Francesco Molon Retains Renown Designer Leo Dowell To Create Global Furnishings Design Initiative

Furniture World Magazine

Woods Dixon, North American Sales and Marketing Director for Italian furniture manufacturer Francesco Molon, announced that respected interior designer Leo Dowell has been selected to conceive and implement an evolutionary design strategy for the company. Initial projects include the development of a signature line of fine upholstery and the interior design of Francesco Molon’s High Point showroom. Both will be introduced during the April International Home Furnishings Market in High Point. Said Dixon, “Francesco Molon is committed to building its global brand as a leader in the manufacture and design of superior quality furniture in the classical European style. Dowell’s extraordinary creativity and accomplishments in this genre will coordinate well with our evolving marketing and branding strategies and complement the design leadership we have enjoyed for nearly forty years.” Dowell, who is president of Leo Dowell Interiors in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been recognized by major interior design and home furnishings publications for his visionary residential work featuring classic country Italian and French décor. Dowell is a total concept designer, he creates one of a kind French chateaus and Italian villas for an elite clientele. Dowell’s new signature upholstery line will reinterpret classical European upholstery styles within the context of today’s plush American cushion technologies. Francesco Molon’s High Point showroom interior will be redecorated in the style of a luxurious Italian Villa. Dowell’s plans call for a decidedly residential feel to be produced in the Hamilton Street showroom, to enable designer and retail buyers to more easily visualize how Francesco Molon home furnishings will look in clients’ homes. According to Dowell, “My work for Francesco Molon will bridge the gap between classical European style and today’s modern lifestyle. We will blend Francesco Molon’s unequaled old world quality and craftsmanship with twenty-first century engineering and materials to yield extraordinary home furnishings collections. Authentic European design is beautiful, but to be completely appreciated it must be livable according to today’s standards.” Francesco Molon began in 1966 with a commitment to the revival of furniture artistry in classical European style. Today this ideal is masterfully accomplished by highly skilled European artisans using premium materials, and time-honored craftsmanship. Francesco Molon manufacturers a complete line of fine furniture, upholstery, and architectural elements for the residential, commercial, and hospitality markets around the world. GieMme Stile S.p.A. is a family-owned business headquartered in Romano d’Ezzelino, Italy with offices and showrooms in The United States, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. offices are located at: 502 North Hamilton Street, High Point NC 27262. GieMme is on the web at www.giemme-stile.it. Kincaid Furniture, a leader in solid wood case goods and custom upholstery, has added a consumer-friendly, interactive feature to its website. The new, easy-to-use room planner provides a helpful design tool for the furniture buying public and Kincaid’s extensive network of dealers. “Consumers will like that there’s no registration requirement and its ease of use. Though it’s primarily a consumer-based tool, we see limitless opportunities for our individual retailers to utilize it in their stores. Of course the biggest benefit to the consumer is the ability to plan an entire room accurately before the furniture is purchased and delivered,” says Jason Summers, Director of Advertising at Kincaid Furniture. The Kincaid website, www.kincaidfurniture.com, features photography from Kincaid’s various solid wood and upholstery collections, a store finder and corporate history. Located in the Design Center section of the website, the new room planner is expected to increase traffic on the site and elevate Kincaid’s brand image by offering a free, helpful service to furniture shoppers. Users begin by entering room dimensions, which brings up a matching grid with Kincaid’s new logo and colors. Four pull down menus display furniture of all shapes and sizes, including living room, dining room, bedroom and miscellaneous items such as windows, doors, lamps and even plants. Furniture silhouettes, which can be adjusted with the resizing tool to accommodate different dimensions, are placed in the room layout and can be moved freely with the mouse. A rotation tool allows rearranging and catty-cornering just as someone would in their own home—but without the sweat and backache. A print feature preserves the finished layout and allows the user to move on to the next room. The online room layout tool will eventually be added to the Kincaid Home Furnishings stores’ websites and promoted as one of the many design tools available to Kincaid customers, Summers says. Founded in 1946 by George and Wade Kincaid in Hudson, N.C., Kincaid is one of the world’s largest providers of solid wood and upholstered furniture. These products are distributed through independent retailers, dedicated galleries and a growing network of stand-alone Kincaid Home Furnishings stores. incaid Furniture Company is a subsidiary of La-Z-Boy Incorporated. For more information about Kincaid, visit www.kincaidfurniture.com.