Kindel Furniture Names Jay Paschall Vice President

Furniture World Magazine

Kindel Furniture Co. named Jay Paschall to the newly created position of vice president of new product development and global sales to accelerate penetration into high-end furniture markets worldwide. Paschall, 46, has served in a number of capacities in the fine furniture industry ranging from executive management to marketing and sales positions during the past 23 years. Most recently, he served as an executive with the Sherrill Furniture Co. in Hickory, N.C. “Jay has extensive experience in the merchandising and marketing aspects of launching product lines that will greatly assist us as we serve new customers in Japan, Russia and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East,” Kindel President and CEO Jonathan Smith said. “We are very pleased to have someone with Jay’s wide-ranging experience on our team as we enter this exciting phase of Kindel Furniture’s history.” “This is a wonderful time to be joining the Kindel team,” Paschall said. “Our company is listening to existing and prospective customers about how they want to use quality furniture in everyday life. As we learn, Kindel will apply its know-how and experience in making the highest quality furniture in the world to developing new products that are entirely relevant to our customers.” Before his tenure at Sherrill Furniture, Paschall served as director of new product development and merchandising at Baker, Knapp and Tubbs in Hildebran, N.C. for three years when he developed product lines of furniture and accessories, managed outside designer and licensee relationships, and directed merchandising for company-owned showrooms and stores. Prior to his time at Baker, Paschall held several positions during a five-year period at the Hickory Chair Co. in Hickory, N.C. where he oversaw the development of wood furniture from initial concept to product introduction, was responsible for producing the company’s catalog and price lists, and managed sales territories throughout the United States. From 1984 to 1998, he held several positions in the sales department at the Baker Furniture Co. when it was headquartered in Grand Rapids. Paschall holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering-furniture manufacturing and management from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. Established in 1901, Kindel Furniture employs more than 130 people including hand carvers, decorators and other skilled craftsmen at its 170,000-square-foot factory and headquarters in Grand Rapids. The company recently signed a contract with Sala Azabu, one of the largest retailers of high-end furniture in Japan, to sell Kindel furniture in that country. Kindel Furniture also recently re-established a relationship with Robert Allen|Beacon Hill, which will display Kindel furniture in showrooms 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. Last week, the company formally launched a program called ReNew that refurbishes older pieces of Kindel furniture using many of the same time-honored techniques at the same Grand Rapids location as when they were first manufactured. Kindel Furniture 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. Known for its authentic reproductions and historically based designs of the 18th and 19th centuries, Kindel Furniture also produces 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. For more information on Paschall’s appointment, please contact Matthew Gryczan at Seyferth Spaulding Tennyson Inc. at gryczan@seyferthpr.com or phone (616) 776-3511. More information is available on Kindel Furniture at the company’s website at www.kindelfurniture.com.