Archive for February, 2008
Korean builders are receiving more orders from abroad, and this has helped Korean furniture makers raise exports.
Korean construction firms building apartment complexes or studio apartments are installing furniture made by Korean manufacturers.
In Kazakhstan last year, for example, ENEX supplied kitchen furniture to 581 apartment units built by Dong Il Construction. Overall ENEX provided kitchen furniture for 1,240 apartment units abroad last year, including 440 in Vancouver, Canada and 168 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The company will supply kitchen furniture to another Dong Il apartment complex in Kazakhstan and newly built apartments in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
When going overseas with Korean builders, furniture makers can utilize the logistics network of Korean construction firms. That means they can reduce logistics costs and require no separate overseas operation network.
○ Opening up the global market
Hanssem runs branches in the United States, China and Japan, and has manufacturing facilities in the United States and China.
The company has a plant in Plainfield, New Jersey, and stores in Boston and Manhattan. When its shops receive orders from consumers or dealers, Hanssem delivers furniture from the Plainfield factory. By doing so, it now pays a lot less in logistics costs than if it exported furniture from Korea.
Hanssem뭩 U.S. operations saw sales jump from 14 billion won in 2004 to 22.4 billion won last year.
Borneo International Furniture is a prime example of a Korean company setting up a strong operational network worldwide.
The furniture maker is working with 25 dealers from about 20 nations. It has established several overseas operational networks since first going overseas in the early 1980s.
The company뭩 overseas revenue reached 20 billion won, or 10.5 percent of its combined sales of 191 billion won last year. Despite going into court receivership in 1992, Borneo has utilized existing overseas operational networks and turned itself into Korea뭩 biggest furniture exporter last year.
ENEX has opened its own shops in Hawaii to tap the U.S. market, in addition to running shops in Uzbekistan, Russia, Guam, and Saipan.
○ Specialized items for export
Chair maker Sidiz spun off from office furniture maker Fursys in March last year. Sidiz participated in Office Exhibition 2008 in Dubai and NeoCon World뭩 Trade Fair 2007, North America뭩 biggest office furniture exhibition, last year.
It is rare for a startup furniture maker to attend global shows in succession.
Sidiz marketing chief So Jung-hee said, 밪idiz packs chairs in small packages to export our products. Chairs are for the most part the only pieces of furniture exportable to the global market without the burden of logistics costs.
The company enjoyed exports of about one billion won last year, and plans to increase that amount by more than ten times this year.
February 28th, 2008
Universal Furniture’s Better Homes and Gardens Furniture Collection will be featured on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on March 2 at 8 p.m.
Pieces from the collection will be used to help furnish a new home for the Lucus family of Rice, VA – a military family who are passionate about preserving Virginia history.
The collection includes three styles of furniture – Cottage View, which encompasses a casual look; Classics Today, which is a modern traditional look; and Modern Outlook, which features more streamlined styling. Pieces from all three styles are designed to be able to mix and match with each other.
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which has won back-to-back Emmy Awards as Best Reality Program (non-competitive), is entering its fifth season on ABC.
February 28th, 2008
BENTO GONCALVES, Brazil, February 26 /PRNewswire/ –
MOVELSUL BRASIL 2008, showcasing the quality of Brazilian furniture by more than 415 exhibitors and the largest international furniture fair in Latin America, will be held March 24-28 in the southern Brazilian city of Bento Goncalves.
This is the sixteenth time the event is being held, and its success is tied to business and the opening up of the market for the Brazilian industry, attracting a professional audience of retailers, decorators and importers.
The MOVELSUL BRASIL exposition space has been increased to 57,220 sq. meters with the construction of an additional pavilion — “F” — to accommodate part of the list of industries interested in participating in the fair.
In addition to the exposition, “Project Buyer” will be held in partnership with the Federal Government and APEX through the Brazilian Furniture program. Importers have been invited to initiate business partnerships. The Project pays for their expenses to go to Brazil.
As for the number of visitors, organizers are expecting importers from more than 61 countries, the same as in 2006. All preparations have been made for their arrival.
Another high point of the event is an exhibit of products competing for the Salao Design Movelsul prize, which is taking place for the eleventh time, bringing visitors and the furniture industry together with designers from Latin America, the Caribbean and European Union.
Through various incentives and programs, the Brazilian furniture industry has presented itself with distinction to the external market. Today, their industrial parks are on the same scale as traditional countries. It has invested in improving personnel technical training as well as in design, with the objective of affording Brazilian products the highest quality.
