Bob Timberlake Honored as 2017 Luminary Award Winner
Furniture World News Desk on
10/19/2017
Realist artist, philanthropist and pioneer of furnishings and home décor licensing and brand retailing, Bob Timberlake, was recently the recipient of the 2017 IFDA Luminary Award. Given annually by the Carolinas Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA), the award honors a home furnishings industry icon whose innovative work has significantly furthered or promoted the home or décor industries and whose personal endeavors enrich the lives of others.
Bob Timberlake will be honored during the 7th annual Night of Luminaries celebration dinner on Wednesday, November 8 in High Point. Event tickets are $50 per person or $400 for a table of eight. Reservations are accepted online through November 3.
Also honored at this event are the industry’s Rising Stars, senior-level undergraduates selected by their colleges or universities across North and South Carolina as their most outstanding home furnishings or design student. These young people represent all facets of design, including furniture design, industrial design and interior design. Each student will choose one recent project that best exemplifies his or her work and design philosophy. The projects will be displayed at a special cocktail reception held in their honor before the awards dinner.
“We’re delighted to continue to celebrate and reward the individuals who make such enormous contributions to our industry,” said Leslie Gunter of Gunter Custom Homes, Carolinas IFDA chapter president. “For nearly 30 years, Bob Timberlake has helped transform the home furnishings industry through his commitment to the art and craft of fine furniture-making, his exceptional ability to design pieces that resonate with generations of consumers, and his legendary longevity in brand licensing and marketing. His integrity, generosity and quiet leadership have brought him legions of admirers both outside and inside the design and furnishings worlds.”
Upon graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bob Timberlake joined his family businesses: Piedmont Furniture Company and Piedmont Gas Service Company. His professional art career began in 1970. Although he received no formal art education or training, his work is best known for its intricate attention to color and detail. From the first, his art career has been marked by consistent and resounding success, including dozens of sold out exhibitions across the U.S. and the world.
In 1990, Bob Timberlake launched the licensing company, Bob Timberlake, Inc. with The World of Bob Timberlake® collection of furniture. This collection revolutionized and brought excitement back into the industry by introducing the concept of branding a furniture collection according to a famous personality or lifestyle concept. That collection has been touted as the most significant introduction of a line of furniture in the last 40 years and is the most successful in the history of furniture.
In 2011, two of the most respected families in furniture — Bob Timberlake and Hickory, NC-based, Century Furniture — teamed up to build upon the success of one of the longest running licenses in industry history. That collaboration continues today with several highly touted collections in continuous production.
Bob Timberlake has been celebrated, honored and awarded by countless publications, organizations and governmental entities, from his selection as “The Official Artist of Keep America Beautiful, Inc.” in 1975 to being the first Southern artist to paint a Christmas stamp for the U. S. Postal Service, to receiving the first and only Humanitarian Albert Schweitzer Medal for Artistry given to a living artist. Some of his home furnishings accolades include:
Top designer award for bedding fashions by Cotton, Inc.
Academy of Achievement Award by the Accessories Resource Team (ART)
Induction into the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame
A lifelong philanthropist, Bob Timberlake has supported charities large and small, international, national and local. Whether donating his works, his time, talent or financial resources, Bob Timberlake’s zeal to make the lives of others better is apparent in the millions of dollars he has raised and contributed.
For all these reasons and so many others, the Carolinas Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association is proud to present its most coveted award to Bob Timberlake.
The Night of Luminaries celebration dinner will be held at High Point Country Club, 800 Country Club Drive, High Point, beginning with the Rising Star cocktail reception at 5 PM. Dinner follows at 6 PM. Cost is $50 per person, or $400 for a table of 8. Reservations are required and the public is cordially invited.
More about Bob Timberlake: Bob Timberlake, Inc., a licensing company based in Lexington, North Carolina, acts as manager and agent of the Bob Timberlake brand. The company’s founder, Bob Timberlake, is an internationally recognized artist and designer whose art career has been marked by resounding successes for over forty-seven years, his distinctive, casual approach to design has expanded to a broad array of categories that include home furnishings, decorative accessories, home plans, and apparel, all of which are on display at The Bob Timberlake Gallery in Lexington and many other locations. For additional information, please call 1-800-244-0095 or visit www.bobtimberlake.com.
More about IFDA: Founded in 1948, IFDA began with its stated goals to “increase the prestige and broaden the potentialities of the women in the industry; to bring together women in related fields to exchange ideas; to meet established professional women through lectures, forums and other programming; and to offer opportunities and training for members and others who would like to advance themselves through clinics and scholarships." Through the years, IFDA grew to include men, build a powerful philanthropic arm, and reach members across the globe. Their mission to bring prestige and professionalism to its members and to the home furnishings world continues to resonate now more than 68 years later.
The Carolinas Chapter IFDA is based in High Point and boasts members from virtually every facet of our industry—manufacturing, marketing, sales, design, supplier/vendor, retail, education, product development, and more. Members of the Carolinas Chapter regularly serve as officers of the International organization and its philanthropy, IFDA Educational Foundation.