Middle Earth launching 'Lord of the Rings' line
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, April 18, 2004
HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — Here's something J.R.R. Tolkien fans will love.
Middle Earth Furniture will use the April market here for its worldwide launch of furniture based on Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," through an exclusive license with NewLine Cinema, producer of the popular movie trilogy based on the books.
The furniture — handmade dining and occasional tables, chairs and chests in solid oak and cast bronze — incorporates images and characters from the films and design motifs such as maps that are drawn from the books.
Middle Earth will introduce the collection in The British Home showroom in Space 210 of Hamilton Market. Company co-founder and creative director Jon Broberg designed the furniture, which is made by craftsmen in Staffordshire, England — a few miles from the village of Great Haywood, where Tolkien first wrote about his fictional world, Middle Earth.
Pricing on the collection was still in the works, but the handwork and materials involved will place the first round of product at upper price points.
The six-foot-diameter Ancient Ent round dining table, for example, has a base made of three specially commissioned cast-bronze statues of Treebeard the ent, a giant forest-dwelling creature of Middle Earth. A detailed circular bronze map, which rotates, forms the center of the table top, which also includes hand-carved inscriptions in the language of Middle Earth's elves. The table uses traditional joinery methods on solid, distressed oak that comes from sustainable forests.
"We're definitely targeting the higher-end consumer with the launch, but we're developing a line to approach the middle market as well," said John Place, a director with Middle Earth Furniture.
Initial shipments on orders from High Point should arrive at dealers in late July or early August. Delivery times for chests, chairs and occasional tables should run from six to eight weeks and two large dining tables will take closer to 12 weeks.
While the current plan is to build to order, Place left open the possibility of building an inventory.
"We're planning on distribution from a North Carolina hub with New Jersey as the secondary hub," he said.
Each piece from the collection will be numbered with a certificate of authenticity.
"The first ones will be worth more to collectors," Place said. "We aren't making this a limited edition since it's a worldwide license. We have no idea how big this is going to be. We'll launch in High Point, check the temperature, take some orders and see how it goes from there."
Depending on business, Middle Earth might exhibit at trade shows such as Birmingham in England and the Cologne International Furniture Fair in Germany.
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