Surtex panel will explore design evolution

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 3/23/2011 3:29:08 PM

White Plains, NY - A panel of industry experts will review the state of American design during the upcoming Surtex show at the Javits Center in New York.
"American Embraces Design...Finally" will take place May 17. A continental breakfast begins at 8 a.m., with the program running from 8:30-10:00 a.m.
Tickets are $125 per person. Register at www.surtex.com.
For more information, contact Sikalis at 914-421-3297, penny_sikalis@glmshows.com, or visit www.SURTEX.com.
Panelists include:

• Richard Roman, president and CEO of Revman International, Inc., the marketing company he founded in l988 to partner with some of the industry's best-known brands, among them Marimekko, Laura Ashley, Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang and Candice Olson;
• David Bolotsky, founder and CEO of UncommonGoods.com, an online marketplace focused on creatively designed, high-quality merchandise at affordable prices;
• Lynn Shanahan, CEO of the C2 Group, a company that partners with and invests in both strategic and private equity firms, and provides operating management for its affiliates. She is currently acting president of Marimekko, North America;
• David Hedley, managing director of Artwork Design Ltd., a 25-year-old design studio located near the traditional textile center of Manchester, UK. Hedley and his business partner, Andrew Bell, have been participating in SURTEX since its inception;
• Elizabeth Bournaud of Francois Bournaud, Paris, since l973, a leading design resource for textiles, stationery, and other products, and an exhibitor at SURTEX since its inception;
• Michelle Ishay-Cohen, executive art director at Abrams, including such design-focused imprints as Stewart, Tabori & Chang;
• Tom Mirabile, Sr. VP of Global Trend and Design for Lifetime Brands, Inc.

Dan Rubinstein, editor-in-chief of Surface Magazine, will moderate.
"Design in America has come a long way in the 25 years since the first Surtex," said Penny Sikalis, vp of show organizer GLM and Surtex manager. "The Forum will look in both directions - back over the development of good American design, and forward, to see what the market for it will be in the future."