RAPID CHANGES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 89, 25 January 1938, Page 6

RAPID CHANGES

FASHIONS IN FURNISHINGS.

LIVELY DEMAND IN THE TRADE.

CUSTOMERS SEEK THE MODERN

Fashions change in everything, but it is doubtful if the changes are more rapid and more revolutionary than in the furnishing trade, where competition is so keen that if a firm brings out an article of special design, it -s copied and put on the market by rival concerns in a matter of days, “There is no chance of bringing out a furnishing catalogue these days; it would not last twelve months,” said a furnishing warehouse manager to a “Guardian” reporter this morning. “Every shape and design you could think of is exploited in the trade today,” he added, “and I suppose it is only in keeping with the times that change is demanded. People affe all the time on the look-out for something new, something different, and though prices a.re still going up and are likely to make another definite jump in the very near future, there is no slackening in the demand.

“There are not so many repair jobs now. There is more money about, and where an article of furniture has been made to do for several years by repairmg, these same ,articles are now being discarded in favour of new ones. The Vogue of the Mirror. “For years the mirror was not greatly in favour, but it is flifferent now,” the speaker said. “Mirrors can be made up to any design, and they are biggei than those which used to be in vogue The demand now is for the mirrors bn toilet tables to follow the designs of the bedsteads and the wardrobes.” A number of examples of this were shown to the reporter. Tallboys, a miniature of the article that was made years ago, are rapidly coining into favour, the furnishing man said. This was accounted for largely by the fact that toilet tables are being made lower and lower all the time, till they have reached a point where the top of the table is less than 2 feet from the floor, the regular space above being devoted to long mirrors. Drawer space having been taken from the toilet table, it has to be put back somewhere, hence the tallboy, which is re placing the pedestal table. : There whs a time, quite recent, when rimu and oak were the favoured woods, bub times have brought a change aud ash, mahogany, cedar and walnut are vieirig with the other woods for popularity. Of coursp, .it was pointed out, these latter woods are not used in the solid. That would make the articles too expensive -for' the average person, so the furniture carries a veneer of these woods. • . Rimu Soaring. At the same time, rimu has gone up so much in price lately, and is destined soon to go even higher, that it is almost level with oak, and all things being equal, the better wood is asked for. Now that more spending money i? available to a great many people, there is a demand for the smaller items of furniture that tend to add to the home that little touch of extra comfort that it is so pleasant to find at hand on occasion. Fireside chairs and low-set, deep armchairs, heavily upholstered, are in request, and as the latest method is for double-springing in such chairs, with designs borne of long experience, the owner does not have to wriggle into a comfortable posture in a chair these days—he can literally flop into a chair that gives the impression that his tiredness is leaving him as a pain departs under the influence of a drug. Brass work in the “antique” class is more popular just now than ever before and there is a multiplicity of designs to select from. All this work is carried out in New Zealand and firescreens, log boxes, and kerbs, need not be imported.