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Pottery Barn has recently launched a new blog, Have & Hold that is devoted to weddings, engagements and happily ever afters. To kick off the launch of their new blog, the brand hosted a party at a San Francisco wedding planning studio. They invited five local stylists to set up tables full of Pottery Barn product. Each table had a specific wedding style and the blog linked to the specific products used.

Have & Hold includes tips, inspiration, advice, ideas, sample weddings and answers to questions. 

Source: Pottery Barn Inside&Out

Williams-Sonoma's Open Kitchen partners with the Outerlands Restaurant to Celebrate Launch 

The Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen collection is inspired by the busy energetic kitchens of some of their favorite restaurants. This February, they gave consumers a look into the partnership that branded their launch and their first catalog. 

The San Francisco restaurant, Outerlands was chosen to celebrate the launch of their new Open Kitchen Collection. The restaurant hosted Dinner with the Outerlands, a meal that was created by Brett Cooper the head Chef. This dinner provided the creative for their catalog spread. Williams-Sonoma exposed more details on their first Open Kitchen restaurant partnership with Q&A's, a video, recipes and more, all of which can be found on their website.  

The brand also encourages customers to snap and share their next gathering and tag it with #MyOpenKitchen on Instagram. 

Burberry Creates Custom Fashion Show for Fans via Instant Messages 

British luxury brand Burberry teamed up with WeChat, one of China’s most popular messaging platforms to let fans customize their runway show experience by allowing them to unlock special WeChat-only audio content, access exclusive details about the inspiration behind the collection pieces, and follow VIP guests during their experience at the show.

The partnership enables Burberry to tap into personalization and provide instant gratification for their fans. 

IKEA Ad Highlights Brands Sustainability Push

The latest IKEA spot released in the UK and Ireland makes a forest look like an enchanted fairyland using the furniture giant’s lamps.  As part of the company’s latest campaign, “The Wonderful Everyday”, the lamps use LED light bulbs and serve to promote IKEA’s stance on sustainability. All of the corporation’s lightbulbs will use this energy efficient technology by 2016.  Developed by Mother London, this campaign shows that sustainable practices allow us to celebrate the beauty of the natural environment. 

With Instagram closing in on its fourth birthday, the platform has been increasingly attractive to retailers hoping to boost awareness and sales. The first ads were introduced on the platform last fall. But now L2 Think Tank pulled together some stats any retailer joining the platform ought to keep in mind:

Williams-Sonoma is kicking off 2014 with a brand new collection of affordable, stylish kitchenwares. Open Kitchen is inspired by the brand's favorite restaurants: busy, energetic, and filled with the smells of delicious food. These kitchens depend on sturdy cookware at a great value, versatile tools for every task, and affordable tableware for serving a crowd — and Williams-Sonoma developed the products with that in mind.

Open Kitchen cooking essentials range from a $5 wooden spoon to a $399 Stainless Steel cookware set. The collection includes kitchen tools that get things done and make cooking more fun.

Source: Taste: Williams-Sonoma Blog

Entrepreneur Marc Lebovitz developed an iPad app that helps consumers shop from a number of furniture options to virtually redesign their home. Adornably uses magazines as scales to gain perspective of a room's size. Users can then pull something straight from the Adornably catalog to place virtually in their space and, with the tap of a finger, can purchase the item.

Source: FastCoDesign

High-end furniture retailer Restoration Hardware has plans to expand the brand into a luxury lifestyle company that includes a new online platform, real-world gallery and fine art brand, RH Contemporary Art. 

RH Contemporary Art comprises an online gallery and a physical space in New York City, the first of several galleries to open around the country. The brand is working to develop a number of talented artists by offering two to three month residencies and have them create original pieces of work for the brand.

Source: Digiday  

West Elm is partnering with local makers and designers to hand-pick unique, regionally sourced pieces for their stores. Many pieces are handcrafted and made to order. The brand hopes to make every neighborhood store a place of design and discovery -- but also an active communal hub that celebrated and supports local creativity.  West Elm will throw a party to celebrate the launch in each store, and encourages customers to come and meeting the makers, hear their stories and get inspired. The brand taps into digital and social media to invite, promote and share their latest in-store events. 

