The Art of Home Work

Jenna Desk 

Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer.  For so many it has always meant that school is starting and backpacks and lunchboxes would make their way back to the counters.  This year looks very different for both students and those of us who normally work in offices, but regardless of whether you are working at home or not, it is true that we all need a space to sit down and take care of the details of our daily lives. From bills to thank you notes, zoom calls to all night creative sessions, the space you use to work at home is important.

Illusion Desk by Windsor Smith for Century

The concept of working from home is not new, it is just that now more of us find ourselves doing it full time. Having a desk, not a dining table or a bar stool at the counter, creates a separate space and gives structure to your home office.  We want you to reimagine what a home office can look like. Functional doesn’t have to mean big brown heavy office furniture. We can get a lot done on a clean surface with a couple of drawers.

Hallings Secretary by Thomas O'Brien for Century

So go ahead, indulge. Whether your work is full time or an hour here and there, there is an art to the work we achieve at home. Afterall, your home work should be beautiful.

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Our Home Work Folio is meant to inspire you. Many of our desks are in stock and available to ship immediately.  To download a copy of our Art of Home Work folio, please click the image below, or visit us at centuryfurniture.com.  

Celebrating America and Our Associates

As we enjoy the July 4th holiday, and celebrate the veterans and heros who have served our country throughout America's history, I would also like to take a second and honor our employees and craftspeople who have helped us continue the legacy of Century Furniture through the years.  

2020 Years of Service Luncheon- Associates with 25 Years of Service or more

Century was created in 1947 by my grandfather, Harley F. Shuford. A young, enterprising, entrepreneur, Harley never meet a challenge he could not work himself through. After the WWII, he knew that with sweat, blood and tears, good old fashioned hutzpah but more importantly a strong team and family beside him, he could make a go at making furniture here in Hickory, North Carolina.  His quote was, "We strive to create furniture of such impeccable quality that it brings joy not only to the people who own it, but also to the craftspeople who build it."  He was always focused on and dedicated to the people he surrounded himself with, his family, his friends, his community, and very much so the people who worked for and with him. To this day, some of our longest tenured associates who knew my grandfather will tell me how Harley would always shake every person's hand and thank them personally whenever he could. 

73 years after he created it, we continue to work hard with over 800 associates to make beautiful furniture for customers the world over.  We could not do it without our team and family of craftspeople and associates. Their dedication and commitment to craft, to customer service, to each other and to Century leaves me speechless and humbled everyday I go to work. 

So to past associates who have retired through the years and to the team that is currently carrying the torch with us, we thank you.  Not a day goes by that we are not grateful for you and what you do.  

     

 

The Ingredients of a Great Sofa

Thomas O'Brien's Dunkirk Sofa AE-LTD5266-2 

It's undeniably the hardest working piece of furniture in your house - the ever faithful sofa.
Through binge watching, channel surfing, snacking, and FaceTime, it is home base in many of our lives these days. But what makes one sofa outstanding and another simply .... meh?

It turns out, a LOT of love, engineering and quality goes into our sofas so each frame will serve you and your family well for years to come.  With Century, we offer a range of styles so that you can find the perfect sofa based on your height, intended use, and the wear you expect it to absorb. Beauty, style, and durability is what we deliver. 

When selecting your sofa, consider several of the following things:

PITCH & DEPTH: These play a big part in how comfortable your sofa can be. Do you want the living room version of a twin bed (deep and low) and perfectly suited to hours of Netflix? Or do you prefer sitting up and entertaining with your favorite beverage?

ARM STYLE: A track arm is a perfect compliment for drinks, plates and laptops. An English arm is understated and easy to toss your legs over. A rounded sock arm? Custom made for a nap.

SEAT CUSHIONS: We have inserts that range from plush to firm, with Springdown available in three comfort levels to accommodate even the most discerning client's derriere.  Our Designer Studio is a great resource to view all of our cushion options so that you can pair your insert to its desired use. 

