Octopi becomes a furniture trend with tentacles

It’s high time the octopus got some ink. As a home furnishings motif, it’s a trend with tentacles.

At the Las Vegas and High Point, North Carolina, furniture markets, octopi were all over pillows, tableware, furniture and all manner of accessories.

In the wild, an octopus changes color depending on its mood. Blue means it’s excited, white shows fear and red indicates anger.

No matter what color, the octopus blends into interior design schemes from contemporary to classic.

“It’s just a build-up on a trend that emerged last year and has not gone away. If anything it has gotten bigger!” said Ron Bishop of Blue Sky.

At the Las Vegas Winter Market, he showed his red octopus teapot, a unique piece of the sea captured in ceramic. Norwalk Furniture, meanwhile, adorned its High Point showroom with a specially designed octopus wall hanging by Kelly O’Neal of Design Legacy.

Steven Shell, the British furniture manufacturer, was showing dressers and trays with suckers. Its Stacked Flight of Drawers from the Bloomsbury Collection bears a hand-painted Jules Verne-ish octopus. The eight-armed creature is black or gold against a milk finish.

Gilded Home and Made Goods both had table-top octopi in gold.

No one is really sure why the octopus suddenly has the home furnishings market in its grip, but they’re in no hurry to escape.

“Its tentacles have spread around the house from lounge to bedroom!” said Shell.

This story was originally published August 17, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Octopi becomes a furniture trend with tentacles."