Brazil has 15,000 furniture manufacturers and employs more than 200,000 workers. In Bento Goncalves alone, where MOVELSUL BRASIL 2008 is taking place, there are 280 manufacturers and one of the largest export hubs in the country. Brazil ended 2007 with almost US$ 1 billion in exports. The United States, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Argentina and Uruguay are the main importers of Brazilian furniture.
For more information on the Fair, go to: http://www.movelsul.com.br .
Web site: http://www.movelsul.com.br
Carla Schmitz, Carla Schmitz Assessoria, +55-51-3330-0424, Carla.assessoria@terra.com.br, for MOVELSUL
February 27th, 2008
By VIOLET CHO
The wealth of Burma’s forests is set to go on display next month, when the country’s ruling military regime will hold its third biannual exhibition of teak furniture and other timber products to attract international buyers and shore up its foreign reserves.
One of the organizers of the show, a manager at the state-run Myanmar Timber Enterprise, confirmed that the Myanmar Furniture Show 2008 will take place March 3-7 at the Military Historical Museum and Archives in Rangoon.
The exhibition will include displays of furniture and decorative products made of teak and other forest materials, such as bamboo and rattan, the show organizer added.
Visitors from other Southeast Asian countries are expected to make up the largest number of buyers at the event, but the organizer declined to provide a list of participants or details about projected earnings from the show.
Burma has some of Southeast Asia’s largest remaining teak forests, and despite the growing pace of deforestation under the current regime, is still rich in forest resources. Timber is Burma’s third most valuable export, after mineral and agricultural products.
According to official statistics, the junta has sold 200,000 cubic meters of teak and more than 500,000 cubic meters of other hardwoods over the past year. In the fiscal year 2006-7, the figures were more than 40,000 cubic meters of teak and about 900,000 cubic meters of other hardwoods.
Timber exports have earned the regime more than US $800 million since the beginning of 2006.
Burma exports most of its timber products to neighboring Thailand, India, and China, as well as to other countries in Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. Denmark and other member states of the European Union, which purchase Burmese timber products from other Asian countries, are also major importers, according to a report published by the Danish Burma Support Group in 2004.
In view of the Burmese regime’s ongoing human rights abuses and its brutal suppression of peaceful protests last September, the EU has recently adopted new measures to restrict trade with Burma, including a ban on the import of unprocessed logs, timber and timber products. The EU also prohibits the import of specified metals, minerals and precious stones that are an important source of revenue for Burma’s military rulers.
EU sanctions target state-run companies and private corporations with close ties to the ruling junta. Many of these, including Myanmar Trading Enterprise, Myanmar Gems Enterprise, Htoo Trading Co, Ltd and Asia World, are heavily invested in extractive industries such as gem mining and forestry.
The Myanmar Furniture Show 2008 is jointly sponsored by Myanmar Timber Enterprise and private-sector investors. Similar shows have been held twice before, in 2004 and 2006.
February 26th, 2008
By Dennis Seid,Daily Journal
TUPELO – A furniture company is only as good as its products – and the people who sell them.
Enter George Ramel, who has been a sales representative for more than 35 years for companies like Bassett, Englander Mattress, and currently, Orleans Furniture Inc.
On Friday, Ramel won the Manufacturer’s Representative Award for the Spring 2008 Tupelo Furniture Market.
“This is unbelievable,” Ramel said. “It’s been a thrill … Tupelo has been an integral part of my life and success.”
Call it a family affair – Ramel followed his in his father’s footsteps, and his brother, Dan, also is a furniture rep. Ramel’s wife, Angie, travels with him to all the markets, too.
“This man has loved this business for so many years,” she said. “I’m so proud of him.”
And just because Ramel is near retirement age doesn’t mean he’s going to.
Covering a wide swath of territory including Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, Ramel also calls on key rental business accounts as well. Why quit while you’re at the top of your game?
“Retirement is not in his realm of thought,” Angie said with a laugh. “George wants to stay in the business as long as he can and as long as God will bless him.”
And to Ramel, being a sales rep is more than selling a piece of furniture – it’s establishing a partnership.
“I think one of the most interesting things about this business is meeting people and making friends,” he said. “You’re not just building business relationships, you’re also building friendships along the way.”
Cultivating those relationships means that customers have followed Ramel wherever he’s gone.
As Orleans Vice President Tom Stumpf said of Ramel, “he’s a man of his word.”