Read more on how these events work on Front&Main

Lisa Tilse, author of The Red Thread Blog, has published the first issue of Scout, a new ad-free PDF magazine filled with original products and inspiration. Every page is clickable, so you can follow descriptions and images to the original source in your browser.  The magazine is divided into sections defined by Lisa's favorite color trends and the products featured are from both Australian and international online shops. The digital magazine also features a printable section for wrapping, gift lists, a food section with 19 recipes and more.

The issue has 146 pages and is available for download for $10.00

Source: Scout Magazine - Issue One

In December, IKEA built a larger-than-life apartment installation in the Paris Train Station, Gare de Lyon. The 100 meter installation featured oversized furniture that invited people to unleash their inner child.  The brand's unique OOH experience allowed visitors to sink themselves into a giant couch with large pillows or sit at a dining table with huge chairs and glasses. 

Source: DesignTaxi 

The folks at Domaine Home asked actress and style maven Jessica Biel to design her dream holiday room. Using a few Pottery Barn products, Biel chose a palette that mixed traditional, mid-century and modern furniture with rustic elements. 

Pottery Barn featured the Domaine article on their blog, Inside&Out. 

Source: Inside&Out and DomaineHome

From Dec. 3 to Dec. 14, Stark created Pinterest boards for all Target guests, each one built around four key design themes: elegant, rustic, winter wonderland, and groovy. 

Guests will have access to this Pinterest board David created to showcase the four inspiring themes for the holiday season, complete with everything you’d ever need to pull off your Best.Party.Ever.

Source: Pinterest 

Macy's is the first major retailer to roll out support for Apple's new iBeacons, a type of Bluetooth hotspot introduced in the newest version of iOS. iPhone owners who use the retail app Shopkick will start receiving a notification when they walk into either Macy's Herald Square, New York or Union Square, San Francisco locations. 

But down the road, Macy's might also ping shoppers on a department-by-department basis, possibly telling them about sneaker sales when they're in the shoe section, or even recommending nearby products they could have an interest in. 

Source: The Verge 

Inside & Out, Pottery Barn's blog, is helping customers make it through the holiday season with some useful entertaining tips.

One post covers how to Create a Welcome Guest Room for Family and Friends, featuring interviews with interior designer Kendall Wilkinson to get her expert advice on how to prepare your home for overnight guests this season.

The next, Stunning DIY Gift Wrap Ideas, tells a story of five bloggers and how they created wrapping that's as beautiful as the gift inside - all with minimal effort, cost and DIY skills. 

Lastly the, Fresh Winter Flowers for Everyday Entertaining blog post demonstrates with Floral designer Kiana Underwood how to put together a fresh bouquet of winter flowers. 

Starting Nov. 18th, a select group of Target REDcard holders will join Target and David Stark on Pinterest, where Stark and his team will curate customized party-themed Pinterest boards. 

Users will first answer questions about their personal preferences through Pinterest, in the form of a quick and easy questionnaire. Then they'll be greeted by a personalized note from Stark and his team with a board of curated party inspirations for everything from recipes to playlists and photo booth ideas.

From Dec. 3rd to Dec 14th, Stark will create Pinterest boards for all Target guests, each built around four key design themes: elegant, rustic, winter wonderland, and groovy. 

This isn't the first time that David Stark and Target have joined forces. For more than a decade, they have teamed up to put on number of launch parties - including the Missoni for Target pop-up shop and the carnival themed Prabal Gurung for Target launch event. 

Watch the video here.

Source: Target, Lonny

Etsy Wholesale is a new business-to-business platform that helps retailers buy handmade goods from its community of makers. Major retailers such as Nordstrom and West Elm have already signed on to stock shelves with, and give national exposure to, the work of artisans. 

According to West Elm press material on the Etsy partnership, the “goal is to bring authentic and handcrafted products into customers’ homes at a great value. [The] relationship with Etsy and Etsy wholesale is a big part of this. Etsy has become an incredible resource and curatorial filter on the handcrafted world.

The Curve Report found that 81% of Generation Xers and Ys say that if price and quality were equal, they'd prefer to buy a product from another person rather than from a company or brand. 64% say they'd pay 25% more for a product made by an artisan than by a major brand. Selling cookie-cutter, widely distributed merchandise just doesn’t cut it anymore when consumers have infinite shopping choices online.

Source: PSFK