Ballard Designs

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Ballard Designs
Type	Subsidiary
Founded	1983 Atlanta, Georgia
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Industry	Retail
Products	Furniture, home furnishings, decor, art.
Website	http://www.ballarddesigns.com

Ballard Designs is part of the Cornerstone Brands business of publicly held IAC/InterActiveCorp and distributes 40-million copies a year of its monthly catalog.

A multi-channel retailer based in Atlanta, Georgia, Ballard Designs specializes in European-inspired home furnishings and accents. The company was founded in 1983 by Helen Ballard Weeks and sells its merchandise through a monthly mail-order catalog, website, two retail stores in Florida and two outlet stores in Georgia.

About 75% of the company's total assortment is exclusive and often designed in-house by Ballard Designs. The percentage is even greater for furniture, which is sourced through factories in the United States and around the world, including Europe, Asia and South America.

1 History
2 Product Line
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

In 1982, the Buckhead condo of Atlanta socialite Helen Ballard Weeks was featured in a spread in Metropolitan Home magazine. She fielded so many calls for decorating help, she quit her job and published the first issue of the Ballard Designs catalog, a two-page, black-and-white brochure, in August 1983.

In 1997, Ballard Designs merged with Cornerstone Brands Inc., a publisher of specialty catalogs, including Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Smith + Noble, The Territory Ahead and TravelSmith.

In March 2005, IAC/InterActiveCorp announced it was acquiring Cornerstone.

In March 2005, Ballard Designs published its first seasonal Outdoor Living catalog.

In July 2007 and January 2008, Ballard Designs opened two retail stores in International Plaza in Tampa and St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, respectively. The retail stores were designed to mimic a European open-air market.

In late 2007, Ballard Designs launched Style Studio, a decorating center on the company's website, to offer decorating advice and trends to their customers.

[edit] Product Line

Ballard offers furniture, rugs, wall art, lighting, textiles, tableware and decorative accessories.

The furniture is largely a classic style of reproductions inspired by old world antiques. Influences are French and Italian. Distressed wood finishes and washed-out earth tones are trademark looks.

Ballard Designs is known for its solution-oriented, stylishly designed home office furniture and organization categories. Also, the retailer is one of the first to launch a custom upholstery program, with over 70 mix-and-match fabrics available.