This summer, event-furniture rental giant Cort Events invited 200 industry leaders and tastemakers to a garden-themed open house on the ninth floor of New York City’s iconic Rockefeller Plaza. The to-do drew inspiration from the venue’s adjacent al fresco event space, where a foliage-filled oasis displayed a variety of seating, table-and-chair, and décor arrangements for guests to ogle over and mingle in.
Here are the noteworthy trends from the CORT event, with insights from the company’s executive director of marketing and merchandising, Kevin Dana.
Outdoor Offerings
When asked about CORT’s most-popular pieces, Dana said outdoor products surged during the pandemic. “Since then, though, outdoor products and outdoor events have become more popular year-round.”
Dana noted that just a few years ago, less than 10 percent of CORT’s inventory included outdoor offerings. Now, up to 25 percent of its products are either intended solely for an outside event, or for an indoor-outdoor event. “When we bring on products now, we try to think, ‘Can we engineer it to make it for the outdoors?’” Dana said, mentioning that “95 percent of the products that CORT purchases we develop ourselves.” 
Groups are making a greater effort to bring in some element of the outdoors, no matter the market or time of year, Dana said, noting that the Las Vegas Convention Center is adding an outdoor plaza to the Legacy Campus as part of a $600 million renovation. And that’s after adding on a 20-acre outdoor exhibit area back in 2017.
Personalization
“It’s going to continue to be more important—extremely important—for the next few years,” Dana said of personalized elements in event furniture and décor. “As our clients get more sophisticated, they’re all looking for something that’s more, that’s custom, that’s personalized to their own brand. And they all want to do something different.”
As a result, CORT now offers personalized tabletop decals, bars specially designed with unique logos (or with LED lights in a brand’s colors), zip-on custom chair upholstery, and other branding options. CORT has also recently introduced step-and-r
epeat backdrops, accent lighting, and drapery in an effort to be a one-stop shop for event-décor needs.
For items that can’t be personalized, CORT has put an increased focus on modularity, Dana said. Many of CORT’s chairs in the Chelsea collection, for example, can’t boast a company logo but have options available in more than 10 colors with interchangeable styles and bases.
A longer version of this article from Trade Show News Network originally appeared on TSNN.com. Click here for more furniture trends, including VIP seating areas, built-in outlets, and furniture layouts that address a group’s objectives.
All photo credits: Hechler Photographers
