I headed to Las Vegas last week for the AWFS (Association of Woodworking and Furnishing Suppliers) Fair, one of the biggest events for our industry. There are always new products to see and great ideas to bring home, and this year, I also got a chance to promote the Cabinet Makers Association (CMA) in my role as a board member.

I enjoyed all of that, but there was another very important highlight of my trip: Four first-place “Wood Diamond” awards from the CMA, which held its awards dinner during AWFS.

 

As I’ve said before, the awards mean even more because we know our fellow cabinet makers truly “get it” – they look at our work and understand the time and attention to detail we put into it.

So what is a Wood Diamond Award? “The CMA was founded on the principles of sharing one’s experiences and ideas with other members in an effort to promote success and professionalism in the woodworking business,” says the association’s Executive Director, Amanda Conger. “The Wood Diamond Award program allows yet another outlet for that purpose to be fulfilled.”

CMA members who were not participating in the competition served as judges; this year, the awards recognized 34 award winners from 17 member companies.

Here are the details on our awards and the projects that were recognized:

1st place ~ Kitchen: European (Under $25,000)
Wildwood

1st place ~ Bar, Residential: European ($25,000 – $50,000

Project 36

1st place ~ Fireplace Surround: European (Under $25,000)
Project 36

1st place ~ Closet: European (Under $25,000)

Wildwood closet and mudroom

I’ve said this when we’ve won awards in the past, and it rings true any time our work is recognized. Without design-savvy clients, designers, architects and all of the other talented people we partner with on projects (and their commitment to quality), Dark Horse would not have award-worthy work, so we share this recognition with all of them.

~ Chris Dehmer and the Dark Horse team