Kindel Furniture Renews Relationship with Beacon Hill

Furniture World Magazine

Robert Allen|Beacon Hill, the showroom subsidiary of The Robert Allen Group, will begin selling high-end furniture manufactured by the Kindel Furniture Co. in late fall in its 14 showrooms in major metropolitan areas of the United States. The renewed relationship with Beacon Hill means that Kindel Furniture will have permanent displays and increase its market presence in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Washington D.C. , Philadelphia, Dallas, Dania Beach, Fla., Westbury, N.Y. and Troy, Mich. “We are very pleased to re-establish our relationship with Beacon Hill, which has a sterling reputation among interior designers for offering exemplary service and selection in luxury furniture, fabrics and softgoods,” Kindel President Jonathan Smith said. “Our renewed relationship means that interior designers and their clients in America’s major cities can become acquainted with Kindel furniture more conveniently.” Steven Avitable, OVP Furniture merchandising for The Robert Allen Group in New York City, said his company believes the addition of the Kindel line will offer interior designers a wider range of furniture selections to suit the tastes of their clients. The addition of the Kindel line is consistent with the overall strategy of The Robert Allen Group to expand the market presence of Beacon Hill as a multi-faceted home furnishings resource, Avitable said. “Our customers in the interior design trade appreciate the type of quality and craftsmanship that is the hallmark of Kindel furniture,” Avitable said. “We are pleased to have re-established our relationship.” Beacon Hill carried the Kindel line from 1992 until 2003 when the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based manufacturer moved into different channels of distribution for its authentic reproductions and historically based designs of the 18th and 19th centuries, its original designs from the legendary interior designer, Dorothy Draper, and furniture based on designs from a licensed program with Mount Vernon, the ancestral home of George Washington. Amy Wolbert, director of marketing for Kindel, said her company hosted corporate and showroom managers from Robert Allen|Beacon Hill at the Grand Rapids plant in June and July to select furniture pieces and fabrics that would resonate in their markets. Kindel expects to start shipping those selections to Beacon Hill showrooms in late fall. Wolbert said her company was thrilled to re-establish its relationship with Beacon Hill because Kindel represents a line of furniture that is unique and complementary to the fabrics, hardware, drapery treatments and softgoods sold by the other Robert Allen companies in design centers. Established in 1901, Kindel employs about 100 people including hand carvers, decorators and other skilled craftsmen at its 170,000-square-foot facility in Grand Rapids. The company recently signed a contract with a major Japanese retailer of high-end furniture to sell Kindel furniture in that country, and it has launched a program called ReNew that refurbishes older pieces of Kindel furniture using the same time-honored techniques in the same Grand Rapids location as when they were first manufactured. Kindel has exclusive rights to reproduce the furniture for The Winterthur Museum, which is the estate of Henry Francis du Pont in Winterthur, Del., and the premier museum of decorative arts in the nation . More information is available on Kindel Furniture at the company’s web site at www.kindelfurniture.com and on Robert Allen | Beacon Hill at www.robertallendesign.com.