LuminOre Signs Charleston Forge as Newest Licensee

Furniture World Magazine

Changing the way the world works with metal, LuminOre Inc. announced the addition of North Carolina furniture manufacturer Charleston Forge as its newest licensee. Charleston Forge is renowned throughout the United States and the United Kingdom for its elegant, hand-wrought iron furnishings, and the exclusive agreement now brings the spectacular effects of LuminOre’s composite metal finishes to Charleston Forge dealers and other select manufacturers throughout the United States. ”We’re very proud to welcome Charleston Forge as our newest LuminOre licensee,” says Tom Valente, founder and president of LuminOre Inc. “Owners Art and Susan Barber and the entire staff at Charleston Forge have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to providing excellence in beautiful hand-forged furniture, and we’re excited to work with them in creating new, innovative pieces for their customers.” With manufacturing facilities headquartered in Boone, N.C., Charleston Forge handcrafts and manufacturers more than 300 unique products, including elegant dining tables, bakers’ racks, tables, bar stools, chairs and beds. Charleston Forge products are available through 1800 dealers in North America, and are built by skilled artisans who are committed to producing beautiful furniture which exhibits a ‘sense of hand’ that no machine can duplicate. “We use age-old blacksmithing techniques with high-quality materials, and we combine those with the newest technologies, such as LuminOre, to produce exceptional furnishings,” says Art Barber, president and CEO of Charleston Forge. “The LuminOre process is a wonderful addition to our line of fine furnishings because it enhances the combinations of materials we can use. For example, we can coat a piece of slate with copper metal and it retains the integrity and texture of slate, but it now has the look of copper, including texture, luster and heat conductivity. It’s really phenomenal.” LuminOre metal finishes can also create countless products that otherwise might be too impractical or too expensive to produce by traditional casting or forging, explains Barber. For example, furniture or other items that would be too heavy if made of solid metal can now be made with LuminOre metal finishes at a fraction of the weight and at a fraction of the cost. “We’re very excited to take our furniture to a whole new level,” adds Barber. “As the licensee for the furniture industry, Charleston Forge plans to formally introduce the patented process to other furniture manufacturers at the upcoming American Society of Woodworking and Furniture Suppliers Show in Las Vegas in July.” In addition to its use in the furniture industry, LuminOre’s patented, cold-sprayable metal finishes have been used by billion-dollar resorts such as the Wynn Las Vegas and The Bellagio, as well as motion picture set designers and special effect companies. LuminOre’s composite metals spray onto virtually any surface using conventional spray equipment, and are available in aluminum, brass, bronze, copper, iron, nickel-silver, stainless steel and other metals. LuminOre coatings withstand the harshest of environments and are anti-corrosive and non-conductive of electricity. For more information on LuminOre with regards to the furniture industry or to locate a Charleston Forge dealer, please visit www.charlestonforge.com or call Art Barber at 828.264.0100. For more information on LuminOre, visit www.luminore.com or contact Ms. Kelly Luyet at 760.597.9201.