2.22.05 | New York Times | WHEN Bob Duncan was studying engineering management at the University of Texas in the mid-1980's, Japanese competition had American businesses terrified. To the confident young Mr. Duncan, however, Japanese manufacturing was not a threat but an inspiration. Within a couple of years, he had an idea for his own company. He decided to do for leather furniture what Japanese companies had done for cars, steel and shipbuilding: shake up a staid, complacent industry by rethinking the manufacturing process. In 1990, with another Andersen consultant, Sanjay Chandra, as his partner, Mr. Duncan set out to turn this concept into a business, the Dallas-based American Leather.  By VIRGINIA POSTREL

2.16.05 | BusinessWeek | You would think that Guy Dollé, the cerebral CEO of Europe's leading steelmaker, Arcelor, would have mixed feelings about Lakshmi N. Mittal. After all, when Mittal announced last fall that he was creating the world's largest steel company by buying U.S.-based International Steel Group Inc. (ISG ), the Indian-born investor knocked Dollé's company into second place. But Dollé applauded. "It's a very positive signal to the industry that it has to move and consolidate," he says. "In coming years you will see a speeding up of mergers and acquisitions in the steel industry." <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript"> if (!window.adOb) document.write('<scr'+'ipt language="javascript" src="/common_scripts/adlogic.js"></script>'); </script>

2.16.05 | Interior Design | Instead of the usual run-of-the-mill portable stalls lining streets outside, tents at the marquee New York event had bathrooms worthy of the high fashion gliding down the runway. Part of a savvy marketing role-out by Kohler Co., a global leader in kitchen and bath design, the mobile bathrooms pulled up to the tents in Bryant Park. “Our sponsorship allows us to align ourselves even more closely with the fashion industry and an audience with a keen interest in creating spectacular design statements," says Kohler president David Kohler. By MAIRI BEAUTYMAN  (We see a trend: Charmin also had a mobile bathroom trailer at the Superbowl.)

2.14.05 | Designlink | Among other news in Herman Miller’s monthly newsletter, contemporary architecture will soon receive the U.S. Postal Service stamp of approval. In May, Masterworks of Modern American Architecture, a specially issued "stamp pane," will feature "breathing photographs" of twelve "outstanding buildings" of the 20th century.