Exciting News!

On Saturday, February 23, we will be opening our “showroom” in San Francisco.  Lotus Bleu on Hayes Street is now THE destination for all things oomph.  Lotus Bleu has been one of the largest purveyors of oomph since the company began and we are so excited about our new partnership.  Whether you are a designer or retail customer – the entire oomph collection and all our colors are now on display at Jeannie Fraise’s beautiful store for you to see, touch, and buy!  Jeannie and her staff are well-trained in the language of oomph and can help you with any design questions you might have.

Please join us on February 23 for a celebration, raffle, and to view all the new products from 2013!

Did I mention the Raffle!!!!! Visit Lotus Bleu on Saturday and you can enter to win a Tini Table!!

Concord Grape Tini 2! (with Natural Raffia top - not as shown)

If you have never been to Lotus Bleu, here is a look . . . COLOR, COLOR, COLOR!  You can understand why oomph and Lotus Bleu have such a great time together.

Everyone needs color in their lives, especially at this time of year. The New England winter is often grey – unless you have a 3-foot blizzard – but even then it gets dirty and you long for the colors of spring. Fashion types agree that color is back – case in point fashion week worldwide! It is all about color and we love watching the catwalk.

Everyone has an opinion. The Princess of Wales is constantly watched and when polled – the British subjects choose blue for her. Maybe it’s because it looks best with her sapphire! We think she looks pretty darn great in all her frocks.

We at oomph LOVE color and embrace it in everything – from wardrobes to home furnishings. We believe the days of the neutral living room are going out with the tide. Take our new color Gambol Gold. It was our best- selling color at the NYIGF.

The colors of Spring make us happy. We have long been fans of pink and orange. Apparently Gucci agrees. PS – we loved the Gucci retro looks – bags, shoes, and runway.

We could not help but marvel at the Pantone picks for the 2013 Spring Colors in fashion – many of which are identical to colors already in the oomph line! We call ours – Dragon’s Breath, Gambol Gold, Eros Pink, Knockout Orange,  hmm – (maybe not in the oomph rainbow), Parakeet,  Dazzle Blue, Fawn Brindle, Concord Grape, and Creme!

As the Northeast braces itself for the impending “crippling blizzard” tomorrow, we can’t help think of places we would rather be. Here is a look at what the oomphettes are doing to get ready for our storm:

Stocking Up On:

Dreaming of:

Despite the ominous weather forecast,  one of our newer retailers, J.Pocker, sent us this terrific image of our GORGEOUS Charleston Mirror in Gambol Gold – a new color – in their New York City store window!  Talk about a WOW-Factor.

This window display is incredibly chic.  The black and white theme and huge burst of gold would stop even the most determined New Yorker in their tracks. Since 1926, J. Pocker has been providing clients with framing, room finishing solutions, and custom framing, of discerning quality and taste. Needless to say, this New York City landmark is now a purveyor of oomph Mirrors!  Visit www.jpocker.com for more information and locations.

TONIGHT!!!!

Don’t forget to join the frenzy that is the oomph Sample Room on ELM.  Every Thursday at 8pm our website hosts a flash sale of amazing oomph goodies!  Last week our tables sold in 1 hour!!!!  A record!  Join us tonight and see what all the buzz is about!  http://www.oomphonline.com/oomph-on-elm

Regular $1,475 Sample Room $500

It’s the day after the New York International Gift Fair, and we’re exhausted!

But what a tremendous success it was!  We showcased our latest designs and colors, all of which were really well received.

If you’ve never been to the New York International Gift Fair (NYGF) or are new to the industry – it’s quite a spectacular event. Twice a year, thousands of vendors from all over come to “show” the best of their best to designers, retail stores, and press. Booths vary in size and scope and  includes everything from small gift items to full scale furniture – like oomph!  One day of grueling set-up, four days of selling, meeting, and greeting.

If you weren’t able to make it to the NYIGF, all of our new products are online!

Newport Tiered Console in Gambol Gold

In addition to our new products, bestsellers included our backgammon table (in Gambol Gold!), Lanterns, Slipper Chairs, and, of course, our Tini Tables!

THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES!

Tonight!!!! Visit our website and click on “SAMPLE ROOM” for a great selection of Tini Tables with Stone Tops.  The Stone Top Tinis are stunning.  Hand-carved marble inserts on Tini tables make for an incredibly chic and unique accent to your home. The Sale begins tonight, Thursday, at 8:00pm EST.  Click Here to Register and Start Shopping!

It’s that time of year again . . . the oomph showroom and factory are buzzing trying to get ready for the New York International Gift Fair.  With just over one week to go, we are busy putting the finishing touches on new products, packing pillows, calling customers, and finalizing the design of our booth.  As much work as it takes to get ready for the show – it’s one of our favorite times of year!  Why? because we get to meet and connect with all of our loyal customers.  Even better, we get to meet new customers!  Recently opened store, new designers, or those just hearing about us for the first time!

After the gift show, our factory in Connecticut gets busy putting together all of your orders.  Every item is made especially for each client — much of it by hand.  Enjoy this look behind the scenes at our factory and we hope to see you at the Gift Show! Stay tuned next week for a look at all the new colors and products we will be showcasing in New York City!

At the beginning of every new year, a growing business will tend to do two things: 1. Look Back – at what has been accomplished, how we have grown, where we succeeded and where we stumbled. 2. Look Forward – what are our goals this year, what can we do better, how will this company leave it’s mark on the design world this year.

