A raging fire has shattered a huge warehouse full of furniture, causing damage estimated at more than R10-million.The warehouse, in the Gants Centre next to the N2 in the Strand, was completely gutted in the blaze. It belonged to Tafelberg Furnishers and neighbors Heidelberg International Importers. 

Huge steel roofing girders buckled in the scorching heat of the fire which began in the early hours of yesterday morning.Tafelberg Furniture’s Gareth Baker said: “We were alerted at 1.30am, but by that time the entire place was ablaze. We don’t have a sign how it began. 

“It was carrying a lot of stock, everything from furniture, appliances, beds, audio-visual stock. It is millions. All of that stock was due to be delivered to customers this week.”We’ve had emergency meetings, and if customers could bear with us, we’ve set up an emergency line for them to call,” Baker said. 

“We’ll be getting stock from other warehouses as fast as we can,” he added. “Everyone would get what they paid for, but there may be delays.”The company’s taken quite a knock, but we’re fully insured,” Baker said.

A fire broke out; destroy a storeroom of paints and a furniture warehouse in Muntin-lupa City, yesterday morning. 

A report by the Muntilupa City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) showed that a blaze that broke out at 11:14 a.m. yesterday erupted at the Paintplas situated at Block 5, Tempaurel Compound, Barangay Putatan, and Muntinlupa. 

The flames immediately spread toward the neighboring Golden Fashion Furniture Warehouse.Fire probes said the cause of fire is still unknown but witnesses said a circuit roller at the Paintplas sparked prior to the blaze.The fire injured Jose Peter Rios and Jose Nueva Espano, both workers of the Paintplas. They continued burns in the arms after they tried to put out the fire. 

A fire at Gisselles Raw Furniture this morning greatly damaged its shop building.San Angelo firefighters reacted to a two-alarm fire at 3:41 a.m. at the store; 307 N. Oakes St. Investigators is still trying to form out what started the fire.
 
Damage was controlled to the shop building, the building behind the storefront. One room of that building is salvageable, but the owners say they’ll rebuild it from scratch.Firefighters said the fire started in the prep-room, and the flames spread throughout that building from the small area among the roof and ceiling.No one was injured. Owners predictable the damage to be $90,000 to $100,000.

In the 19th century, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan coined the phrase “form follows function.” Today, the Chicago Furniture Designers Association borrows the still-relevant words to dub its newest exhibit. “Form Follows Form, Architecturally Inspired Furniture,” which would be held September 21—October 28, presents the creations of Chicago designers that honor the tradition and the institute of architecture itself. Suddenly, the act of building furniture takes on a whole new meaning, as designers integrate architectural concepts into their pieces. The show would be held in the Upper Level Sculpture Gallery in the Paul V. Galvin Library at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

“Chicago is full of world-class buildings” says designer and CFDA president Christopher Brandel of CEB Design. “Having these great resources to draw on in our own work is certainly exciting.”

CHICAGO, Aug 1 - U.S. office furniture order growth slowed once more in June, raising concerns among some analysts that the market might be slowing. 

Industry orders rose 2 percent from the same period last year to $1.075 billion, the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association said.Industry for May had shown a double-digit augment in orders on the year, following a slower month in April. 

“Although the results still show positive growth, it could lend credence to the prospect that growth in the office furniture space is moderating, particularly when taken with April’s results,” Raymond James analyst Budd Bugatch wrote in a research note.

LAS VEGAS - Developers of a furniture industry show place wrapped up their third meeting in two years Friday and talked of adding millions more square feet of space and casting a wider global net for buyers and sellers. 

Across the country, the new head of a respected old furniture show in North Carolina said he was less concerned about expansion at the World Market Center in Las Vegas than about putting people through the turnstiles of his fall show in October. 

“Certainly Las Vegas has sharpened the focus for High Point,” said Brian Casey, president since April of the International Home Furnishings Market Authority in High Point, N.C. “That’s a good thing. There’s room in this industry for both to exist.”

July 26 (Bloomberg) — The fresh Massachusetts health plan, the first in the U.S. require all residents to have medical insurance, won the sanction of the federal government, helping to make sure medical coverage for the state’s poorest citizens. 

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt today signed a waiver that would permit Massachusetts to receive $385 million in federal funding to help pay for the care of the poor and allow low-income workers to purchase insurance. 

The legislation, signed into law in April by Republican Governor Mitt Romney, was passed under force from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The agency said they will cut the $385 million allotment for care of the poor if the state didn’t pass reforms by July 1. The bill is now sleet as a model for other U.S. states. 

“This is serious innovation,'’ Leavitt said today during a press conference in Boston. “There are serious ideas being tried here that we’ll all learn from.'’ The federal funding would permit Massachusetts to help about 200,000 residents buy health care, Romney said. 

Sometimes the only time we have to enjoy our gardens and landscapes is after dark. So it only makes intelligence that we will unite that wish with the concept of outdoor lighting, particularly when you think the ease and low cost of installing a system yourself.

Outdoor illumination today is much more than a motion-activated highlight or lighting burning brightly by your front door. Carefully chosen lighting could make atmosphere by accenting your garden or drawing notice to a special tree or feature.

Besides the aesthetic benefits, lighting a dark space is one of the mainly important deterrents in keeping possible burglars and vandals away, illuminating potentially dangerous areas for visiting family and friends and, overall, making your goods safe and secure for all.

Sometimes the only time we have to like our gardens and landscapes is after dark, so it only makes logic that we will combine that wish with the concept of outdoor lighting, particularly when we consider the ease and low cost of installing a system ourselves. 

Outdoor illumination today is much more than a motion-activated highlight or light burning brightly by a front door. Carefully chosen lighting could make ambiance by accenting a garden or drawing concentration to a special tree or feature. 

Besides the aesthetic benefits, lighting a dark space is one of the mainly vital deterrents in keeping latent burglars and vandals away, illuminating potentially hazardous areas for visiting families and friends and, overall, making property safe and secure for everyone.

LONDON (AFX) - MFI Furniture Group PLC has slumped to a first half loss and said talks about the probable sale of its stressed eponymous UK Retail chain are ‘progressing’. 

The group exposed on May 19 it had received ‘expressions of interest’ in all or part of its 200-store UK Retail business from a number of third parties.Today it said: ‘We are evaluating numerous detailed proposals for our Retail business, all of which would involve the group continuing to supply the business for a transitional period and the group providing material financial support to the purchaser.’ 

‘In addition, the group will retain its pension obligations to Retail employees and former employees in respect of past service.’ Reports have identified private equity groups Apax, Argyll Partners and Merchant Equity Partners as latent buyers. 

For the 24 weeks to June 10 MFI made a loss before tax and outstanding items from ongoing operations of 5.7 mln stg compared to a profit of 19.5 mln stg last time as sum revenue fell 11.8 pct to 597.1 mln stg.