

The Furniture Expositions 



The Grand Bapids furniture show is now just about winding up, 

 and it may be said for the edification of lumliermen that if the 

 results in the way of business were not immensely good, they were far 

 from bad. As a matter of fact, business was slightly below normal, 

 but it was not at the lowest possible ebb by any means. It was well 

 up to January a year ago, which is doing pretty well in the midst 

 of what is generally termed a real business depression. ' ' Pair to 

 middling," was about the verdict given of the show by leaders in 

 the furniture trade. 



One good indication was that the number of visitors was just about 

 as large as usual. The fact that the buyers were on hand, taking 

 interest in the new stuff, and preparing to stock up with anything 

 which looked good, was one of the most encouraging features of the 

 whole situation. The automobiles of the Grand Rapids factories 

 were kept busy taking visitors from the hotels to the show-rooms 

 at the plants, and most of the manufacturers wore a smile which, 

 though it may have been largely force of habit during the show 

 season, at least seemed to suggest moderate satisfaction with what 

 had been transpiring. 



Mahogany continues to be the big leader in the Grand Eapids 

 field, and is being used in Period goods just as in everything else 

 which has been offered. Oak is of course next, though a rather poor 

 second. The way in which oak seems to be falling down in the high- 

 class cabinet field seems to the onlooker to be very suggestive to man- 

 ufacturers of that wood. Are they content to allow it to be pushed 

 aside by anything else which comes along? Wonderful effects may 

 be had in oak, and are being obtained, but it is certainly not being 

 given the place which belongs to it. Mission Colonial furniture is 

 still wanted by a large number of buyers, and this is keeping oak in 

 the limelight, but it is not being used to any great extent outside 

 of this field. Fortunately, golden oak seems to be about gone, as a 

 high-class furniture proposition. This finish undoubtedly did more 

 to unpopularize oak than anything else in the world. 



"What the furniture trade needs more than anything else," said 

 a prominent manufacturer to the writer, ' ' is another high-class 

 cabinet wood to work along with mahogany. We are making seventy- 

 five per cent of our output in mahogany, and we think the percentage 

 is too large for the good of the business. It is beginning to look 

 as though the wood which will be the leader along with mahogany 

 is American walnut." 



And this opinion seemed to be borne out by the facts. American 

 walnut was really the big feature of the show — that is, the most 

 important new development. The biggest houses in the trade were 

 displaying their walnut goods right up front, so that the visitor could 

 not help seeing them. Made up in the Period styles, walnut furniture 

 is wonderfully beautiful. It is really exquisite stuff, and the manu- 

 facturers who are featuring it are getting enthusiastic over it, espe- 

 cially as the buyers have taken to it remarkably well, considering 

 that their real first introduction to it was given a year ago. 



A big manufacturer, who happens to be featuring enameled goods 

 this year, said to the writer : ' ' We have made about a dozen walnut 

 patterns this time, or about sixty numbers; and we have sold a 

 world of it, although we have not pushed it so hard as we have done 

 enameled goods, naturally." 



The designs which walnut has been featureii in particularly are 

 Queen Anne and William and Mary, and it looks great in both. With 

 the loud pedal being placed on Periods in the retail furniture trade, 

 it looks as though the retailers ought to have no trouble ' ' getting 

 away ' ' with the walnut game, especially as the leaders in the field, 

 like Berkey & Gay, whose famous Knoleworth line is made up of 

 walnut exclusively — about 575 numbers in all — is being advertised 

 to the consumer through the popular magazines. 



The walnut men who visited Grand Rapids found furniture manu- 

 facturers keenly interested in the wood, and many who have not been 

 using it have about decided to get into the band-wagon. This applies 

 particularly to chair manufacturers, who see in the big run on walnut 



by the case-goods houses a good opportunity for them. The fact 

 that the chair people can use the lower grades of walnut, while the 

 case-goods manufacturers have been insisting for the most part on 

 firsts and seconds, though No. 1 common would serve the purpose in a 

 majority of instances, gives the former a chance to got in under unu- 

 sually favorable conditions. 



The matter of the supply of black walnut was also on the tip of 

 many tongues, and anybody who had any information to offer was 

 listened to carefully. That is, the walnut consumers are anxious to 

 know whether, in view of the evident big movement of the furniture, 

 they are going to be able to get all that they require. 



' ' I am convinced, ' ' said one furniture man, who has been absorb- 

 ing a lot of information on the subject, "that there is plenty of the 

 wood. Government statistics show that the production is about 

 50,000,000 feet a year, and inasmuch as a lot of this goes into 

 veneers, that certainly seems to be ample for the requirements. And 

 though under normal conditions the export trade gets a good deal of 

 walnut, it would seem natural that domestic business would get the 

 caU from the walnut men, as it is certainly easier to handle than 

 foreign business. The method of walnut production, that is, from 

 small and scattered pieces of timber instead of large forests, is really 

 insurance of a steady production, it seems to me, because if it were 

 all grown in a small section, it would be comparatively easy to cut it 

 out in a short time." 



The matter of production, however, is one which is bothering a 

 good many prospective consumers, and walnut manufacturers may 

 well lay considerable stress on their ability to furnish the material 

 not only now, with the demand just starting, but for years to come. 



Walnut was finished for the most part at Grand Eapids a deep, 

 rich brown, which was rubbed dull. Some manufacturers finished a 

 little lighter than others, but most of them preferred the ratlier dark 

 treatment. One manufacturer, who is noted for his inconsistency, or, 

 perhaps, as his admirers would say, his originality, has finished 

 his Am erican walnut very light, bringing out all of the contrasts in 

 the way of grain and figure that he could, and making his line very 

 different from that which will be characteristic. Then he has finished 

 his gum furniture with the brown stains which are provided for wal- 

 nut, and is offering the latter as "satin walnut." Thus it appears 

 that gum, the universal substitute, is going to get the backwater 

 from the walnut demand also, in the form of cheaper furniture which 

 can be offered under a similar name. 



As suggested above, enameled furniture is getting a strong play 

 in the Grand Eapids market. The Sligh Furniture Company, one 

 of the leading houses, is putting out as much of this kind of goods 

 as anything else ; in fact a visit to its ware-rooms leaves one with the 

 impression that it has more enameled furniture to offer than mahog- 

 any, even. Certainly they are playing it up as strongly as possible, 

 having built an extra story to their factory for the work of putting 

 on this finish, which requires very careful and elaborate treatment. 

 This and other companies appear to believe that enamel, instead of 

 being merely an occasional fiU-in, can be made a real staple. It 

 also shows the striving to get away from the effects which have been 

 most popular during recent years, and to introduce a new note into 

 the furniture business. 



The woods which appear to have been featured for enameling pur- 

 poses are basswood and birch. The latter seems to be fairly high- 

 priced for the work, but many of the Grand Rapids people seem to 

 think that there is nothing like it for this character of work. Poplar 

 manufacturers might disagree with them. In fact, though the writer 

 heard little of poplar in connection with enameled furniture, it would 

 seem that this is the wood that is really made for this class of 

 ■work; and inasmuch as poplar deserves a little stimulation at this 

 time, and could stand a little increase in the demand without any 

 injury to anybody, it might pay the poplar manufacturers to investi- 

 gate the trend toward enameled furniture. 



Circassian walnut was shown to a considerable extent at Grand 

 Eapids, but the general impression seems to be that it is on the 



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