A Topeka furniture store has put out the word it plans to close.
Lewis Furniture on South Kansas Avenue was closed Tuesday. But its marquee and door signs advertise a going out of business sale.
The marquee also says the store will be closed Wednesday and that the building is for sale.
The store’s owners were not available Tuesday to comment further on the decision.
Add comment July 25th, 2007
By MARY TALLON - H&R Staff Writer
BLUE MOUND - The owner of a Blue Mound business was treated and released from the hospital with first-degree burns after a fire erupted at Bekenmar Church Furniture Co. around 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
The blaze caused major damage to two structures and their contents at the business, which specializes in making pews, pulpits and other religious furnishings.
Bevin Aufrecht, who has owned Bekemar for about 15 years, said he was welding when the fire started. Aufrecht suffered burns on his arms when he attempted to close the fire doors of the structure to contain the flames. He was able to leave the building without being more seriously hurt.
His sister, Doris Middleton, said she was doing upholstery work in the other building when the fire occurred. Middleton was trapped upstairs by smoke before she was able to escape without injury by climbing out a window onto a ladder.
The two are the only employees of the business.
Aufrecht said he had not yet been able to go inside the buildings to survey the damage but said he expected the fire was “probably a total loss.”
Blue Mound Fire Chief John Holmgren said his department was assisted by four other county fire departments as about 30 firefighters worked to put out the blaze. Decatur Ambulance Service also responded to the fire.
Holmgren said he believes the fire started when sparks from Aufrecht’s welding ignited some black varnish residue on the ground.
One lane of Illinois 48 was blocked in front of the business Monday evening while firefighters remained at the scene to monitor the fire so it did not restart.
Mary Tallon can be reached at mtallon@herald-review.com or 421-7984.
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Add comment July 25th, 2007
The fifth edition of Interior Lifestyle USA will take place July 31 August 3, 2007, at the Sands Exposition Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As a part of the Las Vegas Market Week, this event has become an important destination for persons involved in the home decor industry and has established an exclusive opportunity for serious buyers and sellers of home textiles and tabletop products. At the 2007 Summer Market, Messe Frankfurt will feature a special presentation on European Trends from the Heimtextil event in Frankfurt, Germany.
European Trends presented in Las Vegas
“Baroque is finally passé!” The new trend “Declaring Color” abandons the whimsical, claims European Designer and Trend Forecaster, Gunner Frank in regards to the creation of the Heimtextil Trend Display.
Design, clarity, and function are trendy and the use of dynamic, energetic, intelligent fabrics is an important development for designers. Genuine design is back in fashion - fantasy and modernity will interact to create the interiors of the future together with an open, clean ambience. Colors and materials need to be reinterpreted and used differently. “Declaring Color” is a type of bridging function – somewhere between a contemporary way of thinking and the traditional, between East and West, science and mysticism.
“We are experiencing the rebirth of the Renaissance”, Frank continues. In this context it is important for experts to stop in cooperation with grumbling, which means banishing all that is negative. Frank’s ethos is to adopt a fresh approach to new things. “At the end of the day, the world we live in needs change. Stamp your personality and character on your merchandise”, explains Frank, presenting the new trends during Heimtextil 2007 in Frankfurt, Germany.
The world around us inspires the fashions of tomorrow. “Designers should look for inspiration for your new collections whenever you visit a theatre, cinema or museum.“
An abundance of color and expansive decorations pay homage to a variety of artistic directions, on the one hand the art of the early 20th century (symbolizing the modern) and, on the other, the Renaissance (symbolizing the traditional). This creates areas of conflict in which an awareness of color turns into a statement. Frank differentiates between four color-related areas of conflict or color themes presented in the Trend Display:
Constructive Power – represents the strength of the seven primary colors and the severity of constructivism. This creates areas of total modernity and clear lines. As far as manufacturers of home an home textiles are concerned, the maxim is “reduction – climbing down from the summit of the Baroque and the whimsical into “purity”. The impact of the chosen color combinations is powerful and intense. A backdrop with a new aestheticism of its own is created in the linkage area to the decorative elements of whimsical, elegant tradition. According to Frank, “The Baroque doesn’t entirely disappear in fact, it dissolves and softens gradually”.
Cubism Monochrome – here the family of seven neutral colors fuses with cubism. The transition from the concrete into the abstract, elucidated in this art form, complement the “non-colors” perfectly.
