In a move to establish a significant presence of sustainability, Channel Logic and Sustainable Furniture Council join with World Market Center to create the inaugural Living Green Pavilion. As part of the Design and Living section at the Sands Convention Center, Living Green will showcase stylish and functional home furnishing designs available from several manufacturers. Channel Logic Inc, has positioned themselves as the leading sustainable products resource and representation firm, and is working hard to establish a viable presence in the marketplace for eco-conscious purchasers.

Channel Logic, Inc. is a sustainable furniture manufacturer representation firm, founded in March, 2007, by Tim Loveday and Mark Gruman. With the sustainability movement rapidly gaining momentum, Loveday and Gruman recognized an opportunity to advance the presence of sustainability within the furniture industry. Read more »

A company that supplied allegedly faulty Martha Stewart-brand glass-top patio tables that shatter during normal use has filed for bankruptcy.

JRA Furniture Industries LLC on Tuesday filed a Chapter 7 petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

The Cerritos, Calif., company is a defendant in a class-action lawsuit along with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. and Kmart Corp. currently pending in federal court. Read more »

When Jennifer Selby Long relocated from an office with leased furniture to an unfurnished one in February, her decorating problems began.

After shopping at different stores, all that the 43-year-old San Francisco resident could find was furniture made with a “5-feet-10-inch man in mind.” Long, who is 5-feet-six, ended up doing a lot of improvising, buying bookcases from Crate & Barrel and inheriting a reddish gold wood desk from the last office tenant.

“Everything is too masculine, edgy, too modern, and heavy on the metal,” said Long, who runs a management consulting business.

With women-owned small businesses growing almost twice as fast as all small business nationwide, retailers — from Swedish furniture store Ikea to OfficeMax Inc. — are just starting to wake up to the demands of female entrepreneurs like Long. These include office chairs and desks scaled to women’s smaller frames, as well as furniture that has more storage to hold purses and other personal items — a top priority for women. Read more »

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus is in advanced talks for acquiring a major stake in Chinese retailer Red Star Furniture Group, reports quoting sources close to the deal said.

Warburg Pincus expects to acquire a little less than 50 per cent stake in Red Star even as China’s fast-growing home furnishing market draws increasing foreign interest.

The Shanghai-based Red Star is privately owned and operates 33 outlets, mostly in the affluent east coast. It sells furniture and home furnishings, targeting mostly to homeowners who are spending heavily on decorating newly purchased apartments. Read more »

It can seem difficult for a small-business owner to create change in an entire industry, but that’s what Holly Barbo is hoping to do.

Barbo, who owns Barbo Furniture in Bellingham with her husband, Chris, has been wrestling with the idea of green business practices in the furniture industry. More often these days customers are asking about environmentally friendly business practices that produce furniture, and she’s been happy to answer questions. Chris Barbo makes many of the pieces of furniture, while they try hard to bring in quality, sustainable products to sell.

What she has found frustrating is how much false information is out there. Read more »

One place to appreciate the real, rare red sandalwood furniture of the Ming and Qing dynasties is to visit the China Red Sandalwood Museum.

Almost 20,000 visitors took advantage of free entry to the museum on May 18, International Museum Day, where they enjoyed the genuine antique furniture and reproductions.

Squatting in front of a Ming-Dynasty cabinet, Gao Jianhua, a furniture enthusiast from Shandong Province, used a magnifying glass to study the detailed patterns carved on the furniture. “Ming furniture features flat backs decorated with straight or curved wooden patterns and is sometimes embedded with marbles,” Gao said. Read more »

Dipped in a garish green rubbery coating, the ornate Louis-style dining chairs from Six Inch of Belgium looked like irradiated doggy chew toys. The white fiberglass centipede reared on its legs was really Scolopendra, a 7-foot floor lamp made by Site Specific Design in Brooklyn, N.Y.

And the beanpole clad in fluorescent pink? That was designer Karim Rashid, the prolific creator of household “blobjects,” stalking the aisles of the 19th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair, held recently in New York City. Read more »

Agio is one of the leading names in outdoor patio furniture including umbrella, fire pits and outdoor pub tables with many contemporary designs. Max Furniture is now an importer of Agio Reserve Outdoor Patio furniture. Whether you have a small patio or a complete outdoor living area, you will need furniture to complete that space, and Java teak outdoor furniture can be an excellent choice.

Agio Patio Furniture may be just the answer to enjoyment of the new season’s arrival. By joining with Max Furniture, two companies are joining to create a lovely lifestyle at your convenience. At Max Furniture, all items are delivered direct to the customer’s door and fully guaranteed to arrive in new condition. With years of experience in providing outstanding value and customer service, Max Furniture can meet your home decor desires. Read more »

Are you standing there in your newly decorated room wondering if your accessories still look good in the room? Chances are they might.

But, if you had very country pieces or collections and you updated the look and colors in your room, sadly, they probably will look very silly.

However, if you have an antique eye for collecting unusual pieces, then they should work great. Examples are copper bowls, pewter urns, pottery, etc. Just keep the color scheme the same throughout your collections. If you have extra pieces left over, maybe you could put those items in a different room or in a yard sale, or swap items with a friend. Read more »

The High Point Market Authority said Thursday that it has set the dates for the spring and fall furniture trade shows through 2015.

Changes to the market months are in response to a survey of market participants to return to April and October dates. The April market dates reflect the avoidance of religious holidays.