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-6, 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 small businesses owned by women growing almost twice as fast as all small business nationwide, retailers — from Swedish furniture store Ikea to OfficeMax — 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.

While women’s design preferences can’t be lumped together, experts say they have definite tastes and, unlike their male counterparts, look at their furniture as an extension of their image. 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-foot-10-inch man in mind.” Long, who is 5’6″, 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 female-owned small businesses growing almost twice as fast as all small business nationwide, retailers—from Swedish furniture store Ikea to OfficeMax Inc.—are 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 »

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-foot-6, 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 female-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 »

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 San Francisco resident could find was furniture made with a “5-foot-10-inch man in mind.” Long is 5-foot-6. “Everything is too masculine, edgy, too modern and heavy on the metal,” said Long, 43, who runs a management-consulting business.

With female-owned small businesses’ growing almost twice as fast as all small business nationwide, retailers – from Swedish furniture store Ikea to OfficeMax Inc. – are waking up to the demands of female entrepreneurs such as 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 »

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 »

Severn Furnishing announced that it has updated its range of modern office furniture. The updated products are from the Stellar range and include the Stellar Xec and Stellar Director range. The Stellar Xec range is hand made by British craftsmen with bespoke options available. The Stellar Director range offers a range of different finishes in cherry, beech and wenga wood veneer with solid wood edge lipping.

Nigel Eldridge, MD of Severn Furnishing commented, “we are delighted to have extended our range of Stellar products. They really are some of the finest desks and office furniture you can buy.” Read more »

As a recognized online vendor of distinctive European office furniture, Prime Office Furnituredoesn’t just sell high quality furniture at factory-direct prices to small-to-midsize business consumers only. Prime Office Furniture welcomes business-to-business alliances that benefit furniture vendors by giving them unique office furniture at wholesale prices to sell to customers at an advantageous retail price for a considerable profit.

Prime Office Furniture imports commercial grade office furniture in large volume from a select network of premium furniture manufacturers, often selling the unique modern office furniture at half the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Both online and offline furniture distributors and retailers benefit from the high capacity buying power of Prime Office Furniture and receive real wood veneer office furniture at very competitive prices.

“Our relationships with our furniture retailers and distributors are extremely important to us,” said Perry Lopez, Vice President of Sales/Marketing at Prime Office Furniture. “We offer the best European office furniture on the market and we take every opportunity to share our unique, high quality furnishings with the best retailers around.” Read more »

Research and Markets has announced the addition of The Furniture Industry in China and Hong Kong to their offering.

This report offers a comprehensive picture of the furniture sector in China and Hong Kong, providing trends in furniture production and consumption, furniture imports and exports, prices. Factors determining the demand for furniture are examined, as well as furniture distribution and furniture supply structure.

Chinese furniture production, consumption, imports, exports are broken down by product (upholstered furniture, bedrooms, kitchen furniture, other household furniture),

The Chinese furniture supply structure is analysed, with data on employment and major furniture production poles. Short profiles are provided for the main Chinese furniture manufacturers of office furniture and household furniture (upholstery, bedrooms, kitchens) with turnover, employees, market shares, product mix.

The analysis of furniture distribution channels covers: department stores, large specialist outlets, specialty stores, franchising, direct sales. The report also provides a profile of the Chinese consumer and an analysis of furniture retail prices for both household furniture (upholstery, bathroom furniture, dining rooms, bedding, kitchens) and office furniture.

Chinese and Hong Kong furniture imports and exports are broken down by country and product (office furniture, kitchen furniture, upholstered furniture, non-upholstered seats, bedroom furniture, seats parts and parts of furniture).

The wood and forestry sector is also considered: imports and exports data are provided for the main semi-finished wood products (sawnwood; wood-based panels: plywood, veneer sheets, particle board panels, fibreboard panels, MDF). Woodworking machinery imports and exports from the main partner countries are included. Read more »