Maggie Cruz’s New Collection: My Favorite Introduction at High Point Market 2017

Twice a year, the design set converge on High Point, North Carolina, with a mission: to check out all the new furniture and decor (though mostly furniture) that’s being released in the American market in the coming year. Last week, for the spring 2017 market, I made that trip to NC along with Apartment Therapy’s Executive Editor, Janel Laban. Visiting booth after booth, showroom after showroom, we were asked the same thing by eager fellow design lovers: “What are the best things you’ve seen so far?” and I found myself quickly jumping to the following answer: Maggie Cruz’s new spring 2017 furniture collection.

The Miami-based interior designer, who was named to Traditional Home‘s Top 10 “New Trad” Designers list, is someone I’ve had my eye on for a while. I’ve seen her projects in glossy magazines numerous times, so when I heard she was coming to High Point for the first time with a new furniture collection, I knew her booth was near the top of the list of places I wanted to be sure to see. Not to mention, some of the accounts I followed on Instagram had given me a sneak peak to what she was releasing, and what I saw was good.

Maggie looked to her Cuban roots for inspiration, creating pieces that mixed Art Deco silhouettes and call outs with the effervescent colors common to Caribbean architecture. What I loved most about her display, though (beyond the gorgeous Habanera Console Table & Cleo Stool, oh and the eye-popping Calzada Armoire, more on these later) was that honestly, nothing else we saw during our three days in High Point looked like Maggie’s designs…and I found it refreshing.

Janel and I would try to describe it when we were reflecting on our finds to those who asked. “It’s Art Deco meets modern tropics meets fresh and new!” Though the description was cumbersome and certainly a mouthful, it was the best we could do at the time (and well, I still don’t really have a tight elevator pitch for what it is, but I’m okay with it).

Regardless of what you want to call it (though I’m leaning toward a short and simple “modern tropics”), I’d welcome any single one of Maggie’s new designs into my home, particularly any of the casegoods adorned with caning. And maybe a velvet armchair…and a linen stool…and…well, check out all the pieces in the below shots from Maggie Cruz Design’s Instagram—click through to see all three images—for yourself below to understand my plight of picking a favorite.