Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
July 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Legal on July 6, 2011
A filing by the U.S. Department of Justice in a civil case over illegal wood against Gibson Guitar lays out details of its case, according to the Environmental Investigations Agency.
In November 2009, agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service searched the Tennessee manufacturing facility of Gibson Guitar as part of an investigation under the Lacey Act into the use of endangered rosewood from Madagascar. That search represented the first use of a 2008 amendment to the Lacey Act prohibiting trade in illegally sourced wood products. The Lacey Act is a 100-year-old statute that restricts traffic in illegally harvested species.
The June 4 filing by DOJ prosecutors filing to strike claims by Gibson and wood supplier Theodore Nagel stated: "Gibson sourced its unfinished ebony wood in the form of blanks (for use in the manufacture of fingerboards for Gibson guitars) from Nagel (in Germany), which obtained it exclusively from Roger Thunam (a supplier in Madagascar). Madagascar prohibits the harvest of ebony wood as well as the exportation of unfinished ebony wood."
The filing also referred to internal Gibson e-mails: "[A] Gibson employee¦wrote that '[t]he true Ebony species preferred by Gibson Musical Instruments is found only in Madagascar (Diospryos perrieri). This is a slow-growing tree species with very little conservation protection and supplies are considered to be highly threatened in its native environment due to over exploitation.' In fact, [he] spent two and a half weeks in Madagascar this June [2008],' writing on his return, 'I represented our company along with two other guitar manufacturers ... All legal timber and wood exports are prohibited because of wide spread corruption and theft of valuable woods like rosewood and ebony.'"
"On February 25, 2009, in a reference to the potential long term solution, [he] wrote¦that the company Maderas Barber has been in the business a long time and may be able to help begin some legitimate harvests. Mr. [Roger] Thunam on the other hand should now be able to supply Nagel with all the rosewood and ebony for the grey market.'"
At stake in the upcoming court decision is the prosecution's assertion that Gibson and Nagel do not have legal "standing" to claim ownership over the seized ebony because it is contraband, or inherently illegal to possess, "both because it was unfinished wood and because Claimants' source for ebony in Madagascar was not authorized to sell it."
The court is now being asked to determine whether to strike the companies' claims for this reason.
July 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Accessories on July 6, 2011
World Market Center Las Vegas will welcome more than 75 new Gift+Home temporary exhibitors for Summer 2011 Las Vegas Furniture Market.
The Gift+Home lineup including some of the most recognizable names in the gift industry such as Ty Inc., Precious Moments through The Alliance Group, Webkinz by Ganz, Aurora World, Bearington Collection, Trollbeads, and Jelly Belly. These temporary exhibitors join a lineup of permanent Gift+Home tenants, including the debut of OneCoast and Imagine That!, representing more than 60 new lines this summer.
"We're thrilled to welcome this lineup to our August market," said Robert Maricich, chief executive officer of International Market Centers, parent company of World Market Center Las Vegas. "Our momentum continues to build as more exhibitors choose to make Gift+Home at Las Vegas Market their home on the West Coast."
Click here to read the full release, which includes new and returning temporary exhibitors for Gift+Home.
July 5,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on July 6, 2011
Home Furnishings Business is currently accepting submissions for the Showtime product section in the August issue, which will be distributed at the
Las Vegas Market.
Product vendors interested in participating should send quality, digital images of products to be displayed at next month's market via
e-mail to Sheila Long O'Mara by Friday, July 8. Images should be in either JPEG or TIFF format with a resolution of 300 dpi or higher.
Be sure to include company name, contact name, Las Vegas showroom location and company Web site in the e-mail.
July 4,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on July 5, 2011
Cardi's Furniture is running a month-long promotion promising free furniture for a White Christmas.
The Braintree, Mass.-based furniture retailer followed up a half-off July 4 sale on Simmons Beautyrest Mattresses by offering customers who buy furniture during July all their purchase for free should it snow five inches or more this Christmas Day. Even if the Christmas snow fails to fall, customers still will receive 20 percent back for a future purchase.
For additional information, contact Cardis at (508) 379-7510 or visit the Cardi's Furniture Web site.
Cardi's has 21 furniture stores in New England.
July 4,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on July 5, 2011
Bernhardt Furniture has promoted two executives, Harland Dick and Roger Turnbow, and hired Marc Abrams in key management roles.
Dick is now executive vice president of upholstery, a position formerly held by Frank Cooper, who recently left the company. He will oversee all areas of the company's Upholstery Division. Dick joined Bernhardt in 2002 to oversee its leather business. Under his leadership, Bernhardt's leather program has seen double digit growth in the past 12 months.
Turnbow now is vice president of upholstery merchandising. He recently rejoined the company as director of residential upholstery merchandising. Turnbow will oversee the overall design and merchandising direction for the division. Turnbow worked for Bernhardt from 2000 to 2004 and came back with a wealth of experience in both manufacturing and retail.
Abrams, who came to Lenoir, N.C.-based Bernhardt from Wynwood Furniture, where he was vice president of sales, has joined the company as vice president of Residential Upholstery Sales. He will oversee the sales efforts of the sales force and work with key customers.
Dick will report to Alex Bernhardt Jr., president of Bernhardt Residential, and Turnbow and Abrams will report to Dick.
"I am very excited about working with this team to reach our long term strategic objectives," Bernhardt said. "They have the ability to significantly increase sales and profitability by better serving our customers, by fine tuning our product assortment and by capitalizing on the position we currently maintain in the marketplace."