Shaw

Life as the Trad Home Intern Continued…

Written on June 21, 2011 at 2:59 pm
By Julianne Hilmes

I have been one busy little bee! I’ve been calling, e-mailing, making contact sheets, searching through old issues, and working on slideshows. Not to mention the occasional fun little events I get to attend.

Product previews I’ve been to recently:

Behr Paint: Fun! I’ve always liked color combinations. Plus we got these adorable little cake pops!

Duravit: I had never heard of this company until I went to the product preview, but they had some very cool products. It’s a European-based company and that shows in the designs, but I like the minimalist style very much.  I learned a lot about the new trend in bathrooms – bidets. (Admit it, you’re curious).

HGTV Home Sherwin Williams & Flooring by Shaw: HGTV has teamed up with these two brands to make product lines that work together. It’s a very cool concept. Somebody who might not know much about color or decorating, or maybe someone who does know a lot but just needs a little guidance, can pick from a Sherwin Williams palette of 20 colors and mix and match any of those 20 colors to work in their home AND use the brochure with the color swatches as a guide when out buying other products to furnish the room, including floor cover by Shaw.

Wilton Cake Decorating: Such a fun preview! It was held in the test kitchen, so I automatically loved it. (I love to cook and to bake and may or may not be in love with our beautiful test kitchen). We were all shown new, cute little decorating pieces. Now all I can think about is when I can next bake some cupcakes!

There have been a few more firsts since my last post.

I went to my first Meredith Fitness class. It was a yoga class two weeks ago and I’m going again this evening!

I went to my first over-the-lunch-hour fitness class. It was HardCORE Bootcamp, and it was definitely hardcore. Think giant tires and ropes. It was an awesome class. It kicked my butt. And while I’m still not sure how I feel about the mid-day workout and rinse off and then return to work thing, I’m definitely going again this week.

I went to my first tasting. Oh my gosh was it delicious: trout, shrimp, cream puffs, salad, and cheesecake. All of these menu items were made around a rosemary theme (yum!) and will be featured in our September issue. I highly recommend you make the shrimp (and I’m generally not a shrimp gal).

Nothing too serious on the schedule for the rest of the week, but I’m in the midst of working on four slideshows so that’s probably a good thing. More product previews next week! Stay tuned…

eye on the tiger – behind the scenes at Shaw

Written on June 10, 2010 at 3:50 pm
By Amy Bleier Long

I’m kind of a geek, so I was very into the heavy-on-the-science tour of the Shaw headquarters. It was cool to see the process from start to finish, and it really illustrated the advantages of Tigressá SoftStyle carpet.

We started where most things do: inspiration. We briefly discussed the colors, research, home and fashion trends, and qualities (strength, beauty, protection) that influenced the Shaw designers. Regional inspiration boards and displays showing national and regional sales of existing products by color were interesting to study.

The group was paired off to create our own inspiration boards. The Shaw team wanted to see what we were inspired by and what we were seeing in the market. I worked with the fabulous Carmen Natschke from The Decorating Diva. Here’s our board (including some pieces you may already recognize from past TH issues):

If you want to hear me discuss our board, here’s a video. More of what I’ve been seeing in the market will be in our pages soon!

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eye on the tiger – Tigressá SoftStyle

Written on May 22, 2010 at 5:19 pm
By Amy Bleier Long

 
In the market for new carpet? I just got back from a slightly whirlwind trip to Dalton, GA, for a press event hosted by Shaw, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, and CCA Global Partners, where I toured Shaw’s corporate headquarters and had an exclusive preview of their brand new line coming out this weekend.
 

Tigressá SoftStyle is an innovative line of nylon carpet, but it’s also the culmination of a lengthy development process, one I learned a great deal about over two days. Shaw let us (9 bloggers, 3 trade editors, and me!) see the evolution of Tigressá by literally opening their doors so we could examine each step in the production cycle. Read more