The year was 1982. Personal computers (PC's) were selling for $2,500. and no one had a place to put them when they got them home. Paul Bush, President and Owner of Bush Industries told me that a customer would pay up to 10% of the cost for a desk to put the computer on. He asked me to design a work desk that could easily be put together by the consumer, and sold in stores like K Mart and Sears for less than $250. I designed my computer workstation to display the new computer in the smallest floor space available, kept the noisy, shaky printer off to the side on its own stand and placed a hutch on top of the work station/desk. I chose a futuristic style that would also fit into a living, dining, family room environment. My client told me that for every 100 desks they would sell 5 hutches. Bush Industries introduced my "Home Base" computer furniture and Bush Industries sales went from $24 million per year to $48 million per year. They sold over 95 hutches to every 100 desks! Every competitive manufacturer rushed to copy my desk/hutch idea and more PC's are now operated at work stations of my design concept than anyone else's.
G.E. Appliances approached the executives at RUTT Custom Cabinetry to supply cabinets for three kitchens to display their new "Monogram" line of appliance products for their advertising. RUTT and G.E. contracted with me to design the three kitchens. The executives at RUTT told me that they wanted to also use these kitchens for their advertising. I designed and presented them to G.E. executives in Louisville, Kentucky. My challenge was to make a natural kitchen environment that could be photographed in such a way as to seem complete even though the back walls would be missing. For G.E. all the appliances had to be in view in the picture and for RUTT all the cabinetry had to be in view in the picture. My designs were unique. I placed an island in the center of the kitchen that was on casters, one side had the dishwasher and trash compactor, the other back side had all cabinetry. The sink and cook top were interchangeable. This "French Quarters" kitchen became the most published kitchen ever with a viewing audience for G.E. alone of over 140 million people. RUTT dealers had many clients saying, "I want my kitchen to be just like this one."
Budoff Outdoor Furniture Showroom. My client Budoff located in the Catskills of New York needed a four season showroom inside for their outdoor furniture. I had plenty of cieling height to work with so my design included the photo mural and a raised deck achieving the outdoor look for featuring their furniture.
When sales of contemporary cabinetry greatly exceeded that of traditional cabinetry the traditional production line was running well below capacity. My design solution was to design a contemporary product that could be manufactured on the traditional production line. This gave the new product line a completely new look. "Herringbone" was very successful and sales manufactured on the traditional production line increased, filling the available capacity. My client was recognized as an innovator of a new product direction.
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