This is fiber optic ready made curtain panel from Italian firm Decobel gives new meaning to “light at the window”.

Color schemes were lighter and fresher than last year and foreshadowed brighter days to come.

It was obvious that innovation had taken a back seat to reworking old favorites and best sellers, but if you looked hard enough you could find some truly amazing fabrics. The dimensional structures and surface trend for textiles is still gaining speed on the trend curve.

More to come tomorrow from imm Cologne and later this week- Maison et Objet!

Designers, Decorators and Colorists grab your color wheels. Benjamin Moore launches its fourth installment of the Hue Awards. The award seeks to honor the incorporation of color in innovative and imaginative ways—through the use of interior and exterior paints, building materials, textiles and other surfaces, plus design elements and furnishings. The paint giant is accepting submissions from May 1 to October 9 of this year. Open to both seasoned and novice design professionals, the competition will accept entries in the following categories: residential interiors, residential exteriors, contract interiors, contract exteriors, and social responsibility.
This year’s palette of judges features five exceptional professionals drawn from the design, fashion, and art worlds who have cultivated a rich knowledge of color usage. The lineup includes Thomas R. Krizmanic, principal of Studios Architecture; Reed Kroloff, director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum; Mayer Rus, design and culture editor of The Los Angeles Times Magazine; Essie Weingarten, founder of Essie Cosmetics, and Tim Wisgerhof, former creative director for Saks Fifth Avenue. So designers and architects, if you have a nose for color and the portfolios to back it up, submit your work for consideration for the Benjamin Moore HUE award. There is no fee to enter; downloadable entry forms and instructions are available at www.benjaminmoore.com.

Winners will be honored at an awards ceremony in New York in March 2010, and will receive a $5,000 cash prize along with the original hand-blown HUEY.               

Here are some guiding principles from designers that understand the window fashion niche:

1.If the window treatment’s elaborate; embellishment to the shape should be simple

2.Proportion is everything. Pay attention to the size and scale of the window, treatment, and its components

3.Height rules supreme- mount at the ceiling whenever possible

4.Expansive windows need the drama and authority of dramatic pattern

5.Learn from the Past “Innovation is often the ability to reach into the past and bring back what is good, what is beautiful, what is useful, what is lasting. “ Sister Parish