The Best of WestEdge Design Fair 2024

Updated: November 26, 2024

Trade shows and design events are ripe opportunities for discovering cutting-edge products and innovative design applications. In particular, we enjoy finding products that can improve homeowners’ daily lives, such as those enhancing safety and wellness for the growing population of elderly adults.

We also enjoy learning about products that make homeownership easier and more enjoyable. One example product category is resilient materials that look great, feel great and maintain their beauty with minimal to no maintenance.

WestEdge Design Fair 2024 had many examples that fell into the innovative or “wow” category, so much so that we attended all three days of the event. From self-healing surfaces to fire-resistant materials to super-dense plush wool rugs to eclectic bean-to-bar chocolate, the show pulsed with an undercurrent of modern alchemy. In short, WestEdge was the place to be in Southern California this past weekend!

Here are our favorite products and exhibitors that we encountered at this year’s fair:

• Slabology
• Willis
• Elements Room
• Lucille
• Vlaze
• James Royce Designer Rugs
• Sisyphus Industries
• Thomas Cooper Studio
• Armac Martin
• Ardray Blended Scotch Whisky
• Marsatta Chocolate
• Terra
• Lawrence Schiller Photography

Be sure to mark your calendars for next year’s event November 20-22, 2025 in Santa Monica at The Barker Hangar!

Also see:

• A Design Recap of The 2024 Pasadena Showcase House
• Home Design Trends from the Best of Suburban Orange County
• Inventive Home Wellness Products from This Year’s National Hardware Show
• More Recommended Reading
• Related Topics: Home Products | Home Decor | Inspiration | Indoor-Outdoor Living

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Slabology

Pronounced “Slab-Ology” — this inventive fabrication technology company takes custom designs, such as wall paper, and “prints” them to glass to provide one of a kind wall slabs, countertops and flooring.

As an online platform, Slabology offers a combination of curated stone brands with local stone yard partnerships and on-demand local production of limited edition collections. The company caters to architects, artists, builders, designers and anyone looking for a sustainable approach to sourcing stone slabs using real-time inventory that is local.

We especially admire the company’s approach to strategic partnerships and their reaching out to artists, such as Maggie Enterrios, to forge creative applications of their technology.

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Willis

Willis is a specialty curator of premium, high-performance design surfaces, which can provide amazing solutions for a myriad of applications:

• Interior and Exterior
• Horizontal and Vertical
• Residential and Commercial

These materials are especially well suited for the most demanding of application areas, such as: kitchens; hospitality; healthcare; education; transportation; bathrooms; and furniture.

Advanced surface materials are playing a key role in enabling designers and surface professionals to deliver solutions that offer: low-maintenance; improved hygiene; durability; lifetime beauty; and lower cost-of-ownership.

One such impressive surface brand that caught our attention was Fenix NTM, another terrific example of Italian design innovation.

Fenix NTM is developed with nanotechnologies and made of next-generation acrylic resins that are hardened and fixed through an electron beam curing process. The resultant material possesses truly amazing properties:

• Anti-Fingerprint
• Low Light Reflectivity (Matte Finish)
• Thermal “Self-Healing” of Scratches
• Hygienic and Antibacterial
• Suitability for Food
• Resistance to Heat
• Soft to the Touch
• Impact Resistant
• Simple Low-Maintenance Care

The most intriguing capability of Fenix is its “self-healing” restorative nature, which means shallow scratches can be rubbed out, or pressed out with heat, such as with a standard household clothing iron. The heat causes the underlying molecules to return to their original positions.

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Elements Room by Pacific Shore Stones

By far, the most elegantly designed booth at WestEdge was curated by Elements Room. Their main feature displayed a well-sized, natural stone, Brazilian-mined, quartzite table in premium Cristallo Vitrum. The table was backlit with white LED translucent bulbs to highlight its natural oxidation lines, veins and radiant beauty, giving it an elegance reminiscent of a haute joaillerie boutique!

As the higher-end line of sister company, Pacific Shore Stones, Elements Room also displayed natural products from their impressive curated collection, which captured the stylishness and brilliance of Brazilian, Portuguese, Italian, Namibian, and even American mined natural stone surfaces.

The large vertical slabs of natural stone that surrounded the exterior walls of the enclosed booth projected the sophistication of stunning pieces of fine art.

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Lucille

Travelling from Chattanooga, Tennessee, the team from Lucille Studio showcased a creative collection of innovative surfaces and textures that illustrate their custom capabilities.

