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| Feb 3, 2016 |
John Robshaw debuts first in-house furniture line for Duralee
Boh staff
By Staff

The John Robshaw for Duralee furniture collection will make its debut at High Point Market this April, signifying a growing push into furniture-making by a company traditionally known for its fabrics. Each of the collection’s 18 upholstered pieces, including the four-poster Sinan Bed and the Majal Sofa, draws inspiration from palace architecture, tea house seating and other eclectic influences from the designer’s travels around the world. As Duralee’s first-ever in-house furniture line, most of the collection was produced locally (in the North Carolina furniture hub where it’ll premiere in a few months), with the exception of a few pieces.

“I first partnered with Duralee a few years back, developing a fabric collection of prints and wovens. Now we are growing the collection into the furniture world,” explains John Robshaw. For the new collection, he tells EAL, “In the beginning I gathered tear sheets from furniture across the globe that inspired me, and from there I saw these ideas transform into real pieces by Duralee’s factory team.”

In this video, Robshaw discusses with EAL the inspirations and influences for both his print and furniture designs:

“In the past two years, we’ve really hit our stride in the furniture market,” Robin Gordon, vice president of marketing and advertising at Duralee, tells EAL. “We reached the point where we wanted to explore license opportunities, as we’ve had such tremendous success with designer collaborations on the fabric side of our business. Producing our own furniture frames in house allows us the luxury to push the envelope on design, and who better to do that than John Robshaw?”

“My design aesthetic stands apart because it is so heavily influenced by my travels across the world,” adds Robshaw, whose favorite piece is the Warif chair and whose predicted best-seller is the Asha slipper chair, “small and versatile for any space.” (See both pieces in person at the Duralee Furniture booth at InterHall at High Point Market, and stay tuned for EAL’s further coverage of the collection.)

All of the collection’s frames, including back fills and cushions, are made with eco-friendly poly and fiber sourced from a CertiPUR-certified supplier. The collection employs materials including kiln-dried maple hardwoods and techniques like eight-way hand-tied construction and steel banding, which is used to inhibit sagging and support the spring unit.

“The beauty of working with a designer on a licensed collection is that they bring a unique perspective to the process, which ultimately leads to distinctive pieces,” continues Gordon. “John Robshaw for Duralee Furniture is the perfect marriage of artistic composition and functional design.”

High Point Market returns April 16 to 20.

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