INTRODUCING BAKER STUDIO: Baker Launches New Program Aimed At A Sophisticated Casual Lifestyle


CHICAGO (March 26, 2007) - Baker unveiled an innovative new program, dubbed Baker Studio, at the Spring 2007 International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C. Drawing on the company's longstanding reputation for both design and quality, Baker Studio represents a new approach to the market for non-traditional casual furniture.

More than a collection, the new program adopts a wholly different architecture - three broad themes, each suggesting but never defining a style, connected by a small core of versatile designs at home in any of the three themes. Baker Studio openly emphasizes a large assortment of distinctive fashion product. Without the constraints imposed by a particular style, the program will explore more diverse design ideas considerably more often.

Each theme approaches the market for non-traditional casual design in a different way.
Escape evokes the sense of an exotic, romantic, imagined place with a way of making a day at home something of a day apart.
Reunion marks the celebration of things found and familiar, a comfortable place with memories polished only by the passage of time.
Reflection captures a serene, uncluttered way of living, balanced and natural, artistic in its essence rather than its ornament.

The program emerges as something more designer-led and more creative than anything heretofore seen in the casual category.

"However diverse a collection might try to be, it inevitably falls back on a narrow style, a narrow finish, or all too often both," said Kevin Ward, President, Baker Knapp & Tubbs. "By contrast, the Baker Studio program sets aside all of that - acknowledging that the affluent consumer wants to define a unique look with his furniture rather than have unique furniture define him. The Baker Studio effort is about what you can do with it."

"The consumer has become creatively purposeful, no longer viewing home furnishings as either disposable at one extreme or an heirloom at the other," added Marta Szwaya, Vice President - Business Development, Interiors. "While Baker has always appealed to the connoisseur, Baker Studio demands nothing of the consumer other than a desire to live well. The program offers enormous versatility, a casual attitude that allows for easy mixing, and a strong decorative flavor that encourages each of us to find our own voice. More than eclectic, Baker Studio is a new business proposition."

As a new business proposition, Baker Studio is designed to appeal to new customers in new markets. "Baker has always tried to create rather than simply enter markets," said James Nauyok, Vice President - Marketing & Visual Display, Baker Knapp & Tubbs. "Here, our own internal design team has created an approach for sophisticated people who know more about fashion than furniture and care more about experiences than things. For the first time, Baker should be the first choice for a downtown loft, a resort area, or a second home."

Baker Knapp & Tubbs, Inc. includes Baker furniture, Baker Knapp & Tubbs Showrooms, and Baker Stores. Along with McGuire Furniture Company, Ann Sacks tile, stone and plumbing company and Kallista plumbing, it is part of the Kohler Interiors Group and wholly owned subsidiary of Kohler Co., a global leader in kitchen and bath designs.

Founded in 1873 and headquartered in Kohler, Wis., Kohler Co. is one of America’s oldest and largest privately held companies. Kohler is a global leader in the manufacture of kitchen and bath products, engines and power generation systems, cabinetry, tile and home interiors, and international host to award-winning hospitality and world-class golf destinations.