Founder, Aaron Cabeen, has a reputation for producing unique products using the highest quality materials and finishes. His studio has the ability to capture custom designs in any shape, style or scale to create personal, distinctive, walls, floors or ceiling features.

Lucille offers complete customization services and allows customers or designers to get involved in the process to play a key role from start to finish. The company is well-suited to be a key partner to designers and homeowners looking for personality-driven designs and statement pieces.

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Vlaze

The Vlaze team shared a remarkable story about the durability of their vitreous enamel products. In 1987, The King’s Cross fire occurred at King’s Cross St. Tube Station in London, England, that tragically resulted in 31 fatalities. The fire began under a wooden escalator before spreading into the ticket hall in a flashover. The conflagration melted the exit signs and destroyed all signage that could have helped some subsequent victims’ egress to safety.

Today, Vlaze is the proud fabricator of the London Underground signage and those of many other famous points of interest, as their beautifully textured materials, created by fusing powdered glass to steel, can withstand temperatures in excess of 800°C.

Their application creates visually stunning outdoor modular kitchen units in a range of brilliant colors, which are available as movable units making them freely reconfigurable. Vlaze combines low-maintenance durability with colorful, festive treatments perfect for those who enjoy socializing outdoors, while enjoying savory foods and delicious drinks.

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James Royce Designer Rugs

From modern to traditional, James Royce has you covered for a wide range of sophisticated luxury home furnishings. The boutique specializes in ultra-high quality modern, traditional and Moroccan rugs, designed to elevate even the smallest spaces.

Each rug is a masterpiece, crafted with meticulous attention to detail and the finest materials by skilled artisans, ensuring that every piece is not only a beautiful addition to your home but also a timeless investment.

Additionally, the boutique has an exquisite collection of accessories such as, Moroccan Traditional Heritage Design Berber Style pillows. The James Royce selection is a tapestry of colors, delicate artistry and intricate patterns from tribal designs representing Moroccan culture.

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Sisyphus Industries

The kinetic art coffee and end tables at the Sisyphus Industries booth had attendees mesmerized by the technology that produces one-of-a-kind, real-time customized sand art using your phone or other smart device.

Their proprietary system relies on magnetism that moves a small ball-bearing that follows one of over 4,000 existing designs, which consist of lined-based illustrations and software algorithmic patterns. The Sisyphus drawing system is able to illustrate designs that are in vector format, so the future design potential is virtually limitless.

Designs take around two hours to complete and the system can be paused, so you can enjoy a particular sand illustration for as long as you wish. However, the drawing process is quite enjoyable and magical to watch, as well!

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Thomas Cooper Studio

Thomas Cooper Studio is a collaboration of creative partners Sally Thomas Cooper and Jason Kai Cooper. This exclusive studio sells lighting as sculpture. Many pieces in their collection are hand-crafted by skilled artisans and are available as custom conversions for one-of-a-kind designs for that unique look.

Our favorite was a series of pastel colored, hand-blown Murano glass bulbs that captured the main booth overhead and reminded us of Christmas, or a decorative, nursery mobile for a very privileged baby!

The duo uses quartz, alabaster, bronze, brass, hand-blown and hand-cast glass to create pieces that are intricate and personal.

Also worthy of note, were two eye-catching side tables that remarkably resembled impeccably detailed djembe hand drums, designed by Stella Hernandez-Salazar. Part of her Muisca Collection, these furniture art pieces are inspired by Colombian iconography and crafted by artisans using traditional techniques.

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Armac Martin

We are often disappointed when encountering unimaginative, low quality door and bathroom hardware in multimillion-dollar showcase homes throughout the Los Angeles market. Armac Martin could mint a small fortune by simply enhancing the “open house housing sector” and replacing status quo fixtures with their solid, well-crafted, creative, bronze hardware.

From kitchen and bath hardware to mesh grills that elevate the décor of any room, Armac Martin has been designing and crafting solid brass hardware and accessories in the heart of Birmingham, England since 1929.

Our favorite pieces were too numerous to mention, but we have to say, they may have sold us on their Regency Diamond Mesh Grilles for our kitchen remodel next year.

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Ardray Blended Scotch Whisky

Although we are devout bourbon drinkers, we couldn’t pass up Rich Varga’s offer to sample his Ardray Blended Scotch Whisky, an ultra-smooth blended Scotch whisky.

