8 minute read
Spotlight On... Kitchen & Baking Gifts
Bake, Cook, Eat
With an endless stream of TV cookery programmes, and a passion for entertaining at home, driven by the pandemic, there’s always something on TV to inspire viewers to put on an apron and find the oven gloves.
In advance of Exclusively, which will be welcoming buyers to the housewares show in June, taking place at London’s Business Design Centre, PG&H took a peek at what’s trending in gift-led kitchen and baking products.
Not everyone can be a Nigella or a Nadiya, but for many people nowadays, cooking and/or baking is an opportunity to relax and engage with making healthy food from scratch for friends and family. It has therefore created an opportunity for suppliers to make cooking and baking tools more giftled; and if the substrates are kind to the environment then that’s an added bonus.
“Home baking is back with a bang,” says Eddingtons’ Faye Colclough, product development & packaging manager. “We have seen a huge demand for our decorative baking spatulas and cook sets, banneton bread baskets and liners, as well as our Bake & Take gift sets. We have since followed up with a new range of decorative, pastel coloured mixing bowls under The Pantry brand,” highlights Faye.
“The past two years has seen the home and garden become our focus,” comments T&G’s head of marketing Jenny Handley, “and with many more people working flexible hours as well as from home, we have turned to home baking, entertaining and organising. Everyone needs a wooden spoon or spatula as well as salt and pepper mills for seasoning,” she points out, “and we offer a wide selection of sustainable products that include FSC-certified natural beech wood serving, chopping and sharing boards, salt and pepper mills, utensils and FSC cork mats, coasters and pot stands. All are ideal for home entertaining and home baking, with a quality, sustainable guarantee,” points out Jenny. “For storage and display, our glassware collections are ideal for giving the kitchen a home edit, de-clutter and a tidy. And using our in-house laser machine, we can engrave a design, add branding or personalise many of our products.”
Top: Among Eddingtons’ new, decorative, pastel coloured mixing bowls. Above left: Star Baker, part of T&G’s Baking Gifts collection, includes a board with utensils. Above: Allen Designs’ Black Moth Apron from Enesco.
Great Wall Of China
In the world of celebrity, trend watchers have recently been blown away by actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s £6,500 Hermes plates, bowls and dishes displayed in the kitchen of her designer home in LA’s Montecito, with the trend of decorating walls with beautiful or fun plates more popular than ever.
“The trend for hanging plates on walls certainly isn’t a new one, but a quick look at Pinterest or Instagram shows that it’s become popular once again with interior lovers,” confirms Wayfair’s resident style advisor, Nadia McCowan Hill.
Right: Wayfair’s Platinum Jubilee Tea Party setting reveals an attractive, eye-catching plate wall.
Enesco’s marketing and product director, Helen Cottrill, concurs that the home remains a sanctuary. “The response to our Demdaco Portfolio collection at Spring Fair was testament to this trend, with storage, sentiment and wellbeing all covered,” confirms Helen. “Plus, even the most utilitarian of kitchen products can make a design statement,” she continues. “Our new Allen Designs tea towels and aprons feature prints on quality cotton, making them ideal for gift retailers wanting to expand into kitchen gifts. They come folded, with a sustainable kraft strap describing the product, and are low in shelf space.”
Meanwhile, the trend for botanical designs shows no signs of slowing down. Rachel Dunleavy, brand manager for Mason Cash, highlights autumnal greens, soft pastels and warm earthy tones. “Texture and colour are key along with nature inspired iconography,” states Rachel. “For Mason Cash’s Autumn launch, we will be expanding the brand’s In The Forest collection to include multi-use prep bowls and a serving platter. Both feature detailed woodland embossments in an autumnal colour palette.”
