Giftware giant Crazy Mountain is readying its first home decor line, licensed with celebrated artist Jim Shore.

Shore, known best for his work with Enesco and appearances on QVC, will put his mark on about 300 pieces of home decor, including accent furniture, lamps, wall decor, candleholders and more. The products will debut during the summer markets of 2008, but the company has leased a showroom in Building A of the Las Vegas World Market Center for the upcoming January show as a way of introducing Shore and the collection to the home furnishings side of the business.

“Before we can begin to sell, we need to make sure that the home accents industry gets to know Jim,” said Randy Eller, chairman of Crazy Mountain. “We want to give them a feel for where the line is headed and what it's going to be.”

The line will include six collections, with themes including farmhouse, retreat, wine country and country manor.

“My products reflect my version of folk art,” Shore told Home Accents Today. “It's a style of art that I have always gravitated to. I love folk art because it's real Americana. It has an innocent honesty that you don't find in other areas of the artistic realm. There's sort of a primitive side — an unpolished side — that I think gives it a real charm.”

Shore said he was ready to pursue home accents as a natural extension of his art and his work in the gift business.

“The folks at Crazy Mountain were the perfect ones to get in league with on this project because of Randy Eller and his extreme experience in the industry,” he said.

Eller said Crazy Mountain, which has a license with Shore for candle warmers, decided to enter the home business because of the consumer success for Jim Shore products, which are projected to top $180 million at retail in 2007.

“Clearly, this opportunity is driven by the talent, reputation and success of Jim Shore,” he said. “It is, I truly believe, the best of times as far as licensed artists go — in both gift and home, licensed collections are driving the business. Licensed product is extremely hot right now. And there is no bigger brand than Jim Shore.”

Shore said the line would reflect his passion for Americana and country-influenced design.

“The design motif of the collection really speaks of country in all its iterations — from primitive to upscale colonial,” he said. “I like country, and the people who like my line are people who like the country flavor in their decorating,” he said, noting that he and his wife decorate and collect art that reflects this affection for country styling. “I'm not just in it to exploit it. I'm in it because I genuinely like it.”

Eller said the new designs would be very distinct from Shore's existing designs in giftware and other categories.

“In the giftable items, Jim's art tends to cover the entire item,” Eller said. “In home decor, we wanted to use specific pieces of home decor and accent them with Jim's art so you could definitely tell it's a Jim Shore signature piece. The result has been very positive, resulting in home decor pieces that are traditional in style, but with the added bonus of Jim Shore art being integral to the item.”

Shore said some of his favorite pieces include a multi-tiered, wall-mount pewter rack that incorporates nine painted plates “that mimic a nine-piece quilt.” He said he is also excited about some coat rack, planter, clock, leather wall-hanging, candle and lamp designs in the collection.

“It's a wide-ranging first offering,” he said. “It covers most of the bases and gives us a good base to build on.”

Shore's existing licenses with Enesco and Manual Woodworkers & Weavers, among others, will remain in place, he said, adding that he hoped to create an entire lifestyle brand by creating complementary lines across his licensees.

“Jim is already such an established artist in the consumer's mind,” Eller said. “We are not talking about a new artist. There's a lot less risk involved in taking on Jim Shore because he is already such an established brand.”