by HIGH POINT — Bill and Carolyn Hinks of Top 100 company Furniture Mart USA have donated $500,000 to the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Building Fund.
The gift will designate the central gathering space as the Bill and Carolyn Hinks Celebration Hall. The new permanent Hall of Fame home is located at 311 S. Hamilton St. in High Point, one block from the International Home Furnishings Center.
“When I first learned about the plans for a home for our industry, I thought it was amazing and that this project will give young people a focus and a sense of the legacies of our industry and the people who have made it great,” Bill Hinks said in a statement. “It’s going to be an inspiring showplace where we can meet during markets, and as a result, amazing things will happen. That’s what we want to do — to get people new to our industry involved and for all of us to be able to get to know one another and to have a place to share ideas.”
Hinks said Celebration Hall “will be the heart of our new home as a training ground and a center of leadership, events and activities.”
A 17,500-square-foot building on the site will be transformed into a 23,500-square-foot building with a two-story, Grand Story Wall, a digital matrix of videos and photography that faces the street to draw people inside. It will feature a Tribute Wall, theatre, interactive Discovery Eexhibits, a “Tell Us Your Story” video booth, a library, history center, the Leaders Board Room, and a coffee and cocktail bar.
Exhibits will be organized around four themes: the Industry, the People, the Process and the Products.
The project is in the final planning stages, with completion expected in 2022. The building is designed by Freeman Kennett Architects in High Point. The exhibits are being designed by Roto, an international exhibits firm based in Columbus, Ohio.
See the full release with a list of capital campaign donors here.
