ASFD Now Accepting Submissions for the 2009 Pinnacle Awards

Furniture World Magazine

The American Society of Furniture Designers announced that it is now accepting submissions for the 2009 Pinnacle™ Awards. The Annual Pinnacle™ Awards dinner each Fall High Point Market honors the manufacturers and designers who strive for aesthetic and functional product innovation. Celebrating its 14th year, the Pinnacle™ Awards are the Home Furnishings Industry equivalent of the Academy Awards honoring excellence in design. Pinnacle™ Award finalists and winners are recognized industry wide for their stylish and innovative designs. Furniture designer Katie Hatch, ASFD Vice-President and Chair of the 2009 Pinnacles™ references a recent article of Business Week entitled Creative and Innovation Driving Business. “Innovation today is ‘much more than new products.’ Innovation is also “reinventing business processes and building entirely new markets that meet untapped customer needs…. Innovation is then “selecting and executing the right ideas and bringing them to market in record time.” She asserts “I strongly believe that through support of innovative design we can make breakthroughs similar to the I-Pod and which will revitalize our industry similar to the astronomical success of the Ipod for Apple. The Pinnacle™ Awards really celebrate and promote companies that strive for this kind of innovation.” Open worldwide to any designer or manufacturer, the Pinnacle™ Awards are not limited to ASFD members. The deadline for submissions is June 1st. Finalists will be announced in a full page ad in Furniture/Today following the Judging in June; and winners will be awarded October 19th during a cocktail and dinner in the IHFC Ballroom in High Point, NC. Furniture/Today is the major underwriter of the awards. Additional support and sponsorship is generously provided by AkzoNobel, Appalachian Hardwoods, Elmo Leather, Furniture Design Studios, Häfele America Co., High Point Market Authority, Home Lighting and Accessories, Hickory Springs Mfg. Co., Home Furnishings Business, IHFC and Leggett & Platt Inc. Information regarding entries can be found at www.asfd.com or contact Christine Evans at tel (910) 576-1273, info@asfd.com. About the Pinnacle™ Design Achievement Award: The Pinnacle™ Design Achievement awards were created in April 1995 by the Board of Directors of ASFD to promote better design quality and encourage the recognition of furniture designers within the retail home furnishings industry. As such the awards are intended to celebrate designs that are produced in large numbers for sale to customers through retail stores.