Danny Davis Honored as 2018 Luminary Award Winner

Furniture World News Desk on 10/6/2018

The IFDA recently announced that longtime High Point furniture company owner Danny Davis is the recipient of the 2018 IFDA Luminary Award. Given annually by the Carolinas Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA), the award honors a home furnishings industry icon whose innovative work has significantly furthered or promoted the home or décor industries and whose personal endeavors enrich the lives of others.

Davis, president of Davis Furniture Industries, Inc., will be honored during the 8th annual Night of Luminaries celebration dinner on Wednesday, November 7, in High Point.  Event tickets are $50 per person or $400 for a table of eight. Reservations are accepted online through November 2.

Also honored at this event are the industry’s Rising Stars, senior-level undergraduates selected by their colleges or universities across North and South Carolina as their most outstanding home furnishings or design student. These young people represent all facets of design, including furniture design, industrial design and interior design.  Each student will choose one recent project that best exemplifies his or her work and design philosophy. The projects will be displayed at a special cocktail reception held in their honor before the awards dinner.

“We’re delighted to continue to celebrate and reward the individuals who make such enormous contributions to our industry,” said Holly D. Barker-Woodward, Carolinas IFDA chapter president. “Since 1975, Danny Davis has been a part of the furniture landscape in High Point. His commitment to design has produced office and executive furniture whose contemporary design combines quality and function.”

Davis received an associate’s degree in 1973 from Wingate College, and a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from N.C. State University in 1975. That same year, in December, he joined Davis Furniture, the third generation to join the family business.

In 1944, Davis’ grandfather, John T. Davis, Sr., founded Davis Upholstery Company in High Point. The company’s first focus was on upholstery repair work. In 1947, the company began manufacturing institutional lounge seating, in addition to the repair work on which the business was built. But by the mid-1950s, the days of reupholstery work were a thing of the past, so the business refocused its efforts on the manufacturing of new institutional furniture.

In the 1950s, the company found its niche with colleges and universities up and down the East Coast. For the next 25 years, the emphasis would be on durable, attractive pieces for university environments. In 1964, the company was renamed Davis Furniture Industries, Inc. During the 1970s, a new approach toward manufacturing office and executive furniture began to take shape.

Davis Furniture Industries is an industry leader in design and overall quality. The corporate slogan which signifies Davis’ marketing and product strategy is clear: “Design is a choice.”

Davis best explains this philosophy:

We have a saying here at Davis, “‘It’s all about the product, and the product is about design,’” he says. “At Davis, with every product we bring to the drawing table, the focus is always about design: the aesthetics of the design, the function of the design, and the value of the design. This is what our customers look to Davis to offer them.”

Davis and his wife, Karen, have two children, Ashley and Brian, who represent the fourth generation of the family to join the company. The couple has two grandchildren, Davis Williams and Emma Davis.

Davis is an active board member of the Small Manufacturer's Round Table and participates in many local business and charitable organizations. He is a trustee of Wingate University, and serves on several local boards: High Point YMCA, Bienenstock Furniture Library, and Salvation Army of High Point.

The Carolinas Chapter of the International Furnishings and Design Association congratulates Danny Davis on receiving its most coveted award.

The Night of Luminaries celebration dinner will be held at High Point Country Club, 800 Country Club Drive, High Point, beginning with the Rising Star cocktail reception at 5 pm, and dinner at 6 pm. Reservations are required and the public is cordially invited.

More about IFDA: Founded in 1948, IFDA began with its stated goals to “increase the prestige and broaden the potentialities of the women in the industry; to bring together women in related fields to exchange ideas; to meet established professional women through lectures, forums and other programming; and to offer opportunities and training for members and others who would like to advance themselves through clinics and scholarships." Through the years, IFDA grew to include men, build a powerful philanthropic arm, and reach members across the globe.  Their mission to bring prestige and professionalism to its members and to the home furnishings world continues to resonate now more than 68 years later.

The Carolinas Chapter IFDA is based in High Point and boasts members from virtually every facet of our industry—manufacturing, marketing, sales, design, supplier/vendor, retail, education, product development, and more.  Members of the Carolinas Chapter regularly serve as officers of the International organization and its philanthropy, IFDA Educational Foundation.