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From Home Furnishing Business

Furniture Library to Break Ground on Plaxico Gardens

July 3, 2013  by Home Furnishing Business in Industry, Store Openings   

Work will begin on the gardens this fall, named in honor of Pat Plaxico--a long-time Library board member who has a distinguished history of service to the furnishings community--and be ready for dedication in the spring of 2014. 

“It is our way of saying thank you to Pat for her efforts and to celebrate her contributions in a way that is relevant and meaningful,” said Charles Sutton, president of the Library’s Board of Directors.

Plaxico is a nationally recognized interior designer renowned for the reuse of historic buildings, adapting old structures for new purposes. Her portfolio includes Historic Market Square, the EJ Victor building, the Phillips Building (now High Point Convention and Visitors Bureau) and the Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library.

“I've been a member of the Furniture Library board for 38 years," she said. "Working on the recent restoration and renovation of the library was a real treat. This gardens and grounds project will further enhance the property--and invoke the interests and passions of the Library’s founders. The main street location will be an oasis of beauty and respite, a gathering place, and a destination for learning in the uptown area of High Point."

Greensboro-based landscape architect and garden designer Sally Pagliai created the design and has been retained to install the project. She has fashioned gardens throughout the United States and Italy, including many in North Carolina.

“Gardens are lasting monuments to the human spirit and are an integral part to the promise of a beautiful home," she said. "They are personal sanctuaries of calm in a stressful world.”

Philip Gibbs, senior art director at Alderman Company worked with Plaxico and Pagliai to create renderings to help visualize what the gardens will look like at maturity.

“The Gardens will be a wonderful place for students, designers, and all visitors with an interest in design, can find inspiration," said Board of Directors Vice President Russ Bienenstock . "The landscaping plan will make the Library more visible from Main Street, which will increase traffic and usage of the library’s resources. The gardens, as is the Library, will be open to the public and will help to encourage research, collaboration and scholarship. They will also make the Library more versatile for events during and between furniture markets.”