More art to match the couch

A growing number of consumers are buying art -- known in the industry as wall decor -- that is made and marketed to coordinate with trends in home furnishings.

“People are absolutely buying more art. In the last two or three years, our art sales have doubled,” said Becky Weber, a buyer for Crate & Barrel.

“It used to be the consumer who was buying the art to match the couch. Now it’s the art publishers buying art to match the couches,” said John Taff, associate publisher of Decor, an art and framing industry magazine.

Merchandisers are getting savvy, said Taff, buying art in colors and styles that will be popular, framing it inexpensively and selling it for a reasonable cost.

Selling art makes economic sense for retailers “who are in the create-a-room business,” said Pam Danziger, who studies luxury trends. “They saw that stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond ... which specialize in accessories, were eating their lunch.”

So what art is likely to be on the furniture showroom wall in six months? Orange and hot pink. Home furnishing trends lag about a year behind fashion, and fuchsia is the color for 2005. “Persimmon is big,” Weber said. “We have an orange leather chair on the [fall catalog] cover that is very successful so we are ... feeling that pink is going to be a great color.”