The Board of Trustees has approved the following membership rates effective January 2009:

$35 Student/Trainee/Apprentice
$65 Individual
$75 Joint
$65 Non-Profit
$100 Friend or Business
$250 Sustaining
$500 Benefactor
$1000 Patron
$2500 Medici

Some of the 2009 benefits available to members:

• Discounts on conference fees
• Our quarterly newsletter, Furniture Matters
• Discounts on Society publications
• Special grant and scholarship opportunities
• Discounts on exhibition space for national and regional shows such as ICFF, Architectural Digest Home Show, Philadelphia Invitational Furniture Show, Fine Furnishings Shows Providence and Milwaukee and CRAFTBOSTON.
• Opportunity for increased web presence through the online directory and Maker's Portfolio at www.furnituresociety.org (for Individual memberships and higher)

Furniture Society members receive a 40% discount on booth fees at The Philadelphia Invitational Furniture Show March 28-29, 2009. Members who have been a full-time professional for less than two years or who have never exhibited at a public show are eligible for the discount. Those interested should indicate on their applications that they are applying under the FS Emerging Artist program and adjust their fees accordingly. Applications are available below.
View the PIFS application 
Visit the PIFS website 

Next year, The Furniture Society Conference heads to beautiful Boone, North Carolina and Appalachian State University.

The Annual Auction held at Conference has long been a venue for members to support the Furniture Society by making donations of artwork and by bidding on items. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian State is surrounded by resort towns and just a few hours north of Raleigh and Charlotte, making it an ideal location for a profitable fundraiser, and a beneficial venue for members who are looking for new audiences for their work. To that end, we are looking for work that retails for $1,000-10,000 for the live auction and $300-$1,000 for the silent auction.

The Art Auction will be held Friday evening, and like last year, apart from the Industry Partners Auction of tools, equipment, and supplies.

Our efforts to promote the Art Auction will include: magazine advertising; an online catalog of Live Auction Items; and promotional mailings to regional collectors.

We recognize the artists' costs involved in building, crating and shipping furniture to a benefit event, and wish to "give back" to those contributing artwork by offering up to 30% of the auction sale price of the work.

If you are interested in supporting The Furniture Society with a donation of work, please contact Lynn Szymanski with a brief description of the item, retail value, and JPG image by November 15, 2008.

The Furniture Society will be at CRAFTBOSTON in March of 2009. All members are invited to apply to be part of this show. Presented at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston March 27 – 29, CRAFTBOSTON has become New England's premier show for high end one-of-a-kind work. Organized by the Society of Arts and Crafts, the oldest non-profit craft organization in the United States, this show features over 200 artists in all craft media. This year the SAC is making a special effort to include more furniture makers and they have offered space to The Furniture Society.

Eight FS members will be chosen to share a 20' x 20' booth. Each participant will be able to exhibit two medium-sized pieces or one large piece. Participants are responsible for shipping and will need to provide their own pedestals. The cost to each participate is $500, which is due February 15, 2009. Members who wish to apply should send a $25 application fee along with a CD of images which reflect the work to be exhibited to:

The Furniture Society
111 Grovewood Road
Asheville, NC 28804

The deadline for application is December 1, 2008. For questions, contact Lynn Szymanski.

Image Guidelines
Each image should meet the following specifications.
1. File Size: maximum 500KB
2. Dimensions: maximum 800 x 800 pixels
3. File Type: JPG or GIF

Image files may be compressed in a ZIP or similar archive format. Images sent as email attachments should not be embedded in a Word or similar document, or in a PDF document. Images not conforming to these requirements will be rejected or discarded, and may disqualify an entry submission.

The Furniture Society announces updated funding opportunities available only to members.

2009 Educational Grants
The Furniture Society's Educational Grants program promotes excellence in the furniture field by offering financial assistance to Society members for professional development or educational projects. Given annually, the grants are made possible through fundraising efforts that include the Awards of Distinction luncheon, held during the Society's annual conference, the Society's annual auctions and direct contributions. Deadline for this year's application is December 8, 2009.
Visit the Educational Grants page 

2009 Furniture Society and Powermatic Scholarship Program
The Furniture Society is pleased to announce a scholarship program offered in partnership with Powermatic. Six students will be awarded scholarships of $2,000-$3,000 to attend one-, two- or eight-week workshops in 2009 to the following schools: Anderson Ranch Arts Center (CO), Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts (TN), Center for Furniture Craftsmanship (ME), Haystack Mtn. School of Crafts (ME), North Bennet Street School (MA), and Penland School of Crafts (NC).

These competitive scholarships underwritten by Powermatic will cover tuition, housing, on-campus meal service and a stipend for travel. Deadline for applications is February 1, 2009.
Visit the Powermatic Scholarship page 

Woodwork, the spunky bimonthly magazine whose catholic view of the field embraced everything from step-by-step articles on making salt-and-pepper shakers to extended profiles of makers on the conceptual cutting edge, has printed its final issue. Founded in 1989 as a quarterly and published by Ross Periodicals, in Novato, California, Woodwork went bimonthly in 1992 and published its 100th issue last spring. Its final issue under Ross Periodicals, labeled 2008, will be number 114.
Read more about Woodwork Magazine 
Download a PDF of the Article 

The 8th annual Architectural Digest Home Show will take place March 26-29, 2009 at Pier 94 in New York City. This will mark the 2nd year for the "MADE" section, featuring limited edition and one-of-a-kind fine art furnishings and objects from around the globe. Based on its success in 2008, "MADE" will be expanded and positioned at the front of the Show next March.

The exhibition space includes 10' free standing finished white walls and white carpet, and will be promoted throughout an extensive promotional campaign which generates hundreds of millions of media impressions. The AD Show is pleased to offer approved Furniture Society applicants a 15% discount on exhibit space. Membership must be current to apply and acceptance into the show will be juried by the AD Show management.

Space is limited. For more information, please contact Troy Hanson at 212.644.0833 or thanson@mmart.com.

Furniture Society web banners are now available! Choose from three sizes for your convenience.
Visit our new Resources page! 

Request a new password using the email address associated with your current Furniture Society membership to activate your user profile. There is no need to create a new user profile. With a profile, you can browse our store to renew your membership, become a member, or register for an upcoming conference.
Request a Password 

A Conversation With John Perreault - Kicking off the rebirth of The Furniture Society Forum, and as part of the lead-up to the 12th annual FS conference in Purchase, N.Y., in June, Forum Moderator David Richardson has arranged on online discussion about craft and art with critic and author John Perreault (see Artopia). Other invited commentators include Namita Wiggers, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, Matthew Hebert, assistant professor in the furniture program at SDSU, and Andrew Wagner, editor of American Craft Magazine.

The rapid-fire online discussion occurred Monday, May 19, but it remains open and all FS members are encouraged to join us on the Forum and participate in the discussion.

Join us on the FS Forum! 

A compendium of studio furniture exhibitions now showing in North America and around the world (and an archive of past exhibitions).
Visit Currently Showing