Lane recreates author's heirloom cedar chest
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, October 28, 2002
High Point — For Susan Bosak, a cedar chest is more than a piece of furniture. It's something that keeps her connected to her grandmother.
The bond with her grandmother was so strong she wrote a best-selling book, "Something To Remember Me By," about how a cedar chest and its contents created a legacy for three generations of her family.
The story moved Lane Home Furnishings to recreate Bosak's cedar chest, which the grandmother received from her husband sometime in the early 1930s, and the piece debuted at the fall market.
The chest and book will be part of a marketing campaign to be launched in January. Bosak was at market signing copies of the book and talking to Lane dealers about the Legacy Project.
That project, a joint effort of The Communication Project of Toronto and the Washington, D.C.-based Parenting Coalition and Generations United, strives to remind Americans and Canadians of the power of family and its importance to society.
"I don't think there's another piece of furniture quite like a cedar chest — no other piece of furniture has heart," the Toronto-based author said. "A cedar chest has an emotional quality about it, and that's more important than a place to eat or a place to sit."
Her book has sold more than 300,000 copies in Canada and the United States, winning a number of literary awards.
"I was always being asked by people at book signings if the cedar chest of the book was available anywhere for purchase," Bosak said.
Phillip Siler, Lane's merchandise manager/wood products, said the book offered Lane a new opportunity in marketing cedar chests, long associated with Lane.
The maker of the book's chest isn't known, although it wasn't made by Lane. "What we've done is reproduce the original chest, although we have tweaked it somewhat to account for current sensibilities," Siler said.
Every chest, with a suggested retail of $499, will include a copy of the book, which also will be included in the 12 best-selling cedar chests from Lane's core assortment.
The chest will be in stores in time for Valentine's Day 2003 and will be used to kick off a North America-wide essay contest. The grand prize will be a Something to Remember Me By cedar chest and $15,000 worth of Lane bedroom, dining room and living room furniture.
Each essay must begin: "I opened my cedar chest and inside I found...."
