What Fabuwood heard, saw, and felt at ASID GATHER: Catalyst 2026.
If there was one thing we observed almost immediately in Dallas, it was that the future of design is not arriving as a single look, color, or neatly packaged trend. It is emerging through conversation: designers comparing notes between sessions, dealers speaking candidly about what their clients need, and students stepping forward with fresh portfolios, fresh perspectives, and very little interest in designing the same room twice. This mix of experience and new thinking defined ASID GATHER: Catalyst 2026, where designers, architects, educators, students, industry leaders, and brands came together at Dallas Market Center for three days of learning and connection.
During two full days on the show floor, the Fabuwood team had the opportunity to meet people from across the industry and, just as importantly, listen to what is shaping their work.
The topics ranged from cabinetry construction and evolving client expectations to lead times, project planning, and the growing role of technology. Together, they pointed to a shared priority: designers want the freedom to create something distinctive, supported by products and processes that keep the project clear, practical, and moving forward. They are also looking beyond how a room appears to consider how it will support the people who live there and how it should make them feel.
What the next generation expects
The strong student presence added another dimension to the event, offering a closer look at what emerging designers already expect from the brands they may work with. They were curious about how products are made, how efficiently a design can move from concept to completion, and how technology can expand creative control rather than restrict it.
Their interest reinforced the importance of the three areas Fabuwood continues to invest in: quality that can stand up to close examination, speed that helps maintain the pace of a project, and technology that makes more choices practical and accessible. These strengths work together to help designers carry an idea from presentation to installation with its original intent intact.
What the room revealed about design
As we listened, we also noticed that the direction of design had become more expressive, more individual, and much less interested in playing it safe. ASID’s 2026 Trends Outlook describes a shift toward “saturated color, playful silhouettes, and visible personality,” while Vogue predicts “fewer ‘safe’ choices, more personality” as earthy umbers, softened blues, pistachio tones, ochres, and reds move further into the home.
In Dallas, this did not feel like a list of trends waiting to be applied. It felt more like designers had been given permission to ask a better question—not simply what is current, but what will make this particular space feel grounded, energizing, calming, or unmistakably personal. From that perspective, color becomes more than decoration, while material, texture, and cabinetry take on a greater role in shaping the emotional character of a room.
The current appetite for softer, more organic design points in the same direction. In a recent House Beautiful feature, designer Alexis Banks Humiston described the appeal of natural material as giving the eye “somewhere unusually quiet to land”, and we saw that same instinct at GATHER as attendees focused less on filling a space with more and more on making each choice feel considered. What designers appear to be working toward is a room that does not need to prove a point because it already understands the person living in it.
What we brought home
New relationships were established in Dallas, existing ones grew stronger, and the Fabuwood team spent meaningful time with kitchen and bath dealers, architects, designers, students, and other voices shaping the industry. More than anything, however, we left thinking about the camaraderie in the room and the easy exchange of ideas between people at very different stages of the profession, all of whom were invested in what design can do next.
ASID CEO Khoi Vo has said that designers must understand the forces shaping how people “live, work, and connect.” At GATHER, we observed that connection taking place in real time, and as we returned from Dallas with new relationships and a clearer sense of where the profession is heading, it reinforced something Fabuwood has long believed: staying ahead of design begins with staying close to the people moving it forward.