As projection fields, they offer the peace and basis essential to the new orientation. In this context, a loft atmosphere is trendy. Motifs and references from bygone centuries create a new excitement, with art used as a decorative element. There’s also a mix and match of other designs elements, for example of materials with special structures and finishes, designs resembling computer animations, such as wood, matte and glossy. With this design and color mood, the change of perspective is part of a dynamic life- and homestyle.
Surreal Sunny – stands for warm yellow and red color nuances combined with Surrealist-inspired style elements. “Blue was the color of 2006 – now yellow is taking over and is destined to be the major color”, says Frank. Yellow creates harmony in some overloaded designs. Plenty of glass, a host of textiles, and a plethora of structure serve both to create a warm atmosphere and to banish the Baroque.
Fifties fabrics provide the inspiration, with expansive designs in faux reptile skin with leaves or diagonal movement / structures, for example. Surrealist elements conjure up a creative moment contrasting with motifs with a classical hallmark. An imaginative look, with distinctive modern, romantic accents, which takes its orientation from this new dawn, is born out of this home environment.
Futurism Dawn – in the futuristic world, the cool spectrum of blue- grey color nuances dominates. “Here, blue is once again a major theme, with dark blue celebrating a revival”, adds Frank. As with Surreal Sunny, the modern and romantic find equal expression, creating clean, open interiors in which blue and white dominate. The importance of stone, faux leather, glass and iron is resurgent. The initial impression is one of simplicity. “Romance is on the table” explains Frank. A pleasant, remote playfulness is both a symbol of moving forward and an expression of the progressive nature of this style of living. “Although the classic persists, it declares color, thereby creating a modern impact”, Frank opines.
The trend “Declaring Color” will be on display at Interior Lifestyle USA, July 31 – August 3, 2007 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. This is a special feature reproduction from the Heimtextil 2007 Trend Display, which is the biggest trend show in the world for home and commercially used textiles. Incorporating the latest designs from leading design studios and manufacturers of home and commercial textiles, the new trends are featured in an inspiring ambience.
Style manifests itself at Interior Lifestyle USA in Las Vegas Interior Lifestyle USA will provide retailers, designers and contract specifiers with a beautiful array of leading brands in the home textile and tabletop industries. With over 70 companies featured in this high-end, juried section of the Las Vegas Market temporary exhibits at the Sands Expo Center, buyers are sure to find value and inspiration.
For further information, visit www.interiorUSA.com
or contact:
Stephanie Everett
Messe Frankfurt, Inc.
770-984-8016 ext. 424
stephanie.everett@usa.messefrankfurt.com
International press contract:
Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH
Ms Ina Stoltze / Ms Christine Kern
Phone: +49 69 7575-6803 / -6084
ina.stoltze@messefrankfurt.com
christine.kern@messefrankfurt.com
Further Messe Frankfurt textile and consumer goods trade fairs
around the world:
Group of Heimtextil
- Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles (29 - 31 August 2007), Shanghai, China
- Heimtextil Russia (11 - 14 September 2007), Moscow, Russia
- Heimtextil India (10 - 13 October 2007), Mumbai, India
- Heimtextil (9 - 12 January 2008), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Interior Lifestyle/Heimtextil Japan (11 - 13 June 2008), Tokyo,
Japan
Group of Ambiente
- Interior Lifestyle China (13 - 16 September 2007), Shanghai,
China
- Ambiente Russia (6 - 9 November 2007), Moscow, Russia
- Ambiente (8 - 12 February 2008), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Design Lifestyle Middle East (25 - 27 May 2008), Dubai, UAE
- Ambiente Japan (11 - 13 June 2008), Tokyo, Japan
Add comment July 25th, 2007
Jeff Linville — Furniture Today,
Corbin leaves as senior VP-marketing
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Chromcraft Revington today announced that Dennis Valkanoff has been promoted from senior vice president to president of CR-Home, the company’s residential furniture division.
He will continue to report to Ben Anderson-Ray, chairman and CEO, assuming responsibilities previously held by David Corbin, senior vice president of marketing. Corbin said he resigned from the company to pursue other interests and spend some time with his family, and declined further comment because of a confidentiality agreement.
Valkanoff joined the company Dec. 1 to oversee sales for its five residential furniture lines: Chromcraft, Peters-Revington, Cochrane, Sumter Cabinet and Silver Furniture. In his newly expanded role, he will have overall responsibilities for the businesses, including integration of the sales and marketing functions as well as management of the product life cycle.
