Pictured (top photo) is a bedroom suite from the World of Bob Timberlake collection, which is manufactured in North Carolina. Shown below is a bedroom suite from Timberlake's new Salt Aire collection, which is manufactured offshore.

"We weren't going to do it offshore. We weren't. We weren't. We weren't," says Timberlake, age 69. "At the last (High Point) furniture market, I said, â??Don't ask me anymore.'"

But Lexington, which has sold more than $1 billion wholesale of the Timberlake brand during its 15 year collaboration with the famed artist, was adamant about getting out of manufacturing while continuing sales, Timberlake claims. In December, Lexington closed Plant #2, which was manufacturing the brand in Timberlake's hometown of Lexington, NC, thereby putting a reported 360 people out of work.

But then, in what Timberlake describes as a "win-win-win" situation, Lexington joined with Timberlake and local lumber and timber company, Kepley-Frank Hardwood, to form Linwood Furniture Inc. (LFI). Under the new partnership, Plant #2 reopened in March, started hiring the first of an expected 200 workers, and resumed production of the Timberlake furniture brand in the United States. Lexington Home Brands will continue to market and sell the product line, as well as a lower-price segment of the Timberlake line, Salt Aire, which is being produced offshore.

Wood & Wood Products: Why did you say "no" to offshore manufacturing of the World of Bob Timberlake collection?

Bob Timberlake: The main reason is because I know the folks around here. I'm kin to half of them and my wife (Kay) is kin to the other half. I grew up with them. I eat breakfast with them and I didn't want them to lose their jobs. And we wanted the quality and craftsmanship to continue being the best it could be. We don't take our relationships lightly - whether it's licensees, our customers or the people who work with us.

W&WP: Lexington's a small city where people know each other and many of them have been intimately associated with the furniture business. In fact, I understand that four generations of your wife's family have been Lexington Home Brands employees. Why are they important to Timberlake furniture?

Timberlake: [There's] pride on the part of the folks that have been making the furniture the last 15 years - I think that is why [the Timberlake line] was successful from the beginning. It's not just a piece of furniture that people are making and throwing off the line on the other end. It's something personal and they treat it that way.

The craftsmanship shows, the quality shows. All those things that used to be of value, they're still of value to me. I don't do hardly anything that's fleeting, that's not going to be here tomorrow. I always have done things that are going to be long-term.

W&WP: Did you worry that offshore work wouldn't be up to your standards?

We have a lot of people who know what our furniture is, who have seen and touched it, lived with it and used it. I'm told we have a niche in the furniture world, that our furniture is different and special. Everybody I know in the industry has told me that.

W&WP: How do you feel about the choice of Plant #2 for resuming the line?

Timberlake: The plant was the perfect place for it to be made. They've got the finishes there and the equipment is already in place. They've got the patterns there and they've got the people.

W&WP: What was the reaction to reopening Plant #2, which started operation in March with 27 people and is expected to grow to 200?

Timberlake: The response since we made this announcement has been absolutely humongous. Not just employees, the whole community, the whole area, everybody from [U.S. Senator] Elizabeth Dole to the [person] waiting on me at the restaurant is happy and excited about it.

W&WP: How about the reaction of North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley, who in January gave you North Carolina's highest civilian honor, induction into The Order of the Long Leaf Pine?

Timberlake: I think he's very pleased.

W&WP: We've been talking all along about the original Bob Timberlake line, which started out as primarily cherry in 1990, but has had additions and subtractions as the years have gone by. You and Lexington Home Brands have another line on the market, introduced at last fall's High Point show. It's Salt Aire, from your Coastal collection, which is made overseas and sells at lower price points. How would you distinguish between the two collections?

Timberlake: Bob Timberlake is the main line, the most important and the most prominent line that we have.

Salt Aire [also] has been a huge hit. It's [manufactured] offshore; that's why it's priced differently. It's sort of a trade out. We negotiated all that, too.

W&WP: You were quoted in newspapers as saying you hoped your action "serves as a small diverting of that big ol' boat leaving offshore. Maybe it will knock it off path just a little bit." Do you think you will have any influence on any other players in the furniture industry?

Timberlake: I have no idea whether it will change anything at all. I would be glad for anybody to walk along beside us.

We're just trying to look after our people and our furniture - the quality of our furniture. We're trying our best to do that in our own backyard and to do what we think is right.