Contact Daily Journal business editor Dennis Seid at 678-1578 or dennis.seid@djournal.com.
Appeared originally in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 2/25/2008, section 0 , page 0
February 26th, 2008
BELTON - From in-ground pools to pool tables, from plants to pest control, Amish wooden furniture to water preservation, even garden-size putting greens - it’s all at the Bell County Expo Center this afternoon from noon till 5 p.m.
Drop your husband off to admire the classic cars while you spend time in the garden at the Temple Area Homebuilders Association Home and Garden Show - and take your checkbook along.
Children’s state-of-the-art play sets, rockers for mom and dad, flowers for grandma, and tools and riding lawnmowers for pa - there is something there for everyone.
Environmentally friendly equipment was popular at the home show Saturday. Energy-saving lightbulbs and rainwater preservation and harvesting are items of the future.
“All of us in this area know that our electric bills have more than doubled in the last couple of years,” Krista Kern of Southern On-site Solutions in Temple said. “We do septic systems but we are expanding. We are going to do solar, rainwater preservation - we are going to everything as green as we can. It doesn’t make sense anymore not to.”
Peter Parkins of Belton was looking at the rainwater harvesting equipment. “I want to collect enough rain off my roof to be able to water my garden for free,” he said.
Lauri Shoemaker has been attending for about six years and wouldn’t miss it for anything. “I love the gardening,” she said. Lauri had a bag full of herbs that she intends adding to her garden. “The lemon balm repels mosquitoes and the caraway attracts butterflies to your garden,” she said. “I like the idea of rainwater collection.”
Eventually Shoemaker would like to do some remodeling on her home. At the moment she is working on her garden but eventually granite countertops will be installed. “I get so many ideas every year from here every year,” she said.
Cindy Schoeppel of Temple was enjoying the woodwork of the Amish made furniture available at Falls Furniture in Lott. “It’s just gorgeous and so well made, all the dove-tailing. The Amish do beautiful work,” she said.
Patricia Simpson of Limestone Landscapes and Design in south Belton specialize in mulches and gravels, topsoil, river rocks and masonry supplies, stone supplies for your house and yard. The store is only retail but offered gorgeous ideas to make your Texas outdoor lifestyle more comfortable and enjoyable.
Janet Lawdel of Temple loved the stone garden benches they offered. “It looks so nice, easy to care for, Lawdel said, “I know exactly how I want my garden to look now. Our family spends so much time outside.”
Jack Bimmel of Belton had left his wife in the garden furniture area while he admired the classic cars. “I am not really interested in owning one but I love looking at the cars,” he said, “She (Mrs Bimmel) doesn’t like me near her in a garden store. I think it has something to do with how much she spends,” he said with a wink.
February 25th, 2008
YANGON,(Xinhua) — A five-day Myanmar furniture show will be held here early next month in a bid to introduce the country’s value-added wood products to the world market and boost timber export, according to the timber trading circle Sunday.
Jointly sponsored by the state-run Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE) and the Timber Entrepreneurs Association, the Myanmar Furniture Show 2008, from March 3 to 7 with 166 booths, will display various pieces of furniture, finished wood-based products, rattan and bamboo wares as well as wood-made home decoration items, said the sponsor.
Visitors and buyers from foreign countries especially from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are being expected.
Myanmar held its first furniture show in 2004 and the second in2006.
Myanmar has been establishing wood-based industry, giving priority to manufacturing value-added finished wood products for export. Accordingly, a number of wood-based industrial zones have been set up for the purpose since export of wood log is restricted and export of teak log by the private sector also banned since 1992 when the government enacted the Forest law.
According to official statistics, Myanmar exported 347,400 cubic-tons (491,570 cubic-meters) of teak and 637,400 cubic-tons (901,900 cubic-meters) of hardwood in the fiscal year of 2006-07, gaining a total of over 522 million U.S. dollars of foreign exchange.
The latest statistics show that in the first half (April-September) of 2007-08, the country exported 216,000 cubic-meters of teak and 554,820 cubic-meters of hardwood, getting a total of 268 million dollars.
Myanmar mainly exports its timber products to India, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia.
Timber stands as the country’s third largest export goods after mineral and agricultural products.
Myanmar is rich in forest resources with forest covering about 50 percent of its total land area.
Editor: Bi Mingxin
February 25th, 2008
BOSTON, /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — When Jordan’s Furniture shoppers try out a new easy chair or select other furniture for their new home theater setup, they can soon try out Verizon’s new FiOS TV service in the store. And they can do it without having to leave the comfort of the chair or sofa they are sitting in.