Before joining Chromcraft Revington, Valkanoff was senior vice president of corporate sales for upholstery giant Berkline/BenchCraft and held sales and management posts at England and Les Brown Chair Co.
“This integration will provide greater coordination and alignment between sales activities, product management and marketing activities for our residential furniture business,” said Anderson-Ray. “It parallels the structure of our commercial furniture business and constitutes another important step in repositioning the company in the global furniture marketplace.”
Valkanoff will be supported by Brenda Dillon, who joined the company earlier this year as vice president of product management and merchandising for CR-Home, and Boyd Barnhardt, director of marketing for CR-Home. Dillon, a former merchandise manager of occasional, home entertainment, home office and accent furniture for Broyhill, will assume merchandising and category responsibility for CR-Home occasional, upholstery and bedroom product.
While the company has five manufacturing divisions, Valkanoff said there is little overlap in product lines. Chromcraft is a big player in casual dining. Peters-Revington and Silver have occasional and entertainment, but with different looks; Silver also has leather upholstery. Sumter and Cochrane both have case goods, but at different prices, and Cochrane also has fabric upholstery.
Add comment July 25th, 2007
Jeff Linville — Furniture Today,
Reunited with former Magnussen Home colleague Cook
LENOIR, N.C. — Pat Watson has joined Broyhill Furniture Inds. as director of product development, following President and CEO Jeff Cook from Magnussen Home Furnishings.
At Broyhill, Watson will work in a newly created position leading domestic and Asian new product development teams. He also has been charged with refining the product development process to ensure the right products are delivered on time, and with ensuring the effective and timely execution of Broyhill’s merchandising concepts and ideas.
He will report to Jimmy Martin, Broyhill senior vice president of supply chain.
“We are very fortunate to bring someone with Pat’s vast knowledge and experience to Broyhill,” said Martin. “His in-depth understanding of the global sourcing marketplace and his proven track record of using technology to create and maintain efficiencies will help Broyhill achieve its goals of on-time, on-quality and on-cost.”
Watson worked at Magnussen Home in positions involving merchandising, international supply, product development and quality assurance. Earlier, he was an IT systems analyst with Furniture/Today, a sales representative with Inacom Information Systems, and a sales manager and sales representative for Taracorp.
Cook was president of Magnussen Home before joining Broyhill earlier this year.
He is the second executive hire for Broyhill this summer. Randy Lavercombe joined the company a month ago as vice president of sales.
Add comment July 25th, 2007
By Staff Reports
LAWRENCEBURG — A manufacturer of furniture for motel and hotels was destroyed by late-night fire, a fire department investigator said Monday.
A fire at Prime Seating, owned by T.J. Hughes and family, was discovered about 10:45 p.m. Sunday, Investigator Shayne Adams said. The 20,000-square-foot metal building contained foam, wood and leather.
“It was a big fire,” Adams said. “There wasn’t much we were able to do with it.”
Adams said firefighters tried to get inside the building, but locked doors and intense heat kept them from making any kind of progress.
“We tried to contain it to the structure and make sure nothing else was damaged,” Adams said.
A cause has not been determined, Adams said. The investigator declined to estimate damages.
The company employs 18 people.
Story created Jul 24, 2007 - 15:08:29 EDT.
Add comment July 25th, 2007
A burglary on the west side of Des Moines involved rental furniture but none of the former tenant’s property.
Police said property owned by Christine Hogate was removed from a duplex in the 1500 block of Beaver Avenue this week. All that was left was furniture owned by Aaron’s Rental and it has been stolen.
There were no signs of forced entry to the rental property, police said. They have no suspects. Among the missing furniture is a sofa, a love seat, two coffee tables and a lamp.
Add comment July 25th, 2007
Stefano Bigi, designer living in Milan developed the interesting and stylish Globos Collection.
Stefano Bigi designed a collection of furniture that cleverly hides extra seating inside its body. On its own, the bench and chair can only seat 4 people. However, within their bulbous designs are 8 stools that can be used as small ottomans increasing seating capacity to 12. The round shapes and the orange color give the Globos Collection cool 70s sci-fi movies looks.
The Globos Collection is made from glass-re-enforced plastic frames upholstered with non-deformable polyurethane foam with polyester fiber. The covers are non-removable fabric or leather.
La Cividina is manufacturing the Globos Collection. Visit the La Cividina site and the Stefano Bigi site to learn more.
