SCAD furniture design department to host industry Summit

Jenny Heinzen York will speak on design panel

Home Accents Today Staff -- Home Accents Today, 4/20/2011 1:37:33 PM

SAVANNAH, Georgia --The Savannah College of Art and Design's furniture design department will host a university-sponsored furniture industry conference, "Furniture Design Summit 2011: Re-Defining American Design," May 9-10 at SCAD Savannah. The American Society of Furniture Designers and Metropolis magazine are partnering with SCAD for the summit.

The Summit aims to bring designers and manufacturers together to discuss the present and future of the furniture industry.

"SCAD is proud to bring to Savannah cutting-edge thinkers to exchange ideas and plan for the future of this multi-million dollar industry," said Antonio Larosa, chair of SCAD's furniture design department. "Our students will also have the great opportunity to experience the summit firsthand, which will give them one-of-a-kind career preparation."

The summit begins on Monday, May 9 with individual presentations from Gregg Buchbinder, owner and CEO of Emeco; Jay Reardon, president of Hickory Chair; and Alan Heller, founder and president of Heller Inc. The day will close with a keynote panel with Buchbinder, Reardon and Heller, moderated by Metropolis editor-in-chief Susan Szenasy. Day two, Tuesday, May 10, will begin with individual talks from designer, author and filmmaker Eames Demetrios and Szenasy, followed by a closing panel with Demetrios; Jenny Heinzen York, editor-in-chief of Home Accents Today; and SCAD's Larosa, also moderated by Szenasy. All events will take place at SCAD's River Club, 3 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in Savannah.

"Furniture design and manufacturing, like every other human endeavor in an age of climate change, is experiencing major reassessments by all its protagonists," said Szenasy. "From the safety and efficiency of manufacturing to facilities, to how marketers sell new products to whom, to the kinds of research that needs to upgrade the industry, to how design students learn what's coming, the SCAD furniture design summit promises to put a spotlight on these and other pressing questions. I'm eagerly anticipating what will be seen and heard there. And I can't wait to engage speakers, guests, faculty and students in my role as moderator."

For more information or to register, click here.

http://www.scad.edu/furniture-design/index.cfm