Kathy Bush, co-owner of Home Resource with husband Michael, embarked on a mission that sets the store apart from any other in the U.S. this winter. Home Resource was the only Missoni retailer in the country to be represented at the venerable textile leader’s introduction of the 2010 Home Collection at the company’s factory in the province of Varese in Lombardy. Some of the new merchandise has already arrived; the rest will be on the floor by May, Kathy says.

 

“The setting was beautiful,” Kathy says. “Y ou could look out the windows and see the Alps and Lake Maggiori—it was just idyllic.” The Missoni family built their factory in Sumirago, Varese, in 1969 and has lived in the area—about 60 miles from the fashion capital, Milan—since the early 1970s. One of the newest designer collections at Home Resource, Missoni Home was chosen because its colors and patterns are perfect for Sarasota, Kathy says.
 

Kathy Bush, Rosita Missoni and Chris Phillips, North American brand manager of Missoni Home, at the Missoni Home factory in Lombardy.

 

“Their beach towels are to die for—they’re colorful, big and well-priced for the fashion and quality,” she reports. The 40-by-71-inch size goes for $195. Bed linens run from $220 for a king fitted sheet and $465 for a king duvet. Home Resource has Missoni throw pillows (average price, $165) on furniture throughout the store, and rugs like the new Jubilee pattern (which retails for $2,470 for the 67-by-94-inch size).
 

 

 

“Missoni's big color for 2010 is aqua – and Rosita Missoni, a founder of the company, was on hand to present the line. Rosita no longer designs; her niece, Wanda, does that now,” Kathy reports. Indeed, all color forecasters from Europe to Asia to America have deemed aqua or turquoise the color of the year.
 

“She talked a lot about the comfort of those colors in this stressful economy—aqua and turquoise are spa-like and relaxing, and for us in Sarasota they reflect the colors of the Gulf of Mexico,” she says.
 

 

Since Michael was unable to attend, Kathy’s travel companion was her mother-in-law, Katie Berry of Annapolis. The pair was treated royally with a private tour of the Missoni factory, and among the 50 invited guests of the Missonis at an incredible dinner following the presentation. “They hired a restored early 1900s steamboat for a dinner cruise on Lake Maggiori—it was fantastic. Rosita’s brother has a winery in Sicily, and they served the most delicious wines throughout the meal,” Kathy says.
 

 

 Missoni bedding in coordinated fashion prints in black and white.

You can go to missonihome.com to see the entire collection. And if what you like isn’t on the floor at Home Resource, it can be ordered. “They have hundreds of beautiful things—it wouldn’t be possible to show everything in our store,” Kathy concludes.

 

 

 

Home Resource, 741 Central Ave., Sarasota, (941) 366-6690