Add comment July 25th, 2007
Leader in 3D Visualization Technology and Finnish Furniture Maker Partner to Create a Web-Based Configurator, Empowering Purchasers to Customize and Envision Their Furniture Before They Buy
IRVINE, CA–(MARKET WIRE)–Jul 24, 2007 — EON Reality Inc., a leader in interactive visualization software and integrated display systems, announced today that it has partnered with Piiroinen to develop an online design and configurator for the Finnish furniture design company’s Flakes product line.
The new tool enables customers to design and visualize their furniture through an online interface, using a variety of materials, colors, uploaded images or artwork.
Developed by renowned Danish designers Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen, the Flakes product line has won several design awards and has received accolades from architects and the design community. Piiroinen’s streamlined manufacturing process allows customers to design and build made-to-order tables and chairs, even in small quantities, by embedding color and custom images into its furniture.
“There is a growing trend toward customization and personalization of products and objects found in homes and work spaces,” said Dan Lejerskar, chairman, EON Reality. “Our EON Rich Media Publishing application, which leverages the world’s largest online interactive 3D experience-streaming service and 3D library to transform static two-dimensional presentation tools into interactive 3D experiences, allowed us to fulfill Piiroinen’s vision of a truly user-generated experience. The Flakes Configurator is a revolutionary interior design tool that invites customers to join in the design process and become co-designers of their table and chairs.”
Traditional product catalogs are inadequate for capturing and depicting the full range of options available with Flakes furniture. Piiroinen overcame this challenge by partnering with EON Reality to create and launch a Web-based design and configurator tool that uses UV mapping rather than CG shaders on complex surfaces to inlay a truer image. Customers can load any image from their computers onto Piiroinen’s Web site to customize their own furniture. They also can move, scale and flip the image to personalize their design further before saving and emailing it to Piiroinen to build.
“For Piiroinen, the configurator is a giant leap forward in providing an intuitive and direct way for customers to try on their furniture’s design, the way we try on clothing before making a purchase,” said Jukka Niskanen, sales and marketing director for Piiroinen. “We are thrilled to have worked with EON Reality in creating our online design configurator. We facilitate creativity in a more personalized environment by putting the power to design and envision the finished product in the hands of the customer.”
The Flakes Configurator can be found at www.flakes-piiroinen.com.
About EON Reality
EON Reality, Inc. is the world’s leading interactive 3D visual content management and Virtual Reality software provider. Its powerful, breakthrough technology enables users to experience more by revolutionizing the way companies leverage their digital assets throughout the product lifecycle. Industry leaders, including Suzuki, Siemens, John Deere, Atlas Copco, Toyota, Tetra Pak, Boeing, Bombardier, Intel, Peterbilt, Lexus, Whirlpool, Honeywell, GE Healthcare and Stryker, use EON solutions to enhance the interactive user experience to effectively increase sales, better communicate product functionality and decrease the cost of service, training and technical support. For further information regarding EON Reality, visit www.EONReality.com.
About Piiroinen
Piiroinen, founded in 1949, is a Finnish family-owned company, specializing in steel processing. The company operates in three areas: manufacture and marketing of contract furniture, manufacture of components for the furniture industry and surface treatment of metal components. The Piiroinen furniture collection is composed of seven ambitious and aspiring designers’ furniture series that all are distinctive in their clear forms and finished details. Even though each collection has its unique features, the products are easy to combine as harmonious entities. Piiroinen operates on the international market with key customers in Scandinavia, Central Europe, the United States and Japan. For more information about Piiroinen, please visit www.piiroinen.com.
Contact:
Media Contacts
WunderMarx Inc.
+1 714.862.1112
George Pappas
george.pappas@wundermarx.com
Sally Cohen
sally.cohen@wundermarx.com
Add comment July 25th, 2007
– Furniture Today,
Will cover expenses related to liquidation
FALL RIVER, Mass. — Troubled Quaker Fabric said one of its lenders had agreed to advance the company up to $2 million to cover expenses related to the impending liquidation of its assets.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Quaker said the new funds could be used only for expenses included in a wind-down budget prepared by RAS Management Advisors, a consulting firm retained to help the fabric producer with the liquidation process.
In early July, Quaker announced it was likely to close. The following day, its two principal lenders, Bank of America and GB Merchant Partners, issued default notices, but didn’t demand immediate repayment of their loans.
Quaker’s factory here was closed for its annual summer shutdown when the announcements were issued, and the facility is not likely to reopen, the company has said.
The latest regulatory filing said the loan to cover liquidation expenses was made by GB Merchant Partners with the consent of the bank.
Add comment July 25th, 2007
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