At home with celebrity
By Marge Colborn - GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Football fans, rejoice. At the fall International Home Furnishings Market, the buzz focused on Bassett Furniture's new John Elway Home Collection.

That's John Elway, as in the former Denver Broncos quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer. The collection consists of home entertainment furnishings featuring Sony large- screen TVs, with everything sold at a Bassett retailer.

"For so long, I was the home entertainment," Elway says. "Now that I'm retired and have the time to enjoy large-screen entertainment, I want my home to be the place friends and family come to."

Golf fans can rejoice, too. Arnold Palmer's name is linked to Lexington's new Champany Hills collection inspired by the well-aged club houses, pubs, inns and banquet halls that dot the British Isles landscape amidst its rolling hills and emerald golf courses.

The semiannual market typically draws upwards of 75,000 national and international manufacturers, dealers, buyers, retailers and designers to High Point, N.C., the nation's — some say the world's — furniture capital. Despite all the hoopla, however, it's no secret that the industry is experiencing sluggish sales growth.

"The furniture industry is treading water right now," says Lee Buchanan, editor of InFurniture magazine. "Rising fuel prices are hurting consumers, and higher steel costs are hurting manufacturing."

Furniture firms are responding with more star power and brand names. Few of the celebrities actually design the furniture, of course. Executives visit the celebrities' homes to see how they live and then create lines to reflect a lifestyle. Celebrities view the results to make sure they're comfortable with the outcome.

Elway, who will collect royalties for his name, says the items reflect his lifestyle.

It wasn't just jocks who lent their monikers to furniture lines this time around. High-profile women attached their names to feminine yet classic new collections too.

Hooker Furniture snagged Nancy Lindemeyer, the founding editor of Victoria magazine, for instance, for its Intimate Home collection.

"As an editor of books and magazines for two decades, I have listened to the hopes and dreams of American women," Lindemeyer says. "Today, more than ever, I sense a new yearning among consumers for intimacy in the midst of their fast-paced lives. I sense women captivated about the joy of creating a home, caring for the people they love, celebrating the beauty of living and the wonder of home."

Other designing women include high-end London decorator Nina Campbell for her own firm, Mariette Himes Gomez for Hickory Chair and TV personality-former model Cristina Ferrare for Magnussen Home.

Always forward-looking, Pulaski Furniture targeted America's booming Hispanic community by teaming up with Spanish-language TV's No. 1 talk show host and media sensation Cristina Saralegui. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanic homeownership increased by 48 percent between 1994 and 2002.

Saralegui promotes Pulaski's Casa Cristina line, which combines traditional European, Mediterranean and Latin design elements in a whopping 110 pieces that include dining, youth and entertainment furniture.

The talk show host first saw her finished collection at the start of the trade show.

"When I walked in, my jaw dropped," she says. "What I find awesome is the attention to detail."

Additional introductions with distinctly Spanish influences include Santa Barbara from Stanley and South American from National Geographic at Lane.