Presentation occupying 4,000 square feet of its High Point showroom helps customers envision how to showcase the ever popular soft contemporary style segment on their floors
HIGH POINT — Tapping into one of the more popular styles in the marketplace, particularly among young consumers, Elements International unveiled its soft contemporary Modern Roots gallery concept at the recently concluded High Point Market.
Occupying about 4,000 square feet of its 50,000-square-foot showroom, Modern Roots showcased more than 100 SKUs including a number of first-time-seen pieces.
While the new items were just a small part of the overall presentation, the concept successfully presented the best the company has to offer in this style category, curating a mix of pieces across the bedroom, dining, living room, entertainment and office segments.

“Our merchants and our marketing team did a great job in terms of curating and being intentional about those looks,” Paul Comrie, Elements chief executive officer told Home News Now, noting that there are about a dozen bedrooms in the lineup that tie in with the look, including sets that can retail as low as $999. “The beauty of the program is that we also have multiple finishes that you can mix and match. The customer looking for that type of design at a price really wants some personalization when it comes to choosing an upholstered bed that goes with their case goods or taking a different chair or a corner nook and matching it up with an arched curio or a server from a different collection. … You also can really expand your assortment with optional pieces, second chairs, second finishes and really create a lot of mix-and-match opportunity, which we think is what the customer wants.”
The dining segment in particular affords consumers this opportunity, as the mix features regular-height and counter-height tables with different seating in multiple fabrics and finishes. Even bench seating that is shown with a regular-height dining table can be used as a bed bench, for example, another way that consumers can mix and match pieces from the gallery.
Comrie said the concept received positive response at market, particularly from customers seeking fashion-forward styles at a competitive price.

“Just like every market, we are focused on a diversity of style and pricing, creating value at every price point,” he added. “This big launch was under the modern look, but we are still laser focused on a value story.”
Faux marble tables, for example, were made to look like real marble, while also offering a durability story with tops in a poly-resin finish and bases in 3D paper laminates.

“It has the look and feel with the quality story, and it is at our core price point that our customers have come to love, but with a fresh look,” he said, of some of the midcentury appeal in today’s marketplace. “We went after all the trendy looks with organic finishes and rounded soft edges. Midcentury is the new Louis Phillipe. It is slowly picking up steam. The masses are adopting these looks, and if you hit the right price point, you can really do some volume here.”
The line is all stocked in Vietnam and in its Texas warehouse and can ship on mixed containers and truckloads. It ships from the company’s Vietnam or Texas warehouses in less than a week from the time of order, Comrie noted, adding that items also are stocked in multiple finishes.

