HOWE timeline
HOWE's European organisation was founded in 1989 as a wholly owned subsidiary of HOWE Furniture, which began its operations in the US almost 80 years ago.
1920s
HOWE Furniture was founded in the 1920s in Trumbull, Connecticut, 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".
1930s
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 solution. 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.
1940s
During World War II, HOWE developed the VICTORY tables for submarines - a truly innovative and space-saving table system called Series. Actually, the Japanese surrender was written on our VICTORY table on board U.S.S. Missouri. In that respect, HOWE did play a minor role in the re-establishment of the peace.
1950s
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.
1960s
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.
1970s
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. Tempest is able to meet any need from cafeteria to training to conference room.
HOWE Furniture started sales activities in Europe in the 1970s on a licence agreement with Seit International, which also had the rights to sell the famous 40/4 stack chair by David Rowland outside the Northern American territory and Indonesia.
1980s
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.
In 1989, HOWE Furniture acquired Seit International's production facilities and operations in Middelfart, Denmark, and HOWE Europe a/s became a reality selling both table systems and the 40/4 chair.
1990s
The acquisition of the Danish facilities led to strong growth in the 1990s. The European activities just grew and HOWE Europe a/s became a strong brand within space-saving and multi-functional furniture solutions specified by the A&D Community.
In early 1998, HOWE merged with a large conglomeration of companies under the Falcon Companies name, with the clear strategic objective of expanding HOWE's/Falcon Companies' leading positions within the furniture sector. Falcon Companies was established in 1959 by Frank Jacobs in St Louis, USA, and was a furniture company with a pioneering spirit. Falcon Companies owned nine production sites around the world and was a market leader within hospitality and lodging, food service and the contract market. Falcon Companies was also in the top 10 within the healthcare and education sectors.
2000s
HOWE Europe a/s changed name to HOWE a/s. In 2005, Falcon Companies was acquired by CF Group, USA. CFGroup is a leading furniture company within hospitality and lodging, food service and the contract market. The brands of CF Group are HOWE, Shelby Williams, Thonet and Falcon.
During this period HOWE in Europe and HOWE in the US has developed into two independent brands, following different concepts and go-to-market strategies.
The European located HOWE a/s became a more and more important brand within furniture solutions for the educational, public, hospitality and corporate sector with its design-led space-saving and multi-functional furniture designs. HOWE a/s developed several new furniture concepts as the Simpla table, Plico table, Moveo table, Tutor table and the Genus chair and Motio chair and sold these on the American market through CF Group.
