For the 35th Annual ARTS Awards ceremony and gala, Cascale attended and sponsored a cocktail reception.

Given the Higg FEM supports soft furnishings – with a number of Cascale members already employing the tool for such uses – the sponsorship was a natural progression. The event was held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas as a finale to the January Dallas Total Home & Gift Market. Despite the severe, ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles and recent snowfall in Northern Texas, the turnout was strong. Honorees spanned the US with an array of featured award categories from lighting to home accent stores to outstanding sales professionals.

Special recognitions went to industry veterans. This included Lifetime Achievement award winner Andy Singer, founder and chief executive officer of Houston-based lighting manufacturer Visual Comfort; and Trailblazer award winner Lois del Negro, co-founder of Global Views.

Recounting her career in home furnishings, del Negro built her foundations from being the first woman to become a furniture buyer at Macy’s. In her acceptance speech, she proved her worth: “Especially the woman in HR at Macy’s who told me, ‘We will never make a woman a furniture buyer.’ I proved her wrong.”

Industry professionals will gear up for the next furniture-focused events including High Point Market happening April 26 to 30, 2025 and the ART Conference 2025 in Miami slated for May 21 to 23.

Other awards in the mix included the HEARTS Award which went to The H Foundation for its cancer-awareness fundraising efforts.

Interior designers and well-known personalities also made their appearance as presenters for the event. This included Thom Filicia, who is a member and ambassador of the Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC), and Carson Kressley, who may be recognized from TV shows such as Queer Eye and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.

Another notable honor included the Green Award which went to the wall decor manufacturer Phillips Collection based in High Point, N.C. “Every piece is a conversation, and we are dedicated to supporting sustainable ideals and practices,” said the president and CEO Mark Phillips in his acceptance speech. Appropriately, Sustainable Furnishings Council was a judge for the award, assisting during the extensive vetting process which will be due in November for the upcoming year.

As it turns out, the furniture world isn’t so far from the fashion world. Attendees were elegantly dressed – with the Texas flair including everything from lavish furs and sequins to bolo ties. One anecdote summarized this adjacency. In his final remarks, New Yorker-turned-Texan Visual Comfort’s Andy Singer said he got the idea for his business’s name from a fashion publication.