What is Accent Furniture And Why Should You Care?

Furniture World Magazine

Accent furniture is a tiny blip – if a blip at all – on most home-furnishings consumers’ radar screens – though, ironically, some of the brightest spots in many of their homes are pieces of accent furniture. They just don’t know it. Even insiders, those who make their living in the industry, don’t have top-of-mind-awareness of accent furniture. They usually design, manufacture, sell, buy, write about or photograph Case Goods, Upholstery, Leather and Occasional. Or maybe they work with Juvenile, RTA and Accessories. Accent, if it appears at all, is often lumped in with Occasional. But Accent is definitely NOT Occasional – never has been, never will be. Clearly, accent furniture has an identity crisis on its hands. Realizing that solving this crisis would bring housefuls of happiness to millions of Americans while generating substantially more business for thousands of retailers and interior designers, Butler Specialty Company has decided to step up and carry the accent furniture banner. Chicago-based Butler, which produces America’s largest line of accent furniture, has assumed the lead first in defining heretofore elusive accent furniture as a bonafide home- furnishings category; and second, in raising awareness about the category throughout the industry and the broader public. “Accent furniture, when done well, creates the brightest spots in the home,” says Dan Sumner, Butler vice president of sales and marketing. “It’s fun. It creates a new focal point. It gets attention. It gives consumers an opportunity to change the character and quality of a room by adding a piece or two, not refurnishing the entire space.” OK… so what is it? 1) Accent furniture celebrates individualism. It doesn’t want to match. It is openly contemptuous of cliques. It doesn’t run in groups, sets or suites. It stands apart, not in pairs. This individualistic trait distinguishes accent from occasional furniture, which is designed to blend in and match. Occasional is typically tables – two end tables, a cocktail table and a sofa table that match. Again, accent eschews such clubyness. 2) Accent furniture is bold. It can be loud. It definitely commands attention. It’s often colorful, or crafted from unusual materials, or both. 3) Accent furniture is fun. You play games on it… store your favorite wine in it… pull a favorite piece of jewelry from its hidden drawers… write a love note on its drop-down desktop or display a special collection of books on its shimmering shelves. 4) Accent furniture fills nooks and crannies. It looks perfect in that corner or at the top of the stairs where nothing else will fit. 5) Accent furniture is art. It is unique. It is sometimes hand painted. Like a fine painting, it may coordinate with the sofa fabric, or it may not. Either way, it looks great and gets noticed. 6) Accent furniture includes chests, tables, benches, chairs, game tables, console cabinets, secretaries, wardrobes, bars, entertainment centers, headboards, fireplace screens, desks, pedestals, mirrors and globes. At Butler, accent furniture is designed to be brightest spots in rooms throughout the home. These brightest spots are crafted from solid woods and veneers with exquisite inlays, marquetry and fossil stone. Many pieces feature authentic hand painting. Others are made from an array of exotic materials in inspired combinations of fossil stone, seashells, woven bacbac rope, Mindanao twigs, hand-hammered brass and various metals, bamboo inlays, cane, cogon flower inlays, rattan, and cocoa bark. Butler, which produces exclusively accent furniture, will celebrate its 75th birthday next year. This Chicago business, founded by two men in 1930, is managed today by second and third generations. It has been specializing in accent furniture longer than any other company in America, currently featuring more than 700 items that don’t match each other, that are fun, that fill nooks and crannies, and that function as art in many homes. Butler IS accent furniture.