Native Trails Offers Luxury Living with a Positive Impact

Native Trails utilizes nature’s true beauty to create kitchen and bath products that make a lasting visual impression with a small ecological footprint. Their motto “luxury living, positive impact” says it all, and the inspiration from age-old artisan traditions is evident in their collections. Using materials like recycled copper, reclaimed barn wood, repurposed wine staves, and bamboo, Native Trails products are functional works of art built to last.

New for 2014, Native Trails developed a material for kitchen and bath sinks called NativeStone™. We chatted with Naomi Neilson Howard, Founder/CEO of Native Trails to get her take on this new material and find out what’s hot in the kitchen and bath industry.

 NativeStone™ finishes[/caption]

EDELMAN: What material(s) is NativeStone™ composed of?

NAOMI: Our recently debuted NativeStone™ collection is constructed using an exclusive blend of natural materials, including jute fiber and cement. Jute, a vegetable fiber, reinforces the concrete, making it extremely resistant to cracking and about 40% lighter than traditional concrete. The cutting edge nano sealer, hand-applied by our artisans, penetrates the concrete on a molecular level, creating a sink that is incredibly stain and scratch resistant. This is pretty incredible for a concrete sink.

EDELMAN: What makes it so unique?

NAOMI: This new collection is modern yet earthy and quite versatile, including sinks for the bath, bar, and kitchen, in three finishes. The really exciting thing is that finally, we have made the desirable aesthetic of concrete available as a sink – without any of the usual drawbacks.  The usual concerns about concrete staining or cracking, about it being heavy and hard to ship or difficult to install – NativeStone has eliminated all of those issues! What’s more, we will be stocking the artisan made sinks and shipping within hours or days of receiving the order.

EDELMAN: What is the inspiration behind the designs in the NativeStone™ Collection for Summer 2014?

NAOMI: Some, such as Ventana, our square bar/prep sink, are inspired initially by our most popular copper basins. What makes NativeStone™ so fun is the sculptural nature of concrete, so knowing what dimensions and overall styles of sinks people want, we played with artful curves and angles to turn them into warm, silky smooth pieces that invite people to touch them. I really wanted people to feel connected through this collection – both with the human element of the artisans who make them, and with the earthy elements of the material itself.

EDELMAN: What are your best sellers within the NativeStone™ Collection and the Native Trails brand as a whole?

NAOMI: We have had an incredible response to the entire NativeStone™ Collection, and the unique shape of the Trough series is proving to be a hit. Our hand hammered copper sinks have steadily continued to grow in demand over the years, especially as we add new models. Our new Pinnacle, an apron front sink in hammered copper that puts a contemporary spin on the traditional Farmhouse style kitchen sink, is getting a lot of buzz, and our classic Farmhouse Series of sinks is always popular, in both Antique and Brushed Nickel finishes, which each have a very different look.

EDELMAN: What trends do you foresee in the coming year?

NAOMI: We definitely see an increasing trend toward combining natural, warm materials, with contemporary spaces. We love to see how those materials can add personality and interest to a space, and make a clean, modern design feel comfortable and inviting.

Naomi Neilson Howard, CEO/Founder of Native Trails[/caption]

Naomi Neilson Howard turned her passion for artisan tradition, sustainability, and fair trade practices into a successful international business in 1996 when she founded Native Trails. They began by bringing the work of artisans from central Mexico to central California, and continued on with living spaces throughout North America. Native Trails helped introduce copper as a mainstay material for the kitchen and bath with their iconic copper basins. Under Naomi’s strong leadership, they continue to innovate with creative designs and natural materials. Today, Native Trails’ products are sold in over 1,300 showrooms throughout the US, Canada and beyond. They've received numerous awards for innovation and design, and have been featured on DIY, HGTV, and ABC’s series Nashville.

For more on Native Trails, visit them online at http://www.nativetrails.net, or follow them on Twitter, Google+, Houzz, Facebook and Pinterest.

All photos courtesy of Native Trails.