Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409230093
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It took 18 months and the renovation of a nine-room Victorian home for Stanley Furniture to get ready for the party it threw to celebrate its Saturday Evening Post/Norman Rockwell Home Furnishings Collection.
The event was last week in Stockbridge, Mass., where artist Rockwell spent his last 25 years. It marked the Henry County furniture maker's most ambitious venture.
The Rockwell pieces represent Stanley's partnership with five other manufacturers, plus it is the wood-furniture maker's entrance into upholstered furniture.
By adding upholstered pieces to the living room, dining room, bedroom and occasional case goods that Stanley always has made, the company figures it can be more of a full-service shop for customers.
The upholstered items included in the 120-item Rockwell collection are expected to boost Stanley's annual sales by $7 million to $10 million this year, said Bill Cubberley, senior vice president of sales and marketing. The Stanleytown company's annual sales are about $185 million.
The Stockbridge party was the kickoff for what Cubberley promises will be an aggressive marketing campaign that includes production of displays for retailers, a consumer brochure and a toll-free number that consumers can use to request a brochure or get the name of a Stanley dealer.
Two major U.S. retailers - Federated Department Stores and Dillard Department Stores - advised Stanley on the Rockwell collection, have placed orders and will introduce the pieces in their stores in January, Cubberley said Wednesday.
Representatives of the two retail chains and a son of the artist whom the collection honors were among guests at the Stockbridge opening party.
By actually decorating a house, Stanley and the other companies in the project were able to show such things as beds, bedding, tables and lamps inspired by Rockwell's cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post magazine. The collection also includes clocks made by another Western Virginia company, Ridgeway Clocks, a division of Pulaski Furniture Co.
Rockwell illustrated 321 Saturday Evening Post covers that were published from 1916 to 1963. His subjects were Americans going about their daily lives. Among his more famous works are the Four Freedoms series that represented the four fundamental conditions of a democratic society as conceptualized in a 1941 speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Rockwell depicted Freedom of Speech as a man speaking at a town meeting, Freedom to Worship as people praying, Freedom From Want as a family at Thanksgiving dinner and Freedom From Fear as parents tucking their children into bed as the father holds a newspaper bearing a headline telling of bombing in Europe.
The Freedoms series was published by the Post in 1943, then sent on a nationwide tour that helped raise $132 million through sales of war bonds.
Stanley used the illustrations on a limited-production dropleaf desk made of cherry and veneers of other woods. The first desk to be manufactured was given to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Desks numbered 2, 3 and 4 were presented to Rockwell's sons, Tom, Jarvis and Peter. Peter Rockwell, who lives in Rome, accepted the desks during the New England event.
The Massachusetts party got Stanley coverage in national publications like USA Today. Better Homes & Gardens magazine is to feature the collection in its April 1995 issue.
The furniture is being shown this week at what the furniture industry calls "pre-market," where major retailers are invited to manufacturers' showrooms in High Point, N.C. They get to preview collections that will be introduced to a broader audience during the International Home Furnishings Market, which opens Oct. 20.Manufacturers like Stanley have year-round showrooms in buildings in the High Point area, which is host to spring and fall wholesale markets.
Stanley has been able to get more distributors for the Rockwell pieces during pre-market, Cubberley said from the High Point showroom.
The Rockwell name is "a great marketing handle, plus this is good, liveable furniture," Cubberley said.
Other companies participating in the Rockwell collection, in addition to Ridgeway, are Capel Inc., a Troy, N.C., rug manufacturer; Carole Fabics of Augusta, Ga.; Palecek, an accessory company in Richmond, Calif.; and Sedgefield by Adams, a High Point lighting company.
by CNB