CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Trump created the most buzz when new looks were unveiled last month at the High Point Market (formerly the International Home Furnishings Market).

Trump’s furniture will be at home in your uptown penthouse or country estate, but the line from the iconic magazine is most likely to fill your suburban great room. A few pieces in the Smithsonian line were surprisingly current, even though they’re based on historic artifacts.

Celebrity endorsements have been important to the furniture industry for more than a decade. The industry said the three lines helped push the trend to a new high at this market.
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Salamander Designs has introduced its Chameleon collection of furniture to hide your electronics—except for the TV that stands on top of it—in cabinetry that blends into virtually any living room environment. Kinda like a chameleon.

All cabinetry in the line, according to the company, features solid wood and soft-close dampeners; ventillation louvers built into the segment bottoms; and removable pinch-out rear panels for easy component jack access. Some models incorporate enclosures for center channel speakers that come with integrated grilles, and one model has a media drawer slotted for DVDs and CDs. Read more…

Q: When I moved into my condo, I managed to arrange the furniture so that I could take advantage of the fireplace, the view and the television set, all from the club chair or couch. I remodeled during winter and now the furniture is out of scale for the room.

I removed the hall to make a master bedroom suite. In doing so, I moved the entrance to the room from the edge of the living area to the center of the living area wall. I think smaller pieces of furniture are probably the way to go and I believe that it would make sense to add in the cost of an up-to-date television and sound system. I am still not sure how to arrange it all. What do you suggest? Read more…

It may have been an overexposure to early Frank Lloyd Wright, or perhaps too much time spent in boats, but when I was young, and until very recently, I was horrified by furniture. I always thought that a perfect domestic architecture would be heavy on the built-ins. Shelves, benches, various seats and berths—these were the things necessary to finish a space, to tune it for living, to show at least that the designer was not entirely ignorant of how and by whom a house would be used. Also to anchor it. An uncle of mine lived for many years in a very cool Anglo-built adobe in Taos, New Mexico. At the center of the main space was a large circular pit, dug out of the ground and contoured for sitting: a brutal sunken living room, it seemed so much more profound than the loose, impermanent wooden furniture orbiting all around it, sliding this way and that, imported things ready to take up any position, or be replaced. Read more…

Stanley Furniture Company’s sales for the first quarter of 2007 were $75.1 million, down 10.1% from the first quarter of 2006. Earnings per share of $.15 compares to $.43 in the year-ago quarter. Both sales and earnings were at record levels in the first quarter of last year.

The company said lower margins resulted from lower sales and production levels, operating inefficiencies and higher raw material and compensation costs.

“Our business has stabilized over the past few months and we experienced little change in overall sales trends since late last year”, commented Jeffrey R. Scheffer, President and Chief Executive Officer. “While we are disappointed with lower sales and earnings, we believe this is consistent with current industry-wide conditions.” Read more…

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c54257) has announced the addition of Household Furniture, Misc.: State Market Index to their offering.

The metrics in this report cover three year trends in SIC 2519 [Manufacturing sector], broken out on a state-by-state basis. Analysis is based on data applied from 919 industry firms. Industry market vitality measures for each state are benchmarked against US averages for the industry, creating easy comparison of state-by-state performance. Industry sales are detailed for both company-wide headquarters data and locally generated sales levels. The report also compares proprietary BizMiner measures in each state and the US, including failure rates, entrepreneurial activity and new branch development rates in the industry. Read more…

After much anticipation, designEX , Australasia’s forum for contemporary design and architecture, will open next Thursday 19 April at 9am with a champagne breakfast hosted by Jamie Durie, with official proceedings by The Honourable John Brumby, MP, Victorian Treasurer and Minister for Innovation with responsibility for design.

The event, which runs until Saturday 21 April, will see Australia’s top design-related experts meet for three days to see the new design and innovative products and speak to industry leaders about upcoming trends and launches from around the world. Co-located with designEX is Form & Function, the leading event for the building and construction industries. Read more…

GREAT BUILDINGS should be preserved and restored, as Yale University plans to do with its Art and Architecture center, not demolished and replaced, as Mayor Menino envisions for Boston City Hall. The mayor needs to return to his roots as a preservationist to save and improve this icon of the New Boston in the 1960s.

In New Haven last week, Robert Stern, dean of the School of Architecture, was busy preparing to move the school out of the building for a year so that it could be fitted with new ceilings, lighting, and air conditioning. “It’s extremely important,” he said of the building, which was designed by Paul Rudolph and finished in 1963. “It represented a break from the increasingly wayward direction of modern architecture.” Read more…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the field of architecture will grow at an average rate through 2014, with most openings resulting from population growth and the associated construction in all sectors, public and private, that serves growing communities.

Architecture is one of the most competitive professional fields. From the moment you decide to pursue this career, you face competition – first to get into a reputable school, then trying to win an apprenticeship with a promising firm. After about eight years of training (and passing a state exam), you are eligible to become a licensed architect. All along the way, your work ethic, problem-solving skills, construction-related knowledge, work experience and drafting skills will be stacked up against competitors applying for the same position. With some talent, a little luck and a lot of hard work, you might earn the chance to land a job with a prestigious architectural design firm. Read more…

A slew of highly traditional upholstery and case goods competed with their contemporary counterparts at the 19th China International Furniture Fair here last month.

Both genres appeared to strike a chord with Chinese and international buyers, who came out in force to shop the event.

The show ran March 18-21 at the 2.6 million-square-foot Chinese Export Commodities Fair Complex in Guangzhou. Roughly half of the floor space was devoted to furniture while the rest was for home decor and housewares. Nearly 400 furniture exhibitors showed, most of which were from China.
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