by At the April market customers will be introduced to its new Chat Chair mix along with additions to its Flexion Home collection
HIGH POINT — Dining furniture specialist Chromcraft is reinvigorating its assortment with new seating concepts to be launched at the April High Point Market.
The additions include its new Chat Chair line that expands its seating to other areas of the home including living rooms, bedrooms and lounge areas.
Modeled after lounge type of seating in hotels and the lobby areas of office spaces, the company said that the Chat Chair line features its Craft Tilt 360 swivel tilt mechanism and a Micro Coil spring support system that provides “smooth swivel and tilt motion, ergonomic support and long-term durability.”
“Chat Chair is a natural evolution of what Chromcraft has always done best — comfort that works in everyday life,” said Scott Kruger, executive vice president of sales and marketing. “We’re taking the trusted comfort of our dining chairs and bringing it into the spaces where people relax and spend the most time at home.”
The company showed these chairs in several vignettes at premarket, often placing them in pairs suggesting the social/conversational nature of the chairs themselves, hence the name Chat Chair. This mimics similar seating in hotel lobby areas, positioned where people can sit side by side reading, looking at their phones or conversing.
“Consumers don’t think in terms of categories — they think in terms of how they live,” Kruger said. “Chat Chair responds to this shift by offering a dynamic alternative to static accent chairs, encouraging movement, flexibility and longer, more comfortable use.”
There are seven Chat Chair models and five smaller-scale Banter Series Chat Chair models for a total of 12 styles. Featuring 1-inch memory foam seating, they are available in top-grain leather and more than 100 fabrics. Fabric models are targeted to retail from $699 to $999 and $899 to $1,599 for top-grain leather.
All capable of shipping direct to the consumer or direct to the dealer, these also have a choice of bases, covers and styles.
Other key features include a core of 4.5-inch, 1.8 density foam; 1-inch memory foam, plus plywood and bolt frames with easy assemble wedge inter-fitting hardware. Lead times are about two to four weeks depending on the frame.
The second major offering is its modular Flexion Home collection. This is built around a single, armless modular piece, with retails ranging from $599 to $799 for each section.
The company said the program is supported by “a full e-commerce website platform, delivering customizable designs, direct-to-consumer ordering, and a retailer participation program that shares margin and drives traffic back to local dealers.”
Designed for “comfort, flexibility, customization and modern living environments” it has several core elements that the company describes as:
+ Modular, reconfigurable seating for indoor and outdoor applications.
+ Patented functionality designed for adaptability and ease of use.
+ Customization made possible with a variety of slipcovers and performance fabrics.
+ Direct-to-consumer fulfillment with integrated dealer participation.
“Customers expect furniture to adapt to their lives — not the other way around,” Kruger noted. “Flexion Home delivers that flexibility, while also creating a new model for how retailers can participate in both showroom and direct-to-consumer sales.”
At market, the company is showing both concepts in its showroom in Space 237 at the Centers of High Point Hamilton.
“These innovations are not about moving away from our heritage,” Kruger said. “They are about building on it — taking what Chromcraft has always done well and applying it to how people live today.”
