Kimball Home To Introduce Solid Maple Collection

Furniture World News

Kimball Home Furniture will introduce 38 new dining, bedroom and occasional designs in solid maple at the April 1998 International Home Furnishings Market IHFC Main Building, Space M731. Maple Creek joins Kimball's growing line of solid wood home furniture collections. Cherry Falls and Oak Meadow were introduced last April; Pine Mountain debuted in October. Designed by Ron Stilwell of Stilwell Associates, Inc., Lenoir, NC, Maple Creek is priced in the middle- to upper-middle range. Like the other Kimball Home collections, it meets the consumer wants and needs revealed through recent research: function, versatility and extra storage space. "Yes, Maple Creek is very 'livable'-but it also has a dramatic, highly distinctive look, declares Stilwell. "This furniture is inspired by traditional European Country styling; you can see echoes of the Victorian Age. And the collection is very eclectic-designs complement each other, but they can also stand alone or even blend with other styles." Generous in scale, this furniture is enhanced with a rich maple finish which has been burnished, antiqued and distressed. Decorative rosettes, lion's paw feet, reeded legs and bun feet, broken pediment arches, chamfered corners and antiqued brass hardware are some of the unifying design elements. Maple Creek is a very textural collection, contrasting "cool" materials with the warmth of solid maple. The Pediment Sideboard, for example, features faux marble top insets and a glass shelf-plus it's designed to accommodate the wrought-iron-and-wood Ironsmith Hutch. This collection is also very diverse, a fact which may be best illustrated by a survey of its beds. Maple Creek offers four: the Jenny Lind-inspired Somerset Bed, the curvaceous Lafayette Sleigh Bed, the graceful Sienna Poster Bed and the stalwart Pediment Bed. "Each of these beds has a very distinct look," Stilwell agrees. "The style a homeowner chooses will determine the personality of her entire bedroom. Together, the Maple Creek beds are something of a history lesson-each is inspired by a classic design from a different era. For all its nostalgic influences, Maple Creek doesn't neglect the needs of modern life. The graceful Home Off ice Center is designed to accommodate all the bells and whistles of the computer age-it even features such unexpected extras as a built-in diskette holder and a bulletin board. "The entire Kimball Home line is based on the fact that people want furniture they can really live with," says Sales and Marketing Director Robert Cribbs. -It has to make their lives easier. Maple Creek is certainly designed to do that, plus it has a unique look that will appeal to a lot of people. Retailers who got a preview of this collection have been thrilled. No doubt about it-this furniture is going to sell." "Creating these designs for Kimball Home has been very exciting," says the 52-year-old president of Stilwell Associates, Inc. in Lenoir, NC. "I'm very proud of Kimball's success and growth. They challenge and inspire me; professional relationships like this keep me on the cutting edge of furniture design." Stilwell earned his architectural applied science degree in 1965 from Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC. Since that time, he has enjoyed a multifaceted career. For more information contact Kimball at rcribbs@kimball.com