Bantul regency has lost its famous Kasongan earthenware production center, causing business to grind to a halt and leaving more than 2,500 workers jobless.

Nearly all earthenware supplies, produced by local home industries and owned by up to 600 businesspeople, on display at the center in Bangunjiwo in the Bantul district of Kasihan were destroyed in Saturday’s powerful earthquake.

Besides meeting the domestic demand, Kasongan used to be the regency’s foreign exchange earner, exporting its products to Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, Japan and other countries. Read more »

Australian-born Warwick Purser points sadly at a building once filled with ethnic Indonesian bric-a-brac and craft made by villagers living on the outskirts of the quake-hit royal city of Yogyakarta.

The roof of the showroom has collapsed, damaging craft such as pandanus leaf placemats, woven coconut shell ice buckets and black terracota plates that have made their way to department stores such as Macy’s in New York and Harrods in London.

Tembi, about 30 km south of Yogyakarta, is among hundreds of villages hit by Saturday’s quake which killed nearly 6,000 people and left more than 130,000 homeless. Read more »

Try wicker or teakwood — gazebos, fire bowls are hot summer extras.

Thinking of packing up the family for that much-needed vacation? Think again. The roads are littered with potholes and the stress of backseat bickering will have you begging for mercy before you can unfold the map. If you really want to relax, look no further than your own backyard patio.

“Outdoor living rooms are becoming big,” said Cory Curtis, a patio and casual furniture store manager. “People aren’t traveling as much anymore, and they want to add another room to have a vacation at home.”

Whether you prefer casual or luxury, furniture choice sets the tone. Read more »

La-Z-Boy is teaming up with The Quilt: A Breast Cancer Support Project, to help raise money and support for breast cancer survivors and their families.

The company has signed on to host traveling exhibits of 120 quilts scheduled to visit 12 La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores throughout Canada from June 9 through Oct. 23, 2006. Visitors to the exhibit are encouraged to bid on their favorite quilt to help raise money and awareness for free breast cancer support programs and services.

“We are delighted to be part of such a wonderful, worthwhile cause,” said Ron Balzer, regional vice president of Canada for La-Z-Boy. “We hope to raise awareness that will, in turn, raise money for support programs and education of this terrible disease that affects so many women and their families each year.”

The traveling tour is part of an annual quilt exhibit and auction that has raised more than $1 million for community support programs for breast cancer patients, their families and friends since 1999. La-Z-Boy has played an active role in supporting the program since 2002. Read more »

Boyd Specialty Sleep will Launch their new Sleep Sync Systemâ„¢ Accessory Selection Kiosk Systems during the July 2006 Las Vegas Furniture Market.

With Boyd’s touch screen technology, the retail sales person using the Sleep Sync System™ accessory selection Kiosk guides the customer thru a short question process collecting information about the customers type of mattress, their sleep position, significant sleep issues or needs and then matches or “synchronizes” the customer and mattress with a sleep accessory product from a predetermined assortment to fit their specific needs.

Following a mattress selection, the sales process can be quickly and easily concluded by diagnostically matching a mattress and pillow to the customer’s individual needs and level of comfort. Utilizing the Sleep Sync System assures that the pillow is not neglected as an important component to lasting customer satisfaction with the mattress being purchased. A side benefit is that it also reduces comfort returns of the mattress. Read more »

The new AsiaWorld-Expo near the Hong Kong International Airport is the perfect venue for the debut of Hong Kong International Furniture Fair, which is scheduled to run from October 27 – 30, 2006.

Co-organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and Kenfair International Limited, and supported by Hong Kong Furniture & Decorative Trade Association Ltd and International Furniture & Decoration (Hong Kong) Association, the Hong Kong International Furniture Fair is the first-ever trade fair in Hong Kong that features the widest selection of high-end furniture.

