Harden Furniture Hosts Customer Day

Furniture World Magazine

Several furniture retail executives, designers and sales staff from 14 Harden dealers were recently treated to an inside view of the high-end case goods and upholstery specialists’ manufacturing facilities at its headquarters here. A Harden tradition for the last 30 years, the biannual event featured two days of discussions, tours and presentations, as well as a cocktail reception and dinner with live music at nearby McConnellsville Golf Club. Over 40 arrived from Don LaMor, Rousseau’s Ltd., A’La Carte Interiors, Town & Country Interiors, The Woods, Meredith’s, Pasadena Furniture, Roush Interiors, Sperryville Antiques, Parker Furniture, Rosebank Design, DeForge Brothers, The Designers, and Klingman Furniture, escorted by their individual Harden sales representatives. The dealers, who hailed from as far as Seattle, Washington, were flown in to the pastoral Upstate New York setting to witness Harden furniture being made, to learn how to guide consumers in the upholstery selection process, and to gain knowledge regarding sustainable forestry practices, which Harden has fostered since the turn of the last century. “We have found over the years that Harden’s in-house artisans are some of the best spokespeople for our products and our brand,” says Greg Harden, president and fifth-generation family member. “You could say their work speaks for itself.” Included in the tours were visits to Harden’s onsite sawmill, purchased by founder Charles S. Harden in 1844, which today cuts logs from over 10,000 acres of company-owned forests. Visits to the woodshops secured special admiration among attendees, as more than 90 craftspeople there employ time-honored furniture carving, finishing, and construction methods.