Enter your product design that reduces greenhouse gases in the Dutch Picnic Green Challenge competition. Deadline July 31.

News Closures Continue

A recent analysis by VCR's companion directory Furniture Link Canada (FLC) found that about 25 per cent of Canadian furniture manufacturers with six or more employees and listed in FLC between 2003 and 2008 closed their businesses, as shown in the above sample of the approximately 100 closures.

When calculated at an average of 30 employees per company, the closures represent a loss of 3,000 jobs. (This estimate does not include companies still operating that have laid off thousands of additional workers.)

On May 5, Quebec-based household furniture manufacturer Shermag Inc. sought court protection from creditors. CBC reports Shermag took this action after consolidating production plants and reducing its workforce to 800 from a high of 2,400 four years ago.

Despite these dismal numbers, millions of Canadian tax dollars continue to fund academic and furniture industry "support" programs, which have failed to stem the loss of community-supporting manufacturing jobs.

San Francisco's Design Guild Gallery (427 Bryant Street) presents a multidisciplinary exhibition of sustainable design projects pioneered in the San Francisco Bay Area. To June 19.

News French Design 2008

VIA, the Paris-based organization promoting French furniture design, announces the winners of its 2008 Project Assistance grants. Pages 41-84 of its PDF catalogue feature products ranging from lighting to storage by 10 young designers. VCR featured VIA in its Fall 2007 Issue.

News ICFF Scene

Finnish designer Terhi Tuominen introduces her Fold chair at ICFF alongside her metal tube and mesh Blackbird chair, which won an honourable mention in the 2008 Red Dot product design awards.

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News UK Guild Awards

Design Week reports on the first Design Guild Mark awards for excellence in British furniture design. Selected by Sheridan Coakley of SCP and 10 other panel members, winners included Mark Gabbertas, Matthew Hilton, Marc Krusin, Luke Pearson and seven other designers.

Scuola Politecnica di Design (Milan Polytechnic School of Design) offers summer workshops by Ross Lovegrove, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Matali Crasset and Marti Guixé.

Find UK Design History

Interested in the work of Robin Day, Ernest Race, Gordon Russell or other British furniture designers from the 1950s and 1960s? VADS (Visual Arts Data Service) lists their work in a searchable UK image database.

News FDA Awards

The Singapore Furniture Industries Council's (SFIC) 2009 Furniture Design Award (FDA) seeks creative, marketable and functional designs that incorporate environmental-friendliness and ergonomics. Open Category deadline December 15.

VCR Update

Listings VCR's events calendar now clearly identify postings for furniture design competitions and awards worldwide with deadlines.

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