High Point's IHFC expands presence of accent furniture
From the Editors of Home Accents Today -- Furniture Today, December 9, 2007
The High Point Market's International Home Furnishings Center has added another 40,000 square feet for home accents and accessories on its third floor after prospective tenants snapped up newly offered temporary exhibit spaces in a matter of days this fall. IHFC pitched its plan for the new Pavilions on 3 to prospective exhibitors on Saturday before the opening of the October High Point Market, and by Thursday all the spaces were filled, said Tom Lindh, IHFC's president and CEO. The new addition, called Wrenn/Green 3, offers permanent showroom space near the Pavilions and has allowed IHFC to create more of a decorative accessories focus on floors 2, 3 and 4.
Sterling Inds. is moving to a larger showroom at the World Trade Center in Dallas for the January market. The Norcross, Ga.-based home accent wholesaler's new 10,000-square-foot space will become its second-largest showroom after its AmericasMart location in Atlanta.
For the Dallas market in January, Murray Feiss Lighting has increased its Martha Stewart Lighting area to accommodate the debut of more than 70 new Martha Stewart fixture SKUs. The company also will expand its High Point and Las Vegas showrooms by about 2,000 square feet each.
Giftware giant Crazy Mountain has licensed its first home decor line. About 300 products by celebrated artist Jim Shore, with themes that include farmhouse, retreat, wine country and country manor, will debut during the summer markets of 2008. For the January market, Crazy Mountain has leased a showroom in Building A of the Las Vegas World Market Center where it plans to introduce Shore and the new line to the home furnishings side of the business.
Creative Co-Op Inc. has added the look and images of House in the Country in a new line of licensed products being introduced at the winter shows in Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, New York and Chicago. A collection of 65 SKUs focuses on the wall decor stylings by House in the Country owners Gary Amerigian and Josephine Alexander. In the new line, images of flowers, butterflies, natural elements and scenes of Europe are depicted on home accents such as serving trays, wall decor, boxes and decorative pillows.
Randy Ouzts has completed a line of garden containers, topiaries and decorative items for Atuto, a Honduras-based source of private label and wholesale home and garden products. The 55-piece collection will debut in January at the Atlanta market as the R.O. Collection and In the Garden with Randy Ouzts.
Business briefs
W.A.C. Lighting is expanding its corporate headquarters and East Coast warehousing and distribution center in Garden City, N.Y. The company, which designs and manufactures track, recessed, under-cabinet, decorative and monorail lighting, has added more than 35,000 square feet for warehousing, offices and a showroom and training center.
W.A.C. also hosted the grand opening of its global manufacturing campus in QingXi, DongGuan, China, on Nov. 3. The new China facility encompasses more than 750,000 square feet and will employ 2,500 persons.
The Smithsonian Collection for the Home, the first cohesive collection of Smithsonian-branded furniture and home decor products, hit retail stores across the country in November. The collection, which includes decorative accessories, furniture and chandeliers modeled after those from the Institution's museums, libraries and archives, is being offered through licensing agreements with Kichler Lighting, Castilian Trading, Atrium Foliage and Bernhardt Furniture.
International shows
More than 400 exporters of home decor, furniture, holiday and fashion accessories from the Philippines exhibited their products to 4,000 international buyers at October's F.A.M.E. show in Manila. New designs of natural materials, organic shapes and metal forms were exhibited alongside traditional Filipino weaving and beadwork. The show's next edition, in April, will expand to a venue nearly four times the size of the current space.
Talavera ceramics, forged ironwork and handcrafted furniture from the woodworkers of Sonseca were among the regional crafts showcased at FARCAMA 2007, held in October in Toledo, Spain. The fair's organizers have been working for the past two years to extend the annual show's international reach.
