NATCHEZ — A group of professional design mavens descended on the Natchez Convention Center this weekend to discuss trends and new products in the interior design world.

The 2007 South Central Design Conference, a regional conference of the American Society of Interior Designers, was in Natchez Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

One thing was clear: designers are interested in what they can do for their clients to make their homes more eco-friendly.

One of the keynote speeches at the conference was about choosing the right materials to design in a more eco-friendly way, and several of the booths at the vendor’s show Saturday afternoon were dedicated to that theme.

Representing Curtis H. Stout, Inc, Jill Bullard and Bob Landry were selling new-and-improved light fixtures and motorized window shades that were supposed to be more eco-friendly.

“The idea is to incorporate these things in a room to make them work with natural light,” Bullard said. “They can be set so they work with natural light in a way that is more energy efficient.”

In the next booth over, Lou Bizot — representing Benjamin Moore paint — was hoping to impress designers with a new line of what was billed as eco-friendly paint.

The paint, which takes fewer coats because it is water based, has low volatile organic compounds, Bizot said.

“The volatile organic compound is what you smell, the fumes, when you paint,” Bizot said.

Carolyn Sawyer, a designer from Pineville, took a few samples from the Benjamin Moore booth.

“It’s really important for us to give clients environmentally friendly design,” she said. “Green design is a very big deal right now, and we want to keep up with the latest changes so we can offer our clients the best options.”