Occupations: “Proprietors of Villa Terrazza Patio & Home.”

Special Interests/Hobbies: “Travel, renovating old houses, dabbling in real estate, boating.”

Problems Facing the Hearth Industry: “Global warming means we won’t need fireplaces!”

Forecast for Your Hearth Product Sales in 2015: “Strong, as the trend to convert wood-burning stoves to gas accelerates.”

Problems Facing the Patio Furniture Industry: “No sales tax, plus free shipping for Internet vendors makes for an un-level playing field. Consumers’ perception of Restoration Hardware as ‘quality furniture.’”

Forecast for Your Patio Furniture Sales in 2015: “Strong. We’re gearing for in-store purchases of floored sets as well as the special orders that have always been our category leader.”

Years Reading Hearth & Home: “10.”

Reasons for Reading Hearth & Home: “Articles offer great insight for increasing store traffic and sales. It provides great profiles of other stores, and is an excellent mouthpiece for manufacturers to express their viewpoints and philosophies. We see a lot of new product in the advertising before we go to markets, and frequently modify our show plan to make sure we see manufacturers whose new products we saw in the magazine.”

Article Idea(s): “Color trends/forecasts by region (starting with Europe).”