Source Global is launching a new year-round creative center in High Point, N.C., that aims to be a global meeting place for producers and distributors of home furnishings products.

The 12,000-sq.-ft. center will open in January 2008 in Market Square and provide exhibits that showcase the factory capabilities of companies from around the world. Creative partners will feature two to three samples of their work, supported by visual displays and marketing materials, rather than full collections and lifestyle displays.

“Remote producers currently have no exhibition site and no objective meeting forum in the United States dedicated specifically to addressing the introduction process,” said Linda McLean, Source Global founder and CEO. “Domestic manufacturers and distributors currently must travel to foreign trade shows to find producers and when there, face difficult and costly decisions regarding capabilities, product development and reliability. Our goal at Source Global is to change that equation.”

The new business model will serve the needs of producers and distributors developing outsourced manufacturing relationships throughout the supply chain. Conference rooms offer videoconferencing and large-screen audio-visual capabilities and a hospitality area is provided. The center is designed to cater to a variety of industry resources, including furniture designers, customs brokers, expeditors and sales facilitators, color specialists, and suppliers of hardware, electrical, veneer and other manufacturing materials.

Unlike the majority of exhibit space at the High Point Market, which is dedicated to selling fully developed product lines to retail stores and the design trade, Source Global's creative center will cater specifically to the needs of producers and distributors looking to develop outsourced manufacturing relationships. It will present all categories of home furnishings, including dining room, bedroom, decorative and occasional furniture, accessories, lighting, rugs and specialty items.

“Industry leaders have recognized that the U.S. has become a nation of distributors in the home furnishings industry, yet we have virtually no infrastructure in place to support this new reality,” McLean said. “Our creative center is about to change all that.”

Source Global also will offer consultants with marketing, manufacturing and product development experience, who can help bring prospects together and guide producers and agents through the complex distribution paths.

“Ultimately, Source Global offers the single most important solution for producers and distributors in the furniture industry today,” McLean said. “As the first and only meeting place of its kind in the furniture industry, we will introduce quality producers from all over the world and provide the premier year-round tool for outsourced manufacturing.”