Just got the e-mail that the new CB2 catalog is out. They've brought in some new items, as well as a lot of returning favorites. There's an obvious ethnic/asian influence in a lot of the accessories, and they've introduced a new colorstory for fall.
A few things that initially caught my eye were these
whimsical decorative felt balls. I might not use all the colors together, but maybe just sticking to one or two of the colors could add some nice texture to a table. There's this great retro inspired two-toned
dinnerware collection, called "palette." A cool
"hideout" low cabinet that has a black melamine finish, with a taupe colored glass door. This could work great in a dining room or living room. And finally these gorgeous
"lumimaria" bed linens by Marimekko, that evoke the cooler nights ahead. You can check out their virtual catalog on their website
here.
i've got my eye on the peekaboo clear c table...i think it'll make a great cocktail cart!
I received my catalog yesterday and found a lot of new and exciting accessories. However one thing surprised me. The catalog has some wooden birds that are apparently new to CB2 for $24.95, but these are the same birds that I bought from IKEA 5 months ago on clearance for $2. I thought that was kind of weird.
I just ordered the new catalog. I checked out the online version and can see a lot of things for my apartment.
Hmm... It doesn't seem like I was looking at the same catalog as the previous commenters. I just looked through the catalog as was completely underwhelmed.
I like CB2, their website, their online ads, and am happy with my previous purchases from them: a rug, tabletop and bar accessories, desktop accessories, etc. Apologies to anyone in the AT community who may have worked on this catalog, but this piece left me cold. Only a handful of featured products caught my eye: the hideout cabinets (pictured above), the bricks rug (for the bathroom), the corona pendant lamp (in blue), the alpha pendant lamp (in rust), and the overscaled 30" mad pendant lamp.
It may have been the over-done styling of the photographs and the color-dictated art direction of the page layouts (both of which I think were stylistic misfires), but the overall impression I get from the catalog isn't a good one. It's far too busy, cheapens the product through a visual presentation that's not unlike the Chiasso catalog (which I also think misses the mark as a successful consumer sales piece). The page layouts are too cluttered; and with its larger type and larger-scaled photographs, look like a Crate and Barrel catalog for the visually-impaired.
Also the catalog feels unfocused and fails to identify and cater to a specific aspriational lifestyle for the customer. Visually, it just reads like an assemblage of goods. By comparison, whether you like their goods or not, West Elm catalogs successfully hit the mark with every point I've mentioned above. As do the print catalogs for EQ3, which incorporate colorful Jordi Labanda-esque illustrations to help create an EQ3 fantasy lifestyle/culture. Similar things can also be said about the old Abercrombie & Fitch catalogs as marketing pieces.
As a consumer piece, the new CB2 catalog doesn't entice me to buy any of the featured items because CB2 as a concept is undefined and doesn't resonate for me. An stylistically, it's only slightly more interesting than a Sunday paper circular for a mass-retailer. (Don't get me started on the cover, which feels a little too derivative of a Target print campaign.)