The furniture and furnishing industry is a manufacturing sector with a long history in Hong Kong, and local companies are known for their strong design capability. This new furniture exposition will help to promote Hong Kong furniture companies to worldwide markets, enabling international furniture dealers and suppliers to get to know Hong Kong’s strengths in this arena.

Commenting on the launch of this new fair, Mr Benjamin Chau, Assistant Executive Director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), said, “Due to limited space available in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, we are happy to be able to take advantage of the facilities made available by AsiaWorld-Expo where we can develop shows with new concepts. The Hong Kong International Furniture Fair is just one of six new shows that HKTDC plans to launch in 2006.” Read more »

And then there was one.

By the end of July, the second of three local La-Z-Boy dealers will have closed this year. Declining sales have been blamed for the decision.

Leath Furniture, which sells a variety of home furnishings in addition to La-Z-Boy brand chairs, opened its going-out-of-business sale to the public Tuesday. Customers already on the company’s mailing list received special invitations that gave them access to special discounts in the Glenbrook Commons store five days earlier.

“I think that it’s always a combination of things” that leads to a store closing, manager Simon Berkowitz said. “There was a lack of business. And our lease was coming to an end.”

Atlanta-based Leath Furniture operates 31 stores, mostly in the Midwest, according to its Web site. Other locations of the 103-year-old company are not affected.

The demise of the local Leath store, just east of Lima Road and south of Coliseum Boulevard, follows the closing of La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries on Washington Center Road this year. That independently licensed store had been operating in Fort Wayne for 30 years.

But tepid demand hasn’t stopped another retailer from expanding its presence in the market.

The remaining La-Z-Boy retailer, John Klopfenstein Furniture at 1206 Magnavox Way, is in the middle of a 17,000-square-foot expansion estimated at $2 million. Read more »

New Orders

New orders in March 2006 rose 3 percent over March 2005 levels according to our most recent survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors. New orders were 8 percent higher than February levels. March order rates historically are higher than February.

Just less than one-half (48 percent) of the participants reported increased order rates in March compared to 53 percent in February and 58 percent in January. There were several though that reported a very small decline in March.

Year-to-date, new orders were 5 percent higher than the first quarter of last year; down slightly from the 6 percent increase after February’s report. Some 51 percent of the participants reported increases in new orders for the first quarter, down slightly from 57 percent in February. Read more »

Scott Zawitz, owner of Fort Pitt Furniture in Chicago, is a hard person to catch —mostly because he’s continually traveling around the country emptying hotel rooms of their furniture.

Most recently, he was at the Drake in New York City fielding phone calls and prodding tired workers. But piloting this business is all worth it.

Fort Pitt buys upscale furniture from hotels that are either remodeling rooms or going out of business. In the case of the Drake, it’s the latter—it is going condo. Fort Pitt buys the contents of the rooms and bring the pieces back to Chicago to sell in its 180,000-square-foot showroom.

Some of the buyers are less-pricey hotels and motels, nursing homes, churches, and model home decorators. In fact, a big client is HGTV, whose television show hosts buy the items to fix up homes for a small price.

“People have been in here from Design on a Dime and Designed to Sell,” Zawitz explained. “They are on a budget and are looking for the lease expensive way to furnish a house nicely.” Read more »

Cats scratch to sharpen their claws and mark their territory. This is natural, instinctive behavior. But it can be destructive to furniture and other household items unless preventive measures are taken. Try these tactics:

•Routine nail trimming can minimize damage.
•Teach your cat to scratch a post by providing one that is stable and tall, with a surface the cat likes. Besides carpet-covered posts, try a rope-covered post or a fireplace log secured to a plywood base. Toss a small treat every time the pet approaches the post and a larger one whenever it makes contact with the post.
•Keep your cat within eyesight and interrupt problem scratching with a squirt from a water gun — without saying anything. You want to stop the behavior without scaring the cat.
•When you’re away and can’t watch your cat, confine it to an area where there are no, or only a few, objects it might damage. In time you can gradually allow more freedom without supervision. Read more »