For decades, Boston's design style has been all about the classics. Old money and the nouveau riche decorated their homes in swathes of tartan plaid, herringbone and tweed tarted up with elegant reams of piping, welting, tassels, and trim. Then, they frosted it all with coordinated window treatments, accessories, and custom rugs.
Fortunately for FCG – and our shoppers – the wealthy have always had a ravenous appetite for change. And so over the years, they’ve filled our stores with their barely-used extravagances: sofas and chairs covered in fabrics that cost hundreds of dollars per yard, one-of-a-kind furniture pieces, chandeliers, art, accessories, and rugs from rooms that were more admired than lived in.
Subtle changes are now signaling new trends. Fewer sofas feature the traditional rolled arm or the skirt. More of the sofas in our stores have austere track arms; the seating is lower and the backs are tight. You can see the influence of the clean, contemporary style popularized in recent years by Restoration Hardware and West Elm.
Bostonians may not have been the first in the nation to go for a modern look, but they’re embracing it now with enthusiasm.
What’s next?
We’re seeing exciting new styles flowing into our showrooms from the homes of the ultra-wealthy. Goodbye, tartan plaid! European contemporary has become the gold standard of upscale design. The Italians are sending their American customers precision-engineered frames. The French and the Germans are offering the finest fabrics and highest grade leather.
Still, wealthy homeowners are fickle and yearn, predictably, for new, new, new. That’s why FCG is welcoming more and more furniture from European brands specializing in luxury furnishings: Roche Bobois, B&B Italia, Lignet Roset, and Minotti. Some of their new pieces cost tens of thousands of dollars; they require months to make and up to a year to be delivered to the U.S.
FCG is a favorite destination for Boston’s smartest furniture buyers. Stop by one or all of our three stores where our style-savvy salespeople will show you how to update your home at a fraction of the cost of your trend-chasing neighbors. Even better, these extraordinary pieces are available right now for you to try, to buy, and to take home with you.