History will be made in April 2023 at the spring High Point Market. I’m
referring to the debut of the impressive, educational and entertaining
American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame building. It will be a focal point
for events and a welcoming home for our industry—a place to celebrate
innovation, pay homage to our past, experience the future of home
furnishings and meet up with friends for conversation, coffee or cocktails.
Consumers will visit and a new generation of talent and leadership will be
engaged.
As part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 21, the Hall of Fame will
place objects inside a time capsule to be opened in 50 years. Another kind
of time capsule inside the building will be on display.
As I write this, 100 leather-bound volumes of Furniture World Magazine from
1904 through 1981 are on an Ashley Furniture truck en route to their new
home in the Pond Library space in the new building. Over 150,000 pages of
furniture journalism chronicle the emergence of furniture retailing and post
industrial revolution furniture manufacturing. Within the volumes are
familiar names mixed in with the stories of companies and people long
forgotten. These Furniture World editions include minutes of retail and
manufacturing association board meetings and tell stories about the rise and
fall of furniture retailers, manufacturers, furniture markets and industry
associations. The volumes will allow Hall of Fame researchers to read
reporting on the furniture industry during the great depression and through
two world wars, see vintage brand advertising and follow the evolution of
furniture styles, materials, attitudes and marketing.
We are proud to be a tiny part of this very large industry effort and hope
that you will have the opportunity to visit 311 S. Hamilton Street during
the show. For more information on what this new initiative can do for your
company and for our industry visit ww.homefurnishingshalloffame.com or “Meet
me at the Hall!”
