Believe it or not it has been almost three years since our last retail survey (As of this writing the Futon Association’s manufacturer’s survey is still a work in progress). This year we are sending a postage paid card to over 21,000 retailers nationwide (in fact, it is stitched into this book). The survey itself asks ten simple and easy to answer questions. The results and their statistical impact will be included in our Spring, 1998 issue (V10 N1) which is delivered to High Point in April and the Futon EXPO in May. In the simplest of terms we are attempting to profile just who is selling futon furniture at retail, what they are selling and at what price, and who the typical futon furniture customer is. To help things along we are giving away a color TV to a lucky participating retailer. The deadline for participation is March 9, 1998. Keep those cards and letters coming in. We are also offering our advertisers survey cards to put in their invoices so we can cover the entire market. Getting a handle on this category has always been a chore. If the FAI survey results arrive this Spring along with the results of our retail survey we may finally have the benchmark numbers we so sorely need to help establish our category as a vital and growing part of the home furnishings industry-at-large.

Wood: Don’t believe everything you hear

We received many words of praise for our story on wood (V9 N3, Autumn 1997). If you read the article you probably noticed I was very careful to steer clear of any definitive statements regarding which wood, if any, was better than another. One issue that was called to my attention was the omission of two very popular “species”, those being “Southern Yellow Pine” and “Rubberwood.”

Well after much additional research I must report the following. As far as I can tell “Southern Yellow Pine” and “Rubber Wood” are not actual species at all. To clarify, in the case of Southern Yellow Pine, we are talking about a generic name for four or five named species. Those species, Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) and Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana, considered a minor species), are all called Southern pine by the lumber trade.

Regarding Rubberwood , we came up with just about the same results. There is no species specifically called rubberwood (by name). We did discover that several species (one being Jelutong, Dyera costulata) that produce different types of latex are sometimes called rubberwood, but once again the name (rubberwood) seems to be a general term used to describe several species of wood. Overall I will stand on the information presented in the article. If anyone is an expert on wood I am open to correction, but this is what my research has turned up.

1998: Ten years of the Futon Life

This Spring we will be celebrating ten years of coverage of the world of futon furniture. As I looked back on those many issues I came to the sobering conclusion that the cover of the very first issue asked a question that we are still trying to answer. That cover (part of a twenty four page black and white publication) showed a sign post with the question “Where are we headed next?” Of the eleven advertisers that participated in that first issue (thank you very much) only three are presently still selling futon furniture (Lofa Sales, Horndove and Shamiana). Tilt Chair and From The Source are gone, and the rest have drifted into the home furnishings equivalent of a Black Hole. Many have stepped in to take up the slack, and today we are busy publishing our quarterly rag in full color to the tune of seventy or so pages, with a mailing list of over twenty-one thousand furniture retailers. We work very hard at this and our thanks go to all the people who help us create it, including our cadre of faithful advertisers who help us fuel the fires of this living chronicle of a little slice of the American Dream. (Did I say that?)

And Now For Something Completely Different

Someone once said, “Change is the only constant.” Well things are about to change at Futon Life. For the past nine years we have sported a rather unique masthead. (The first year’s masthead is seen above.) I have often reminded cover photographers to “Beware the rectangular masthead. Its right in the middle of the top of the page.” A couple of people have not taken it into consideration and we’ve had to do some quick Photoshop¨ work to solve the problem. Hey, nobody wants their head behind the big FL. Well the Spring issue, our ten year anniversary issue, will have a new look. And also, by then, the Pats will have won the Super Bowl.