If you’re in the furniture industry, it’s a given that you’ve heard scores of great furniture stories, including the one that sites High Point as the Furniture Capital Of The World.
However, there are a host of related stories that many furniture veterans may not be aware of. And they all center around the decades-long relationship between High Point University and the furniture industry.
If you have ever been curious about that longstanding relationship, a just-released book by Dr. Richard R. Bennington called “High Point University and the Furniture Industry” takes you on a deep dive that explores and explains a century-long partnership between the industry and the school.
Considering that Dr. Bennington was instrumental in creating the school’s furniture marketing program in 1979, observers say he is the perfect guide to share the scores of collaborative initiatives between High Point University and the furniture industry.
As someone who was there from the beginning, Bennington’s chronicle makes for an entertaining and informative history of the relationship between “town and gown.”
Beginning in the early 1900s, Bennington takes the reader back in time when furniture makers from other parts of the country claimed High Point as home, as well as a source of affordable lumber and workers.
You will learn how Dr. Edmund Cummings, chairman of the Chemistry Department at High Point College may have set the wheel of collaboration between the school and the industry in 1945 as he was asked to help the furniture industry use chemistry to help develop new and improved furniture finishes and finishing techniques.
Bennington also explains the increasing collaborative efforts between the industry and the school, decade by decade. The book ends on an optimistic note with the author predicting that this win-win partnership will remain strong into the future.
There is still time to order the book as a holiday gift. Those interested can call (888) 313-2655 or e-mail retailers@arcadiapublishing.com
