Company LLC and are part of the overall colle- giate sports marketing partnership between IMG and GMCR. FLAVOR YOUR LIFE PROMOTES OLIVE OIL TRACEABILITY SYSTEM Flavor Your Life, an E.U.-funded cam- paign, was created to educate consumers about the latest in olive oil industry news. One of its missions is to explain the advantages of adopting a traceability sys- tem that allows consumers to track the olives used to make a given bottle of olive oil. Traceability has been an obligatory requirement for all European agro-alimen- tary businesses. However, there are stan- dards within the traceability system that are voluntary and not required by law. By adopting these standards, businesses have added value to their products, improved their products, and have made them more appealing to consumers who can be more confident in purchasing traceable prod- ucts. One of the advantages of adopting a traceability program, for both businesses and consumers, is that the products pro- duced would be obligated to meet all legal requirements. This system could allow the tracking of the origin of a product, process parameters, and strict management of quantities produced, which would aid in reducing production waste and could be used as a potential marketing tool. Many consumers would feel more confident about buying a bottle of olive oil if they could trace its origins and deter- mine exactly what they are getting. It gives the product its own story that people can partake in. In this way consumers are more informed and aware of the choices they have and the different prices avail- able on the market. Flavor Your Life campaign supported by the European Union, Unaprol and the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, is dedicat- ed to providing the latest in industry news and health information about European extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil enhances the flavors of your recipes while providing health benefits. Flavor Your Life campaign, the voice of olive oil pro- duction quality control, aims to educate consumers so they can make informed decisions when purchasing olive oil.