Verizon and Jordan’s Furniture Thursday (Feb. 21) announced a unique marketing agreement under which Verizon will construct a Verizon lifestyle store within the Jordan’s Furniture complex in Reading, Mass. The store will feature Verizon’s revolutionary new FiOS voice, Internet and TV services, and visitors can experience the services in the comfort of Jordan’s beautiful furniture.
In addition, Verizon has acquired the naming rights of Jordan’s two IMAX Theaters, in Reading and Natick, Mass, and the company’s Motion Odyssey Movie Theater in Avon, Mass.
The multidimensional sponsorship will provide millions of New England’s IMAX viewers and Jordan’s shoppers the opportunity to experience and order premier FiOS products and services throughout New England. The partnership is a comprehensive, across-company integration of marketing initiatives, opportunities and promotions.
“This is a perfect example of a win-win situation,” said Eliot Tatelman, president and chief operating officer of Jordan’s. “Verizon and Jordan’s win because of the multitude of on-site and on-screen opportunities that are available for cross-promotion. However, most importantly, the customers win because of the additional products now available under one roof. Customers will be able to literally experience Verizon technology, all in the comfort of the furniture showrooms of Jordan’s.”
At Jordan’s, consumers will be able to experience FiOS TV live on an HDTV set and test drive FiOS Internet, something they can’t do online or over the phone.
“There is great synergy between the two companies, and we are very excited about all of the future possibilities,” said Tatelman.
Brenda Sowers, Verizon’s director of alternate channel sales, said: “This is a unique, powerful branding and marketing opportunity to promote Verizon and our exciting FiOS services. Verizon and Jordan’s are two formidable brands in the New England marketplace, and our marketing partnership is a natural fit.”
In addition to the Verizon lifestyle store soon opening in Reading, customers can now visit Verizon at one of the company’s staffed kiosks at Jordan’s Furniture at Beantown in Reading, on Bourbon Street in Natick, or coming soon to the Jordan’s Avon, Mass., location. Some of the opportunities within the sponsorship deal include pre-movie Verizon commercials customized in the IMAX format and customer coupon offers for Jordan’s and Verizon’s products and services.
Jordan’s Furniture operates a 275-seat IMAX 3D Theater in Natick, as well as a 500-seat IMAX 3D Theater in Reading, and the Motion Odyssey Movie Theater in Avon. Jordan’s Furniture, New England’s largest furniture retailer, is a division of Berkshire Hathaway.
For more information, log on to www.jordans.com.
FiOS TV is Verizon’s new fiber-optic television service, which offers a better-quality picture, more high-definition and on-demand programs, and more reliable service at competitive prices to more than 400,000 households in some 63 Massachusetts communities.
FiOS TV is delivered over Verizon’s fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network, which has industry-leading quality and reliability. Verizon is the first company to offer such a network, connecting homes and businesses directly to fiber optics on a widespread scale.
In addition to FiOS TV, Verizon’s fiber network also allows the company to offer consumers and businesses high-speed FiOS Internet service at download speeds up to 50 Mbps (megabits per second) and upload speeds up to 20 Mbps.*
* NOTE: actual (throughput) speeds will vary.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, serving nearly 66 million customers nationwide. Verizon’s Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation’s most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 235,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.
VERIZON’S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon’s News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.
SOURCE Verizon
http://www.verizon.com
February 25th, 2008
By Scott Reyburn
Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) — If you think a few million dollars is too high a price for investing in contemporary art, there may be a cheaper alternative: furniture.
Architects such as Zaha Hadid and David Adjaye are turning everyday items like tables, chairs and shelves into desirable objects made from marble, Corian, Perspex and Fiberglas.
Wealthy collectors who might have become reluctant to buy a Damien Hirst or Andy Warhol work are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on design classics of the future, according to London dealers who specialize in limited-edition furniture.
“There’s a community that’s trying to turn design products into hot art,'’ Philippe Garner, international head of Christie’s International’s 20th Century Design Department, said in an interview. “It’s a situation that raises a lot of questions.'’
One dealer, Established & Sons in St. James’s, London, is staging “Around the Corner,'’ the first solo exhibition of furniture designed by Amanda Levete of the award-winning U.K. architects Future Systems.
