The Merchandise Mart, the world’s largest commercial building and epicenter of fine design, announced that in the coming months a thoughtful reconfiguration of the Mart’s casual outdoor furnishing floors will commence, offering designers and buyers a more enjoyable, seamless experience while shopping the superb showroom offerings.

Currently shoppers must visit casual/outdoor furnishing tenants, many of whom are intermixed with different industries, on floors 15, 16 and 17 in The Mart. By consolidating these showrooms to floors 15 and 16, a casual furnishings destination will be created, helping to re‐energize this already vibrant industry.

“The co‐location of the casual/outdoor furnishing showrooms…

Z-Line Designs, a leading manufacturer of contemporary home office and home entertainment furniture products, has named Justin Smith as vice president of sales for its newly established leather furniture division. Smith will oversee the launch of the company’s leather furniture line at this month’s High Point Market.

Smith joins Z-Line Designs with a 15-year track record in the leather industry. Most recently he was vice president of Le Noir Leather/Davis Direct Furniture, where he was involved in development, sourcing, design, and sales. Prior to that, he held positions with Natuzzi and Leather Trend.

“When we decided to enter the leather…

Z-Line Designs is launching full steam ahead into the casual market – with an expanded casual furniture line designed to fill the need for high-quality styling targeting mid-range pricing. The company will present the complete line at this month’s High Point Market, as well as in Chicago at the ICFA Preview Show in July and the International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market in September.

“Full-line furniture and specialty retailers have responded very well to the quality, styling, and price points of our new casual furniture,” says Mark Gorr, senior vice president of Z-Line’s casual furniture division. “That response translated to…

SAN RAMON, CA. Apr. 9, 2012 – Z-Line Designs, a leading manufacturer of high-quality, fashionable home office and home entertainment furniture, is extending its renowned design expertise to the leather category, as it unveils a striking new line of leather seating at this month’s High Point Market. The new collection will be presented in Z-Line’s permanent High Point showroom at 220 Elm, Space 206.

Z-Line Designs’ leather furniture spans the full range of seating from sofas and sectionals to recliners and chairs, and features styles ranging from contemporary to traditional. The line is being offered as a good/better/best program, with…

in insulated drinkware since 1946, has announced the promotion of Richard Kaplan to president and chief brand officer. Board member Patrick Redmond was also recently named president and CEO.

Norbert Donelly, owner, says, “At Tervis, we put a strong emphasis on bringing in top-notch talent to elevate the company. It’s talented people such as Rich and Pat who will continue to lead Tervis on a path of strategic growth.”

Talented employees are making quite an impact at Tervis; the company has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. The familyowned business has grown from just 200 employees a few…

The nation’s leading event for the hospitality industry is back in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference (HD Expo) will take over the bustling strip from May 15 through 17, 2012. The three-day event will allow attendees to gain insight into industry trends while learning how to maintain success in the ever-evolving and ultracompetitive world of hospitality design. Led by industry experts, the show will feature idea-generating educational sessions, an intimate awards ceremony, and special events focused on the latest and most innovative products and services.

Liz Sommerville, group show director for The Hospitality Design…

In celebration of the company’s milestone 85th anniversary, Couristan conducted a grand-prize raffle at the Surfaces show (held January 23–26 in Las Vegas, Nevada), with two lucky customers winning an all-inclusive trip to their choice of two four-star tropical beach resorts. Picked in a random drawing from hundreds of entries, Couristan’s winners are Matt Lund of Foremost Interiors (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Jan Mink of KL Mink and Sons, operator of the Fine Rug Gallery at Macy’s (New York, New York).

Both Lund and Mink will receive a four-day, three-night trip for two to their choice of the…

Richey Industries, Inc., has introduced a new website focusing on the company’s Great American Woodies casual-furniture collections. The website can be searched based on furniture type (seating, tables and groupings, or swings and A-frames) or by collection (Southern Cypress, Cottage Classics, Western Red Cedar, Lifestyle Poly-Resin). Each page highlighting a specific type of furniture can be viewed as one long scrolling page, or it can be searched by collection.

On each collection page, the entire collection can be viewed at once, or it can be viewed based on each of the three types of furniture. The website also offers…