CWB June 2010

More than 37,000 people flocked to Chicago for one of the industry’s premiere events, the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS), which took place April 16-18. Trade show officials reported that attendance was up 30% over last year’s show.

See the woodworking equipment and wood working machines that were featured in the June 2010 issue of Custom Woodworking Business magazine.

Brian Grabski, a Minneapolis, MN-based commercial woodworker, specializes in building custom interiors and one-of-a-kind furniture. To learn the trade, Grabski worked summers in cabinet shops during high school, and while earning a business degree at the University of Colorado in 2005.

Large wood industry firms restructure; small woodworking businesses retool and reposition. Either way, it’s a critical moment to prepare for the recovery. Daniel Island Woodworks, a Charleston, SC, custom woodworking operation (see page 22), has identified a market opening: with closure of several kitchen cabinet businesses in its area, the firm is targeting home builders and remodelers as an opportunity for growth. It will also open a design center where its clients can meet with their clients for creative development of projects. It will be standing at-the-ready with all its woodworking expertise to take those dream projects to reality and grow another market segment.

Exceptional sources for wood are intriguing. Public acceptance of distressed wood — surfaces with character marks — have arisen over the years to have a significant impact on design trends. Reclaimed woods from old construction are one source — old water towers and warehouses, and even submerged forests — some of them highly valuable species that would be protected if above water — that may be legally harvested where man-made damns have flooded acreage.

This year’s biggest woodworking industry show is the biennial 2010 International Woodworking Machinery & Furniture Supply Fair (IWF), running Wednesday to Saturday, August 25-28, 2010, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. One of the highlights of the show is the Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award, which showcases innovative new technology. Sixty-five companies had entered 80 products to compete for the Challengers Award by the April 30 deadline.