2013 is going to be a very exciting year for oomph!  We are anticipating a new website with easier shopping, launching daring and confident new designs, and continuing to bring a little (or a lot) of oomph to everyone!  Every day, we welcome new visitors to the newly renovated oomph showroom at the corner of Main Street and Elm Street in New Canaan, Connecticut. If you are ever in the area, please come by and let us know what you would like to see from oomph this year!!  What are your design goals for 2013?

We were especially pleased to read designers’ forecast of 2013 design trends!

First up – CURBED! On December 27, Curbed polled industry insiders on their design predictions for 2013.  Common predictions included: lacquer, brass details and Inlay, x-benches, and aggressive uses of color.  Below are a few pieces from our new collection – The Chelsea Desk with brass inlays and X-Bench!  And of course, oomph, color, and lacquer are synonymous!

The second article that caught our attention was this past weekend’s OFF DUTY section of the Wall Street Journal.

Again, several top designers were asked what they were looking forward to in 2013.  Nick Olson “resolved to use more purple and yellow.”  Below are two of our new colors 2013 — concord grape and gambol gold!

Needless to say, we are very excited to introduce the complete new collection to you very soon!  At oomph, we work very closely with designers and clients in developing new products, so we were not entirely surprised by their predictions.  What you can look forward to are five new colors, new designs in every category, and a lot of big news from oomph this year!  So stay tuned, sign up for emails, share with your friends and join the party!

Still on track with your resolutions one week into the new year? We had a few – some  we have managed to blow off already – but they weren’t any fun anyway. We still like resolution #2: “lighten-up”.  Yes – it can mean food, gimlets, shopping – weight is an obvious. Those are all pretty tough to curb.

But we can handle “lighten-up” when it comes to home design! Color, clutter – we love purging furniture and tchotchkes - it’s a great way to lighten up and you can have your cake (and eat it too!) Toss those doodads, slipcover the dirty salsa-stained sofas. Add some colorful oomph to your life! We recommend starting with a palette you love. Next, pick a coffee table that works with your seating plan and fill in from there. There should always be a place to rest your gimlet, a colorful pillow to pull in an accent color, and extra pull-up seating, i.e. – oomph cubes or ottoman.

Prefer a neutral, soothing scheme? We have that covered too. Call us if you need help – we can head you in the right direction. It should be fun and a wonderful lift to your room and life! And who doesn’t need a little bit of that?

We love parties. We don’t always need a reason to pop a bottle of champagne – nothing is more pleasant than a glass with close friends at anytime of day just to celebrate being together. Of course, we like it in a crystal glass with a touch of caviar for a New Year’s celebration. New Years has its traditions . . .

Resolutions are another New Years’s tradition. Many of us make them, most of us break them.  Here’s one you should make and not break – “out with the old, in with the new”! Auld Lang Syne is for friends. Add a little oomph to your life – put pizzaz in your pad. Dump the old coffee table Nana gave you and replace it with a knockout lacquer one and pillows to match. Your room will look like it got the facelift you always wanted. Bored with those dowdy bedside tables you bought years back becuase the price was right? Put them out on the curb and upgrade to a pair of Charleston side tables in a great color to complement your linens. Who knows? It may snazz up more than just the decor in your bedroom!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! This is going to be the year of the new you.

‘Twas the week before Christmas when all through the mill,

everyone was stirring, no one was still;

The shipments were placed on their skids with care,

in hopes that FedEx soon would be there.

The tables were nestled all snug in their crates,

while everyone prays, they won’t arrive late.

And oomph in the holiday spirit they embrace,

will be making merry when we finish this race!

The mill will be closed for the week of Christmas until the New Year.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year!

We knew that a backgammon table was an essential item in our own homes. We just simply could not live without it.  That is why we designed one for oomph so everyone could share in the fun.

Shortly after we introduced our backgammon table, it became the most iconic piece in the oomph collection. Our most popular table continues to surprise us as it is ordered and shipped around the world.

We knew backgammon was an ancient game, dating back some five thousand years to Mesopotamia. In the 1920s, Sir Leonard Woolley, a British archaeologist, excavated the Biblical home of Abraham. In the royal cemetery he found game boards bearing a resemblance to our backgammon boards of today. . . Roll the tape forward.

We made a discovery too! Backgammon is apparently an incredibly popular game to quite a few Hollywood types. We thought it might be fun to share a few photographs of some backgammon fans you may recognize enjoying games with family and friends. See if you can identify everyone in the pictures below – answers are revealed at the end. Have fun!

1.  2. 

3. 4. 

5. 6.  

7.  8.  

9.    10. 

11.   12.  

13.  14.

Large Image  - Cary Grant and Randolph Scott – Roommates playing at their Hollywood home.

1. Charlize Theron on a movie set.

2. Lelie Howard and Norma Shearer.

3. Burns and Allen

4. Dan Aykroyd in “Trading Places”

5. Glenn Close.

6. Lucy Ball.

7. Mick Jaeger and Jerry Hall.

8. Leonardo DiCaprio.

9. Walter Huston and Paul Newman.

10. Charles Coburn in “Road to Singapore”.

11. Cole Porter.

12. Joan Crawford at home.

13. Harpo and Zeppo Marx.

14. Judy Garland watches Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner.

Visit our Backgammon Mania Pinterest Board for more fun images.