HIGH POINT — Against the backdrop of the Best Home Furnishings showroom featuring floral prints, rich velvets and an underlying ambiance of home and hearth, Ben and Erin Napier, the familiar faces of HGTV’s Mississippi-based Home Town series, met with buyers and shared their story about why it is important to them to support American manufacturing.

“It has been a dream partnership,” said Erin Napier, referencing the launch of the couple’s upholstery collection with Best. “For one thing, they make everything in Indiana. American-made is extremely important to us, the most important, and then the next most important thing was I needed them to be able to understand the heart behind my idea for this upholstery collection.”

Napier’s vision for the upholstery includes a yellow-and-white striped sofa, painted flowers on a chaise and contrast welts that create vibrant color focal points on silhouettes. The nod to nostalgia feels familiar and yet also fresh, an aesthetic that is in demand with consumers.

“I just am craving something about childhood — in the ’90s when everything was more colorful, life was less complicated,” Erin said. “And those are the movies and the TV shows that we all return to over and over — You’ve got Mail and the Gilmore Girls — and what I noticed, those living rooms always were full of color, especially the sofas, the armchair.”

Napier’s nod to nostalgia is a popular trend in today’s marketplace and mirrors consumer sentiment of home as a haven and refuge from an often chaotic “outside” society. The fabrics are soft, kid-and-pet friendly, the patterns and stripes that hide things like dropped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, according to Erin, and work for one of her family’s “best night at home.”

“It actually is cold enough to put a fire in the fireplace, so we have a real fire burning real wood,” said Napier. “We turn on a wonderful, cozy movie or show, maybe Downton Abbey. We eat breakfast for supper. We wear our pajamas, and that is a perfect night for me.”

Ben agreed with the perfect night-at-home itinerary, adding that the partnership with Best underscores the couple’s belief that family and community are an important part of made in American products.

In addition to Best, the Napiers partner with Vaughan-Bassett, York Wallcoverings and Natco Home for rugs. Best Home Furnishings manufactures in Ferdinand, Ind., while Vaughn Bassett is based in Galax, Va., and Natco produces in Georgia and Maine.

“Honestly, we’ve been overwhelmed by the excitement and support we’ve seen in the first 24 hours of the launch,” Erin said. “It’s been unreal, and we are so honored. We’ve heard people say we are the face of American-made in the home space right now, and that’s such a huge honor.”

“For us, American-made is not a political move or a trendy move,” said Ben. “It’s that these are the people we live with.”

Article by Furniture Today: https://www.furnituretoday.com/designers/a-match-made-in-america-napiers-say-domestic-manufacturing-is-a-must/