CHFA honors two for lifetime achievement
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, January 6, 2008
Toronto — Two of this country's leading upholstery makers have been named recipients of the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Home Furnishings Alliance.
John Colallilo, president and founder of Superstyle Furniture, and Mario Colallilo, president and founder of Edgewood Furniture, will receive the honor in recognition of their many business achievements.
Both men — they are related but not brothers — will be honored at a gala dinner hosted by the CHFA, formerly the Ontario Furniture Manufacturers Assn., on Sunday, Jan. 13 at the Pearson Convention Center.
"The CHFA established this award to recognize those individuals who over their lifetime have made an exemplary and sustained contribution to our industry," said CHFA Chairman Laine Reynolds. "These two gentlemen have certainly moved our industry to new levels of excellence.
"While each is being honored individually, they have much in common. They both deserve to be recognized for their exceptional accomplishments over a lifetime of distinguished leadership and service in their field."
After arriving in Canada as young Italian immigrants in the early 1960s, each of the honorees trained as an upholsterer at the now-defunct Newport Chesterfield. Following a brief joint partnership in Futurama Furniture, they went on to make their own mark in the industry.
Along with his brother Domenic, John Colallilo founded Superstyle in 1967. John later established Trend-Line — a contemporary upholstery specialist now headed by his son, Danny Colallilo — and Simmons Upholstery Canada, a leading producer of sofa-sleepers.
Mario Colallilo founded Edgewood and later developed partnerships in both Campio, a specialist in the Italian and French provincial style categories, and Brentwood, a stationary fabric specialist that markets designer lines created by Normand Couture and Kimberley Seldon.
"Collectively, they are involved with a stable of leading brand names in the upholstery sector," said Reynolds, who also is vice president of sales for Superstyle. "There is always a great need in business for people who are professional, have integrity, give good counsel to their employees and are respected by their customers and peers. Both of these men exemplify these qualities."
Other recipients of the CHFA Lifetime Achievement Award include the late Orville Mead, president and CEO of Durham; Bruce MacPherson Sr., president of Gibbard Furniture Shoppes of Napanee, Ontario; Patrick Thody, retired president and CEO of Simmons Canada; Serge Racine, retired chairman of Shermag Group; the Sklar brothers, founders of Sklar Peppler Furniture (retired); Guy Laflamme, chairman of South Shore Inds.; and Terry Clark, president of ACME Chrome Furniture.
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