ASHEVILLE — Fairview’s Bruce Johnson is nationally known as the spokesman for Minwax furniture refinishing products. Locally, he’s highly visible as the organizer of this weekend’s Arts and Crafts Conference that showcases Mission-style furniture and brings several thousand visitors to the Omni Grove Park Inn each February.
But who knew that this fine furniture man once committed a youthful act of family furniture disrespect?
Growing up in Illinois, the teenage Bruce covered the lid of his father’s Arts and Crafts drop front desk with decals of his favorite baseball teams, ruining the finish.
“Years later I retrieved it from my parents’ attic and carefully restored it,” Johnson said earlier this week. Seven moves and four decades later, “it sits right here in my office,” he said, “a daily reminder of how important it is to save and restore our family heirlooms for future generations.”
Thinking historically
As this year’s Arts and Crafts Conference gets underway Friday, Johnson is also thinking historically. “In 1988, I started a three-day conference, thinking it was a one year deal,” he said, “and lo and behold, here we are 27 years later.”
That first effort drew 300
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