The 1920s
Howe was founded in the 1920s by Harold Howe. Howe started out making card tables, snack tables, bedside tables, folding cribs, wooden hat racks, sewing tables and just about any furniture that folded. One early Howe slogan was: “IF IT FOLDS, ASK HOWE”.
Howe entered the Hospitality market in the 1930s when Oscar, world-famous general manager of the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, approached Harold Howe with his need for a folding banquet table. In collaboration with the owner of DeSaussure, Mr. Howe came up with the table that we know today as the 200 series. In the late 1960s one big job for Howe was for the Waldorf Astoria. This 2100 unit table order was the replacement order for the original tables ordered in the 1930s! Many of the bases still worked beautifully, but the tops were too worn to keep.
Howe continued growing in the Hospitality market and in the war years of the ‘30s and ‘40s developed and manufactured “Victory” tables – specialized banquet tables for PT boats and submarines.
This decade marked the introduction of the 500 Series. Howe was approached by Skidmore, Owings, Merrill to design a folding 4-legged table that didn’t appear to be a folding table. Their client was Union Carbide. The design of the 500 Series table was Howe’s first entry into the A & D Community.
Howe manufactured school, college and library furniture in the 1960s. Their solid reputation in this field prompted IBM to ask Howe to develop a custom training table for them. At the time, IBM was implementing co-ed training sessions, and needed a training table that folded but also had a modesty panel. Howe designed the DT table for IBM and it was a huge success in the ’60s and ‘70s.
By the 1970s Howe was firmly entrenched in both the Contract and Hospitality markets with a solid reputation for producing innovative tables for meeting and training. Tempest, the Cadillac of folding t-leg tables, was introduced in the 1970s. It remains the market standard and has been copied by virtually every competitor we have. Avaliable in stationary, flip and folding, with a multitude of edge profiles and colors, tops of plastic laminate or wood veneer, in rounds, squares, racetracks and rectangles, Tempest was able to meet any need from cafeteria to training to conference room.
In the 1980s Howe joined efforts with Niels Diffrient to produce the Diffrient table. This table provided a sleek high-tech look and optional wire management capabilities in an aesthetic and functional package. It came in folding, flip and stationary models. It matched market needs in the business and training sectors, and set the tone for Howe’s leadership in the growing market of training.
The award winning Tutor Table system, another Niels Diffrient collaboration, was introduced in 1992. This lightweight, folding training table, which also has wire management capabilities, won a Gold award in the IDEA awards sponsored by Business Week, plus many other design awards. Its accompaniment is a wall mounted Tutor track system. Functional, simplistic, yet able to accommodate varying levels of wall system needs, the Tutor Track system consists of products licensed from Anders and Kern of Germany.
Howe introduces the highly anticipated Utility Collection™, a diverse grouping of height adjustable tables, carts, and a presentation system, designed to easily adapt to the ever-changing needs of today’s work environment. Utility’s k-leg table is available as an innovative folding table incorporating an in-leg height adjustment mechanism, an ideal design for those with limited space and varying training requirements.
In 1998 Howe/Johnson was acquired by Falcon Products, a commercial furniture manufacturer located in St. Louis, MO.
Howe Furniture Corporation ·5303 East Morris
Blvd, Morristown, TN 37813
A
CFGroup brand - visit us at http://www.commercialfurnituregroup.com