Robert Welch Designs, Award-Winning U.K. Housewares Firm, Opens Chicago Office

CHICAGO, Feb. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert Welch Designs Inc., an award-winning, U.K.-based housewares design firm, has opened a Chicago office to better serve its growing list of U.S. retailers.

Products for the U.S. market include the company's Signature Range, comprising Signature Knives, which until recently had been exclusive to Crate & Barrel stores, Signature Salt and Pepper Mills and Signature Utensils. All of these will be on display at booth 3662 at the 2012 International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago.

Robert Welch has supplied housewares to many U.S. customers for nearly 20 years, including Bloomingdales, Williams Sonoma, Macy's, The Mirage Las Vegas and Bellagio, Las Vegas.

Founded in 1955 by Robert Welch, Robert Welch Designs is a family-run business based in Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds, England. Over the past 15 years, the family -- directors Rupert Welch and Alice Welch -- has expanded the business to supply other retailers with cutlery and flatware of international renown.

"The Robert Welch mission has always been to combine a search for innovation with a sincere respect for the traditions of the past so that quality, ease of use and fine design are in harmony," says Alice Welch, Robert Welch Designs Director. "We believe that the discerning US market will appreciate our highly original products offering integrity of function and value-for-money for customers."

The Chicago office team is led by Mark Follett, Vice President and Sales Director, who has 10 years of national accounts and sales management experience and Danielle Follett, Operations Manager, who has six years' experience in the areas of planning, logistics and branding.

A multiple award winner each year in the U.K. for the quality, beauty and functionality of its cutlery and housewares, Robert Welch Designs has already garnered U.S. honors in 2011 and 2012. Awards include Best Booth Design at the International Home and Housewares Show, a GOOD DESIGN Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design for the Signature Salt and Pepper Mills and the HomeWorld Business Housewares Design Award, Best in Cutlery, for the Signature Knives.

Robert Welch's designs are in the permanent collections of the MoMA and the Smithsonian in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Robert Welch Designs Inc. Chicago offices are located at 200 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 3100, Chicago, IL 60606. For more information, visit www.robertwelch.com.

SOURCE Robert Welch Designs Inc.