Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
IFDA Awards Grant to Hall of Fame Foundation
November 2,
2020 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
“There were many talented applicants from across the country. The judges were challenged,” said Joyce Poynton, FIFDA, director of Scholarships and Grants. It is one of just five grants awarded by the IFDA’s Educational Foundation Board of Trustees.
“This grant is earmarked specifically for the preservation of some 2,000 pieces of rare and irreplaceable memorabilia, including original drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright, sketches from Mary Webb Wood, and original sales catalogs from the 19th century,” says Dr. Kyle Hughes, historian for the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame. “It is also the goal of the Hall of Fame to make sure that our collections are available to the public and to scholars and designers. We are prioritizing purchasing equipment and materials that will allow us to preserve, as well as exhibit and study, our industry’s historical collection in our new permanent home.”
The American Home Furnishing Hall of Fame Foundation’s new home in the heart of High Point Market will be a world-class gathering space for the industry and outside events, as well as a museum-quality facility with permanent and traveling exhibits, set to open in 2022. The IFDA grant will be used for specialized archival-grade storage mediums and monitoring equipment, as well as a flat-file storage system for documents, such as blueprints and design drawings, which both extends their lifespan and can be easily used as a reference resource.
“The American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame is the only organization in the United States that is dedicated to the history, achievements and future of the home furnishings industry in all of its many aspects, from initial design through manufacture to sales and shipping,” Hughes said. “It is a celebration of a centuries-long tradition, and properly cared-for, its collections will be an invaluable resource for scholars, designers, other industry members, and the wider public for generations to come. We are grateful to IFDA for its support in helping us preserve our industry’s history.”