Ultimate Products’ trading director, Duncan Singleton, believes that the new
culture of relaxing and entertaining at home is here to stay. “Many consumers invested in their homes during the pandemic, creating spaces geared towards entertaining family, hosting friends and enjoying restaurant-worthy experiences from home,” he states. “Responding to the ever-growing popularity of ‘staying in’ Salter has a introduced a host of innovation, including a brand-new Professional Above left: Rayware’s In range, which features a woodfired pizza oven The Forest collection. Inset: Salter’s woodfired and draught beer dispenser.” pizza oven. Claire Budgen, commercial & marketing director of Lifetime Brands, summarises: “With consumers keeping the kitchen at the heart of home living, and the bake and make it yourself trend continuing, bakeware and cookware are in the gifting spotlight. ‘Perfect gifts for foodies’ gift lists are prevalent wherever you look,” she point out, “and they include both bakeware and cookware as well as serveware and barware. At Lifetime Brands, we offer a complete Cook, Serve and Enjoy giftware offering that ranges from
Dining Al Fresco
For those lucky enough to have a garden, and with warmer, summer weather on its way, inviting friends over to eat outside is a ‘must’.
“Outdoor dining has become a big trend, with the start of the pandemic driving al fresco type dining and socialising,” agrees Portmeirion’s Diane Clark. “For Portmeirion, serveware has become a focus as this more casual style of dining trends. With consumers becoming increasingly environmentally aware, what better way to serve food than on stoneware products, helping to bring a touch of sophistication to the outdoors?” Barbecues too, will be taking centre stage. “Encouraging togetherness through experience is a key trend in 2022,” states Annie David, head of innovation at Ulster Weavers. “Combined with a 40% increase in barbequing, it presents significant opportunities for retailers to capitalise on BBQ textiles such as aprons, BBQ cloths and tea towel collections over the summer months.”
Above right: The Sophie Conran by Portmeirion Arbor and Floret serveware takes its inspiration from nature. Left: Ulster Weavers’ Sperrin collection is produced using 100% recycled material.
bakeware and cookware through to more traditional serve and dine gifting options and, importantly, we can support a complete range which is key for the upcoming peak gifting season. Additionally, our new BarCraft cocktail sets and on trend glassware are Insta-worthy and giftable all year round, and we have added new serving pieces to our Artesa collection.”
As gift shops are discovering, with home and garden entertaining the name of the game, the smart money is currently on giftled, gift boxed kitchen and baking products, especially if they’re sustainable.
Below: Among the new serveware pieces in Lifetime Brands’ Artesa collection.
What’s Trending: Kitchen Storage
With kitchens at the heart of the home, people are looking to add personality through accessories.
“Amber glass is very on trend, bringing a vintage apothecary texture to kitchen and housewares,” says Candlelight’s marketing manager Kate Winch. “The re-launch of our 50th anniversary celebration vintage amber storage jars, makes a giftable set and has been hugely popular with our independent customer base.”
At Rex London, Rachel McCarthy, social media and content manager, highlights that 2022 promises to be big on colour, with kitchens enjoying bold, vintage-inspired pops of colour against rich, earthy blues and greens.
Above right: Candlelight’s 50th anniversary commemorative vintage amber storage jars are complemented by a range of candles. Right: Two kitchen storage tins from Rex London.
Brand New
On the licensing front, Captivate’s managing director, Kevin McKay, is fanfaring the company’s Eleanor Bowmer range, launched earlier this year, which has taken the company firmly into licensed giftware.
“It sits nicely alongside our first licensed range for Mary Berry,” he confirms. “After the last two years, bright, playful, practical, useful products are really capturing consumers’ attention, with our in house design team working closely with Eleanor to create a playful range of homewares, ranging from fun tea parties to baking at home. As with our Mary Berry licensed products, the Eleanor Bowmer designs have a real sense of collectability about them, and we are certainly seeing that coming through in retail.” At Denby, James Martin Cook by Denby continues to be designed with gifting in mind. “James' experience in the best kitchens in the world has enabled him to give Denby invaluable detailed insights into designing cookware and accessories for the kitchen,” says the company’s corporate affairs manager Linda Salt. The collection includes dishes for sweet and savoury recipes, and easy to merchandise gift boxed items such as the utensil pot, which has an integral mobile phone/tablet stand, a pestle and mortar, and James's essential butter box.
What’s Trending At Exclusively
Working with trend forecaster Scarlet Opus, Exclusively, which takes place at London’s Business Design Centre on 14 and 15 June, will include trend talks, trend tours for buyers, and displays of exhibitors’ products, pre-selected for being particularly in tune with the themes and styles predicted to be popular over the next three years. Visit www.exclusivelyshows.co.uk