On the first night last week, four out of an edition of 10 hand-finished black marble “East'’ tables sold to international collectors for 135,000 pounds ($262,000) each, said Established’s founder and Chief Executive Alasdhair Willis, who is married to fashion designer Stella McCartney.
`Serious Return’
“Compared with contemporary art, these are low out-of-pocket investments for my clients,'’ Willis said in a telephone interview. “They see it as an opportunity to buy beautiful pieces that have a high level of function, but which can be sold for a serious return later.'’
In April 2005, at the gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Established & Sons sold a Hadid prototype “Aqua'’ table for 45,000 pounds, said Willis. Eight months later, the same piece came up for auction at Phillips de Pury in New York, where it fetched $300,000 with fees, according to the saleroom result tracker Artnet.
“That Hadid table caught a moment,'’ said Willis. “It showed big art collectors that contemporary design could be an important investment.'’
Willis said he did not anticipate it would take long for the six remaining “East'’ tables at “Round the Corner'’ to find buyers. Yesterday, six sets of Levete’s “South'’ corner shelves, made from Corian in an edition of 12, priced at 25,000 pounds each, had also sold. Five Fiberglas “North'’ console tables from the show, also from an edition of 12, had takers at 35,000 pounds each, said Willis.
In October 2007, Levete’s Corian sculpture “Prototile'’ sold for a record 108,000 pounds with fees at Phillips de Pury, London, said Artnet.
Albion’s Adjaye
Adjaye is another internationally acclaimed U.K. architect who has begun to design limited-edition furniture. The London- based Albion Gallery is holding a show of four “Monoforms'’ by Adjaye at the Casa dell’Architettura, Rome.
The geometric modular furniture is offered in a choice of Hassan green granite or solid walnut. The four stone designs are available in an edition of five, priced at 30,000 pounds each. The wooden versions come in an edition of 10 at 20,000 pounds.
“So far we’ve sold between a third and a half of the entire edition,'’ said Albion Gallery director Michael Hue-Williams. “That’s not bad for four months.'’ The catalog for “Monoforms'’ had first been released by Albion at the Design Miami fair in December.
Global Demand
Hue-Williams said he was selling furniture to “exactly the same'’ people who buy contemporary art. “People who collect art need to put things into an environment that’s consistent.'’ The geographical spread of buyers was “absolutely global,'’ said Hue- Williams.
Adjaye’s furniture has yet to appear at auction. According to Artnet, the current auction record for any work by a living designer remains the 750,000 pounds with fees paid at Christie’s, London, in October 2007, for an aluminum “Lockheed'’ lounger by the Australian-born, London-based designer Marc Newson. The lounger was from an edition of 10, said Artnet.
“I do get a bit nervous when designers get elevated like that,'’ said Garner. “There can be a thin line between the hunger for excellent contemporary design and pure short-term investment.'’
In June 2007 the New York dealers Sebastien + Barquet sold a prototype of the Newson Lockhead chair for $2.2 million to a Californian collector, said the gallery’s assistant director, Paulina Leon in a telephone interview.
The prototype chair, which Leon said had been exhibited by Sebastien + Barquet at the previous December’s Art Basel Miami Beach fair, was acquired at Sotheby’s, New York, in June 2006, for $970,000 with fees, according to Artnet.
(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com .
February 22nd, 2008
Sun Capital Partners, a minority-interest shareholder in Furniture Brands International, has proposed a takeover of the St. Louis-based company.
Furniture Brands is the parent company of Thomasville Furniture, Broyhill and several other North Carolina-based furniture companies.
In a letter to Furniture Brand’s board of directors delivered Wednesday and filed in a regulatory report, Sun Capital offered to buy the company for cash at “a substantial premium” to its latest $10.18 stock price. That price has fallen from about $18 last March, as the company has shuttered stores and plants and retooled its operations in the face of a prolonged industry sales slump.
Sun Capital already controls about 9.4 percent of Furniture Brands stock, having bought into the company in January of 2007.
Sun Capital said it was making the offer because, while Furniture Brands has “an attractive collection of assets,” the best strategies for turning the company around “can be best executed as a private company.”
Sun Capital did not put an expiration date on its proposal, but it said it hoped Furniture Brands would act quickly.
The company also said it would not object to Furniture Brands exploring other sales opportunities at the same time. Samson Holding, the parent company of Universal Furniture and Legacy Classic in High Point and the owner of 14.9 percent of Furniture Brands stock, reportedly made a bid for the company that was rejected last year.
February 22nd, 2008
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