Now to make it beautiful! The lines of our sofas are carefully sculpted and come to life with a stunning array of more than 1,000 fabrics, or your choice of materials.  Performance Fabrics by Crypton, Inside Out and Sunbrella offer a myriad of stain, sun and wear protections. With a variety of textures, you can create a piece that is crisp or cozy - your choice!

We build our sofas with quality components to enable this hardworking piece of furniture to endure with style for seasons to come.  Here are some of our favorites from the line.  

Carrier & Company Gracie Sofa 22-2140-1

Chesterfield Large Sofa LTD7701-1D

Duport Sofa  22-2157

Catherine Sofa 22-276G

Davison Sofa LTD5263-2

Cornerstone Customizable Sofa LTD7600-3

Windsor Smith's Flint Sofa I3-22-1065-2

Leonardo Sofa  ESN202-2

Dining Table Conversations

The recent events that have happened across the United States have created for me a whole new wave of emotions.  The anxious return to business and reopening of the country with Covid still a reality is now coupled with anger, frustration, sadness because our country still does not value all human life equally.  As I sat again around the dinner table with my children, for the first time in my life under a government mandated curfew, I could not help but feel a bit helpless. How do we move forward from this place of hurt and anger with assurance that we are moving toward something better?  How do we talk to our children and explain what is going on when we ourselves can not, do not even understand how this happens? What can I do to make a difference?

Some might say this is a furniture blog, so stick to furniture.  But I have always said that a home is personal and we at Century take furniture personally.  It is true, and as home is personal so are the people that live in them.  They are mothers and fathers, co-workers and teachers, nurses and doctors, the next Picasso or Einstein, the youngest among us, people of every color.  And all of us are important to the people in our homes, in our lives. Our furniture is meaningless without the families and people that use it everyday.  And so I say, that yes, this is a furniture blog, but furniture is at its heart about people.  I would even go so far to say that furniture at its heart is about bringing people together.

It is my hope that we can come together again and create meaningful and lasting change in this country.  It is my hope that we the people are more than party lines and red and blue states and black and white and brown skin color.  It is my hope that we are willing to listen and acknowledge.  It is my hope that everywhere around this country, families and friends are having conversations that lead to better understanding and more empathy.  For now, my contribution is to talk about it with my kids, my husband, my family and my co-workers. I will not shy away when I don't understand, but in those cases lean in and listen harder.  

And so tonight around my dinner table, my helplessness is now resolve.  Things I have assumed my children know, will no longer be assumptions.  My children will know that our family values equality. They will hear that our family condemns violence of all persuasions.  We will talk about the value of every life.  They will know that character and heart and only character and heart are how you judge another human being.  

Courage

During the last few days I have been thinking a lot about courage and all the ways we are seeing it these days.  There are so many courageous people doing extraordinary things right now to keep us safe, keep us fed, keep us healthy, keep us comfortable in our homes around the world.  From the first responders, doctors and police officers to the lady at the grocery store who checked me out four weeks ago, my mailman who continues to ring my doorbell, and even our garbage collectors who come every week, all of them have risen to the challenge of showing courage to go to work when no one else was and take care of the rest of us.  They are truly courageous. My heart and thanks extend to all of them. 

But courageous does not belong solely to those men and women.  They are truly amazing, but there are other demonstrations of bravery happening everyday around us.  You see courage defined is the ability to do something that frightens one; mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.  Through that lense, I think about all of the ways that I see courage in the people around me.  My kids learning how to greet their grandparents without hugging, my team creating videos of themselves to demonstrate new product despite how uncomfortable they may be, our partners figuring out new ways to conduct business, indeed our employees helping us make furniture again with new procedures and mandatory masks. 

I watch my five year old son, the most gregarious kid you would ever meet, never met a stranger, as he embraces the rule of social distancing.  The battle that must be going on inside his little head to control himself and hold back.  Everyday he has missed his teachers and friends as he has stayed home.  In many ways he doesn't even fully understand the why.  He too, indeed all children, are demonstrating serious courage.  

