New Mexico – furniture?

anyone know if there are furniture companies in New Mexico, Texas or AZ? i’d love to live in the southwest one day.

anyone? I mean what about Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Gallup, Las Cruces, Santa Fe…??

Surely someone knows something…

See if it gets any bites in here.

Thanks Yo! I thought either JCPenney or Sears had a design department in Plano Texas or something. I could be mistaken.

JCP is in Texas, but as far as I know all of their private label stuff is done by whichever manufacturer builds it. Samuel Lawrence is in Phoenix, but I don’t know whether they have an in-house design staff. If they do, it’s probably one or two people. There aren’t that many furniture companies that can support a dedicated design staff of more than a couple people.

Your best bet for living in the Southwest is probably to get a freelance career going (or start your own furniture company). You can live wherever you want then.

P1 and bombay used to be in DFW.

you looking for contract, residential, or gallery?

Well mainly residential, though I want to stress that I won’t be finished with school for a couple of years at least… I just want to keep my options open and sights set on a clearer direction for where I’ll try to move upon graduating.

I remember you told me that the largest area for residential was the piedmont region, no? Any other parts of the country have a residential furniture industry?

Western michigan is great, but I think it’s better for those specializing in contract – if I’m not mistaken.

here’s how this sh1t go:

residential furniture is mainly on the coasts.

contract is concentrated in the midwest, really.

for residential, you really have to get used to sourcing overseas.

subscribe to furniture today, they send a nifty email daily with the top headlines for the residential biz.

the domestic man’f’rs are still closing factories left and right, across the board (RTA to full-build pieces). design is done here, everything else is done overseas. familiarity with can load, transit times, and shipping logistics is becoming key. it’s a matter of finding where the design centers are.

e1 e2 compliance is putting a beating on everyone not using solid wood. the canadians are doing well in this aspect because of gov’t subsidies. and a strond CDN dollar.

thanks kung fu for the furniture today tip.

can you elaborate on e1 e2 compliance please?

quick rundown:

california and europe no longer accept furnishings made with PB or MDF that use a formaldehyde glue to hold the slurry together. the boards that comply are called E1 and E2. a bit more expensive.

this is a really well done blog about this and sustainability in furnishings. i know this person. good read:

http://easygoinggreenbiz.blogspot.com/