With a delightful finish, Ardray is a malt-rich Scotch blend, with no discernable dominant ingredients, as the malt and grains elevate and complement each other, leaving you with a honey-smooth, warm, mellow finish.

A mutually reverential collaboration of Japan’s Suntory blending expertise with Scotland’s Scotch making heritage, Ardray proves once again that Japan‘s truly exceptional art is that of refining existing products.

Winner of two World Whiskies 2024 Gold Awards for taste and bottle design, Ardray is a well-crafted spirit that holds up neat, as well as in cocktails.

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Marsatta Chocolate

Exotic, unique flavors blended with the freshest, finest ingredients is what sets Marsatta Chocolate bars and bonbons apart from those of other luxury chocolate makers and chocolatiers.

Chef Jeffray Gardner, a former NHL referee, was destined for his role as Chief Creator of some of the most unusual and decadent chocolate-blended flavors, such as The Rose Bowl Bar. Flavored with real Southern California roses, whose buds are infused into the exquisitely prepared cacao, the bar is a savory masterpiece worthy of the many football champions that have fought and won battles in the famous venue.

Marsatta even offers Keto-friendly bars that are 98% cacao that are remarkably delicious. Of course for chocolate purists, Marsatta has bars and bonbons that range from 32% cacao for sweet lovers to 100% cacao for the refined palate — yes! — and it’s surprisingly NOT bitter! This “Crystal Label Bar” has only one ingredient: pure, refined cacao beans, with no added sugar or preservatives.

More sophisticated chocolate lovers might also want to experience Marsatta’s Ardray Whisky-Infused Bonbons or a Maple Pacifica bar made of real Southern California ocean salt from Santa Claus Beach in Carpinteria.

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Terra

During breaks from walking the expansive floor of the Barker Hangar, we especially enjoyed lounging outside and experiencing Terra’s stylish Calabasas outdoor sectional oasis. Fortunately, they also had two large heat lamps to combat the cool Santa Monica breeze to provide a comfortably warm respite!

Besides the generously large and sumptuous seating, we love that the system is based on modular bases and tables, so that pieces can be conveniently rearranged as needed. Though we are aware that some members of the furniture industry think negatively of the term “modular” — we love it, as it implies “flexibility”, “scalability” and “transformability” to us — three highly desirable traits for any product!

It was also obvious to us that Terra knows its target customer base very well, by providing casual luxury that is durable, easy to maintain, and adaptable to outdoor spaces. The Calabasas is made of rustproof aluminum in elegant charcoal, with firm cushions protected in highly-durable Sunbrella fabric.

This combination of elegance, adaptability, and ease of maintenance makes Terra Outdoor Furniture an attractive choice for those looking to elevate their outdoor living experience.

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Lawrence Schiller Photography

Imagine Marilyn Monroe standing before you completely disrobed at the height of her stardom. That is just one of many fortuitous opportunities encountered by famed photographer Lawrence Schiller, who has captured, in unforgettable fashion, some of America’s most beloved icons throughout his storied career.

Despite impaired vision in one eye, the result of a childhood accident, Schiller became an award-winning photographer by the age of sixteen!

Not one to be typecast to any one photographic genre, he took advantage of his freelance status and shot uncountable celebrities, public figures, as well as sports, news and political events. His keen instincts of anticipating where to be “to get the story”, quickly led to him becoming a highly sought-after photojournalist. Many of his images have maintained historical significance and represent unforgettable marks in time.

Schiller’s astute business acumen — influenced by Lucille Ball’s advice to him on the importance of owning his creative assets — has made it possible for individuals to purchase limited edition prints of the best of his vast production of remarkable work.

Displaying photography as art is a highly effective method of creating interesting and engaging interior spaces. Pieces from Schiller’s collection provide the additional benefit of enjoyably pondering iconic moments and personalities of American culture and history, as well as learning about the intriguing backstories of these uniquely captured images.

To begin your Lawrence Schiller collection, we highly recommend starting with his recently published autobiographical photo book — an amazing story and collection!

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Recommended Reading

• The New American Home 2024: Indoor-Outdoor Transformable Warmth
• 5 Reasons Victorian Homes Are Still So Popular
• Latest Housing Trends: Barbenhiemer, Blue Zones, Base Camps & More
• What to Consider When Purchasing an Older or Historic Home
• Top 10 Trending Amenities and Features of Luxury Condos
• 5 Simple Tips to Improve Your Home’s Curb Appeal
• Related Topics: Home Products | Home Decor | Inspiration | Indoor-Outdoor Living

 

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