Each of us is mustering the strength to persevere, whether that's a Zoom call or video chat, a google classroom, or back into a work environment. We are pushing through the immense changes in our lives, and change for most of us is scary.  It takes courage to face the unknown.  It takes courage to overcome the fear of not knowing.  It takes courage to learn something new.  

I am grateful for all of the courage I see around me.  Everyday both the big and small acts of courage are everywhere.  I challenge you to look for them too, and let their presence give you hope.  

 

Celebrating Earth Day- Century's Environmental Stewardship Policy

 599-211 Consulate Soane Tall Cabinet in Lapis 

Century Furniture strives to achieve the status of “The Best” furniture company in the world.
Our environmental policy is a key element of our corporate philosophy. Since our beginnings in 1947, it has been our culture to be socially responsible with the safety and health of our associates, our business partners, our customers and our natural environment. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact through intelligent design, conservation, and recycling.

We believe the best way to conserve environmental resources is to design and manufacture furniture of such impeccable quality that it will last for generations. Nothing is more wasteful than disposable furniture.

The vast majority of our furniture is manufactured in Hickory, NC from predominantly domestic materials. Very high energy costs are involved in the transportation of furniture and raw materials. When items are produced locally, the environmental footprint is much smaller.

We strive to meet or exceed all regulatory or industry standards in terms of safety and potential emissions to the environment. No resource is more important than the health of our associates. We set and continually review objectives and targets to protect our global environment. We seek not only to comply with safety and environmental regulations, but also to implement in-house standards to continuously improve our environmental performance and reduce our environmental footprint.

We believe in renewable energy. We will continue our efforts to reduce energy use by combusting scrap wood and sawdust to generate power for our manufacturing facilities.

We believe that recycling is critical to pollution prevention: Computers, ink cartridges, batteries, paper, cotton, fabric & leather scraps, cardboard, pallets, fluorescent bulbs, cans, glass and bottles, etc. Every employee is empowered and motivated to recycle whenever possible and systems are in place to maximize our recycling efforts.

EFEC

Century Furniture is certified as an EFEC company.  EFEC is a voluntary environmental management system (EMS) for furniture manufacturers.  It was created with the purpose of maintaining and furthering the industry’s strong environmental performance.  The EFEC system is a set of management tools and principles that a company needs to integrate environmental concerns into its daily business practices.  EFEC provides a systematic approach to review and improve operations for better environmental performance and improved profitability.  Benefits are obtained by setting up procedures to get the work done and reviewing these procedures to ensure they are working properly.

In addition, many state regulatory agencies are creating benefits for companies that have an EMS in place. These benefits may include less reporting, fewer inspections, permit flexibility, faster permit approvals, government recognition, and reduced permit and application fees.

• Create a proactive environmental management system
• Implement an environmental system in a business setting to create new opportunities to increase company value
• Create a communication forum to showcase industry’s environmental commitment
• Serve as a foundation for future business requirements including environmental certification

Century Furniture’s main office and each of our manufacturing facilities have been EFEC certified since 2010.  In addition, Century Furniture was recognized as a Sustainable by Design company in October 2010.  Both EFEC and Sustainable by Design are audited and continuous improvement recognitions, which means our Century team is continually working towards higher and improved environmental standards for our company.

Rainforest Alliance 

The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the published aims of working to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.

• Through a Supply chain risk assessment the Rainforest Alliance helped us see potential areas of risk and how we could change future buying practices
• We worked together to develop and implement a Responsible Purchasing Policy for Wood Products
• The Rainforest Alliance certified Century Furniture as FSC® Chain of Custody Certified

All of these efforts are intended to ensure our positive effect on the global supply chain for wood products, ensuring that this precious resource will be here for use and enjoyment of future generations. We feel very proud of progress made in our own company and the influence we have had on the wider global supply chain.

We continue to work each day to find ways to be better stewards of our resources.  From our recycling programs to our high level work to ensure the chain of custody on our wood, Century is committed to continued improvement and environmental leadership.