Justin Smith, left, Cameron Cook and Peter Halunen are the Kuka Home leadership team.

Kuka Home, an international manufacturer of upholstery, dining and home accents, is unveiling an expanded showroom here and has announced a reorganization to further establish its brand in the North American market.

Company officials said that the expansion and reorganization are part of a company strategy to provide broader support for its dealers and to expand its product lines. In addition, the vertical manufacturer, based in Hangzhou, China, will expand both of its U.S. showrooms. For summer market here, Kuka Home has opened a 10,000-plus-square-foot showroom in B-770 that is more than 70% larger than the previous space.

“We’re a small team ready to grow in order to provide our domestic dealers with greater marketing support and newly expanded product lines,” says Peter Halunen, president of Kuka Home North America. “Our goal is to provide retailers with a full product offering that covers a wide variety of styles and collections. We’re working to create the in-store display materials that our dealers have requested to better market Kuka Home products in their stores.”

In order to expand the leather upholstery line, Justin Smith, Kuka Home executive vice president of sales, West territory, will assume additional responsibilities as North American leather sourcing manager. Smith, who has been with the company more than three years, plans to expand the company’s leather categories and capitalize on some better values available in the market.

“Justin’s experience with the tanneries and various materials will be critical as we look to expand our current selection,” said Halunen.

Cameron Cook has been named to the new position of vice president of marketing and sales for the East territory for Kuka Home, also reporting to Halunen.

“Cameron has the skill set, experience and energy to create the necessary marketing tool kit that will allow us to strategically expand our footprint in the U.S. by creating new whole home collections while vigorously supporting our dealers,” Halunen said. “She will be tasked with providing marketing strategies that include advertising, public relations, showroom presentation and trade promotion programs for dealers. She also will work closely with the East Coast retailers to better support the sales team and our partnership with these retailers.”

Cook was previously the marketing and communications manager at Natuzzis America. Prior to that role, she was the marketing communications manager for Four Hands, a senior account manager for Design Management Company and a marketing associate for Carolyn Kinder Inc.

Kuka is one of the leading upholstery manufacturers in China. Led by its founder, Yuhua Gu, who established Kuka in 1982, the vertically integrated company produces dining room, bedroom, home office, home entertainment, occasional, leather, upholstery and motion furniture, as well as home accents. Kuka operates four upholstery factories in China that cover 14 million square feet and two export factories that cover 2.15 million square feet. In total, the six factories employ more than 9,100 workers.

With more than 2,800 retail stores worldwide, both company-owned and franchised, the company exports to 119 countries and operates 15 offices worldwide. Kuka Home is a division of Kuka International, along with the company’s K-Motion division.

(Source: Furniture Today,  Author: Cindy W. Hodnett )