High Point Market Fall 2026: burl, gold and visible craft

By Tom Whitfield

Pooky and Samuel & Sons will officially launch their collaboration on November 3. The High Point Market Fall 2026 preview says the passementerie house’s artisan tassels and trimmings will dress pleated silk shades in coral, light blue and emerald green. The Margaux flush mount uses Samuel & Sons’ handwoven Crete trim and drew a crowd, according to Pooky Chief Creative Officer Jo Plant.

In the Century showroom, Windsor Smith presented her Greco-Roman Anthelion collection. The review recounts a ginger juice shot carried from New York and Smith’s matching bottle. They clinked bottles and drank them.

“This is my High Point secret weapon,” Smith said, identifying local juice shop Organic AF, a 5-minute drive from IHFC. “It’s my go-to, pre-Market stop.” The anecdote adds color, not evidence.

High Point Market’s packed schedule of previews, panels and cocktail parties unfolded over the weekend amid gusty winds, rain and cold. The review found the activity indoors, where Hudson Valley Lighting relaunched Schoolhouse, the Portland, Oregon brand acquired in Food52’s bankruptcy auction earlier in 2026. The relaunch restored what the report called needed color, pattern and coziness.

The new-ish halls 313 Space and Broad Hall gathered fresh vendors and non-furniture exhibitors. The report singled out displays by Monogram, Artistic Tile, Cosentino and Miele among the Market’s most compelling.

The Burl Effect

The review found richly grained, high-contrast burlwood in both traditional Biedermeier silhouettes and low-slung Modernist coffee tables. Adam Dunn, senior vice president of design and creative director at Four Hands, set the test: “Anything with high-figure, deep piles, and an energy that makes you want to walk up and touch it—that’s in.”

He dismissed “really flat, dull veneers—anything that’s a plain, straight-grain material that doesn’t have any movement.”

• Four Hands’ Rainey sectional wraps an elegant, ellipse-shaped seat in walnut burl.
• Theodore Alexander’s Stephen Church collection, by English cabinetmaker Stephen Church, uses jaunty okoume, khaya and satinwood veneers for traditional tastes.

Gold takes its cue from Paris

The report linked the metallic turn to the S/S27 Paris runways. Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent farewell glittered in gold, while a high-shine mesh halter dress won raves at Schiaparelli.

• Hudson Valley Lighting’s Hollis Hills pendant uses scalloped capiz shells that radiate a golden iridescence.
• Bernhardt gave the desk and coffee table in its Chatham Park collection a burnished gold finish.
• Four Hands applied an acid-wash antiqued brass finish to several SKUs in its 30th Anniversary capsule.
• Donghia’s Skyline wallcovering collection, one of the Market’s biggest standouts, used artisan techniques in what the report called an alluring, cosmopolitan style. Its metallic moire High Society and tonal jacquard weave Rolling Hills resist digital lookbooks, the report said.

Nature’s Way

The review called the palette play-it-safe: muted blues and greens, known bestsellers, with doses of beet, butterscotch and chocolate.

• Regina Andrew launched its antique brass Veiller lighting collection with fan-pleated shades in Olive, Mist Blue and Oyster.
• Little Greene named Marle (355) its 2027 Color of the Year, a quiet, reflective brown.
• Thomas O’Brien launched no new SKUs. He refreshed his Century vignettes with Silken Pine and Fresh Brew, Benjamin Moore shades he returns to repeatedly.
• Brown Jordan’s outdoor palette paired Butter, a yellow; Canyon, terracotta; Harbor, gray-blue; and Bamboo, a crisp green. The four colors formed a capsule of 25 frame finishes.
• The hues appeared on clean-lined Vero, Brown Jordan’s more affordable line, and the neoclassical Venetian Collection, designed by Richard Frinier in 1987 and still a brand bestseller. Brown Jordan also announced an expansion of its furniture color palette to the cabinetry range for Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens.

The Common Thread

Across the new collections, the report found creative directors moving away from precision and perfection toward textures and techniques that reveal the artisan’s touch. Designer Anne-Marie Barton, who launched several richly tactile fixtures for Visual Comfort & Co., said: “I think we’re all craving a sense of humanness.”

Visual Comfort chief design officer Sean Lavin described the production burden behind that look. “Our factory team are saints given the amount of times I had them readjust panels and re-weld marks,” he said, pointing to faceted brass and alabaster pendants with visible joinery welds. “That’s the maker’s hand.”

• Morris & Co. previewed its first embroidered grasscloth, available to the trade in January.

Jo Plant, Pooky’s Chief Creative Officer, said: “We’ve also been bringing out a lot more ceramics, reactive glazes, and textural forms. It feels a bit handmade, and people understand that not every piece will look the same,” she said. “They appreciate that it’s an artisan process.”

What does this change for furniture and lighting buyers?

For buyers, the practical change is that burlwood, metallic finishes, muted outdoor colors and visible handwork now span furniture, lighting, wallcovering and textiles in the launches presented. The evidence remains showroom-based. The review provides no prices, order books or production volumes, so it cannot show which style will sell at volume. Plant’s point that not every piece will look the same also means buyers cannot treat handmade as a guarantee of uniformity.

The November 3 Pooky launch and Morris & Co.’s January trade release will test whether visible craft can move from display novelty to a standard order.