Upholstery manufacturers show caution
Carole Sloan, Senior Contributing Editor -- Furniture Today, April 10, 2006
Don't do much as we hate to admit it, furniture design typically is taken for granted by consumers. They see a style they like and base their buying decisions on those impressions. At the time of the purchase, very little thought likely is given to what goes into design, any more than many of us think about the talent that goes into the design of an automobile.
Fortunately, industry players understand the importance of design. It's something we in the United States view as one of our remaining strengths as more and more product is made overseas. We know the tastes of American consumers and have the talent and wherewithal to meld that into the final product.
Design education will be of key importance as we move forward in the global economy. Fortunately, educators understand that too. That's one reason four area universities and two community colleges are collaborating to create a new design school here in the Piedmont Triad, as the area around High Point is known.
The proposed National Institute of Design would cover many areas — software, film and animation, theater, gaming and cartography. Furniture and living space design are just two components, but important ones given the region's longstanding ties to the furniture industry.
With the loss of manufacturing jobs in North Carolina, many of those ties have been severed. But other regions have shown that you can lose manufacturing jobs but not necessarily your reputation for producing skilled artisans. Grand Rapids, Mich., is an example of that. It was once a hub of residential furniture manufacturing, but most of that long ago migrated south. Still, it proved its might as a knowledge-based economy. Its Kendall College of Art and Design graduates plenty of furniture design talent widely used among furniture companies.
