WYOMING — Eight years ago, Gilmore Furniture Inc. followed a hunch and bought a bankrupt office-furniture company. At the time, Cumberland was just a name.

Now, that classic brand is booming for Gilmore, a manufacturer with a niche in wood-based furniture.

In just three years, sales are up 350 percent for Cumberland, Gilmore’s traditional furniture line. This month, Gilmore is accommodating that boom by wrapping up its second expansion in as many years at its plant at 321 Terminal St. SW, near U.S. 131 and 28th Street SW.

The expansion adds 10,000 square feet, after a 6,500-square-foot addition last year. Together, the construction projects enlarged the plant by 33 percent. “We have seen orders from some of our clients triple in this year alone,” said Scott Gilmore, owner and chief executive officer.

The company is building off the heritage of what spokesman Robert Clark calls “a classic American icon.” About 25 percent of Gilmore’s business now centers on Cumberland, a private label featuring sofas, lounge chairs, side chairs and benches.

After buying Cumberland in 1998, Gilmore worked with a Chicago design firm to update the product line of the high-end office furniture maker. A Modo line debuted in 2003, and this fall the company is releasing a “Designers Speak” series with furniture catered to regional tastes, ranging from East Coast to West and Southeast to Southwest.

To support the growth, the expansion will provide additional woodworking, upholstery cutting and sewing capacity. Clark said the 80-person work force could grow by as many as 20 jobs, primarily in upholstery.

“We’re going to take a lot of that in-house,” Clark said. “It’s our fastest-growing area.”

The first plant expansion last year made room for a second computer-numeric-control machine and expanded the receiving department at the 50,000-square-foot factory.

Now, the plant is stuffed with wooden table legs, conference table bases, drum cylinders and other components sold to furniture manufacturers such as Haworth, Inc. and Steelcase Inc. But it doesn’t try to make everything. Gilmore outsources steel frames and table tops of glass and stone.

As larger local manufacturers — Hekman Furniture Co., Sligh Furniture Co., John Widdicomb Co. — downsize or close, some of the trimmings fall to Gilmore, a 23-year-old firm that once made a pair of boat-shaped dining tables for a Saudi prince.

“A lot of that (downsizing) is cutting out the fat: What are we good at? What are we not good at?” Clark said. “We’re benefiting from that. There’s very few people providing what we provide.”

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