CFDA Newsletter

Announcements:

Next Meeting: December 8th - Corosh Restaurant

Program Schedule:

December: Hans Wegner and Danish Modern
Bridgette Buckley with help from John Kriegshauser will present Hans Wegner and Danish Modern furniture design. This was a golden age type moment in furniture design well worth knowing more about. We have a great opportunity to learn about this in that Bridgette actually studied in Denmark

January: Green Depot Sustainable Products
Jamie Stevens is arranging for us to meet at the Green Depot and they will present their lines of sustainable products with emphasis on those relevant to furniture making. Location and details will follow.

February: Primordial Design
David Orth - Aboriginal peoples & other non-western cultures have generated much striking and enigmatic design. How can we understand and learn from this today?

March: Current Thinking on Sustainable Furniture
Lisa Elkins - Lisa has stayed abreast of the latest developments in the production of sustainable furniture. This is your chance to be informed.

April: Chippendale and Rococo
Lloyd Natof - Who knew that Lloyd was keen on this period? I can't wait to hear what he has to say!

May: Turning: From Craft to Art Form
Richard Dlugo - Over the last 50 years turning has evolved from a folksy craft into an art from that appeals to serious collectors. Richard will chart how this has come about.

June: TBA

Unscheduled Programs:
- Dolly on the furniture of Ruhlmann: date to be determined
- Dolly's friend the plane maker: The intricacies of hand plane making and using revealed by a former student of James Krenov, who, not surprisingly, is a meticulous and exacting woodworker.

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CFDA Meeting Report:

CFDA Minutes - November 10, 2009

Fourteen members and three guests in attendance.

Chris Brandel called the meeting to order at 7:00, admitting that our meeting location is still up in the air. Corosh seems to be in the process of winding down in hopeful anticipation of a sale. Which, of course, means that we're opening up the possibility of moving our monthly meeting place.

We're actively looking for suggestions for locations that sport a food and beverage service, a private room, centrally located to the metro area and which has ample parking. Anyone with ideas or suggestions is wholeheartedly encouraged to step forward.

We talked about Tor Faegre's memorial, which was held on November 7th. It was well attended, with between 150 and 200 people paying respects to Tor. During his final weeks John did talk with him on a few occasions. But each time Tor reportedly dodged the issue of how to best remember him in terms of the CFDA and his contributions to the group.

We talked about a variety of ideas, including planting a tree in his honor at the Morton Arboretum, or to do some formalized volunteering in his name at Ragdale. As of the meeting night John was going to report Tor's passing to the Furniture Society, and since then they did a nice writeup.

Dolly segued into a general discussion about the Furniture Society, and that the Rising From Ashes show is being invited to the FS annual meeting next year. It'll be held at MIT, in Cambridge, Mass., the weekend of June 18-20 of 2010. Commitment, budget and all those good logistical things will need to be discussed in a very hurry-up manner, as the Furniture Society will need our answer very quickly.

Chris wanted to reiterate that the Yahoo Groups page is still available for any postings, questions and general communications. Everyone in the group is encouraged to use this handy resource.

John mentioned that the Milwaukee Art Museum is holding a show about sustainable design. Please see the MAM's website for further details.

Hal had recently set up a CFDA page on LinkedIn. Anyone who's a member of LinkedIn is encouraged to become a member of the new group.

Jamie tabled a very good suggestion. Out of everyone who's listed on the CFDA's website as a designer, very few actually have contact info listed. It was brought up that even if you don't have photos that you want to upload to the site, having a link to your website and personal contact information is a bare minimum that we all should strive to achieve.
Please - if you haven't done it already, fill out the contact info that's right on our CFDA website ( www.cfdainfo.org , for anyone still not sure..) and update your personal profile.

It is also recommended that each member join our yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cfdamembers/ and to check it frequently for updates and messages and to share information pertinent to the group.

And as our incoming President, Dolly will be polling us about what we like, dislike and want to get out of the CFDA. More will be forthcoming as she develops what she's after.

The business meeting concluded at 7:35

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Program:
Lisa Pekkala

Lisa is a member of our Board, and is a tax attorney at the downtown firm of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. She shared with us some overarching theories on the tax ramifications of the various ways we can set up our businesses.

The topic could have easily mired down in minutia and overly specific examples that may have been on point for one member and useless to another. So instead, Lisa elected to hit the highlights of some of the various considerations. This report summarizes many of her bullet points for the evening.

Choosing to set up shop as a Sole Proprietorship in Illinois is one popular choice. It's easy to form and maintain this status and there's nothing to report to the IRS that's apart from an individual tax return. But the downside is that there is no liability coverage in law, and there is no 'entity', so there is no longevity past the life of the individual.

A C-corporation appears to be a good alternative for a multi-member group with an officer and employee structure. The administrivia needed to maintain and adequately report to the IRS can be daunting. While there is liability protection in law, the tax structure can be disadvantageous. They can be costly to set up and maintain, as well as requiring more time and effort to keep in good standing. So this alternative is generally not advantageous to the individual or very small group.

Conversely, an S-corporation is comparatively simpler. Unlike the C-corp, the tax liabilities are simpler and easier to maintain. There still is liability protection under law, but there is a somewhat more rigid structure for shareholder classifications. And the Illinois Personal Property Replacement Tax (PPRT) may apply.

And then there is a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). This can cater to the needs of an individual or a set of partners (but it's not to be confused with a General Partnership). Its tax liability is simpler and there is liability protection under law. And unlike the prior corporate structures, it is permissible to allocate shareholder distributions and income and losses differently among the members. And interestingly, the members will owe a tax on the LLC's income regardless of whether the LLC makes a distribution of cash to the members.

Obviously each of the CFDA's members may want to further explore some of these concepts. The best solution would be to consult a CPA and talk about what the needs set is, and then he or she can direct you to the appropriate setup.

The meeting concluded at 8:20