User:Keithduross/sandbox

Michael Amini:

Michael Amini Michael Amini, is a Los Angeles-based businessman, entrepreneur and designer. He is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Amini Innovation Corp., (AICO) a supplier of home furnishings, lighting, rugs and home accents. Amini started AICO as an accent table resource importing occasional tables in 1988 and today, the company has evolved into a full line company.

Personal life Amini was born in Tehran, Iran in 1956. As a young man, Amini left home to pursue higher education and explore new cultures, art and architecture. He traveled to Greece and France and later London, where he studied English for a year. In 1979, he traveled to the U.S. and attended college first in Virginia and then California where he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from California State University Long Beach. Amini married in 1995, and the couple have two sons and currently reside in Southern California.

Career Early in his career, Amini discovered engineering left him craving the elements of design and more creative pursuits. From engineering he ventured into the importing of high-end, luxury clothing and shoes that he sold to U.S. retailers. In 1988 Amini became interested in home furnishings and joined a Los Angeles based furniture manufacture as a sales representative. Just 3 months later, Amini ventured off to Asia to explore importing his own line of products and created AICO, Amini Innovation Corp. The business was started in a modest shared 6000-square-foot warehouse. Since those early days, AICO has grown under Amini’s leadership and vision and the company is now headquartered in a 320,000-square-foot facility in Pico Rivera, Calif., that boasts 86 shipping and receiving docks and ships product world wide. In 2010, Amini teamed up with actress and artist Jane Seymour to create the “Michael Amini and Jane Seymour, A Design Collaboration” 2 division under the AICO umbrella. The designs and styles were inspired by Hollywood’s elite social scene. In addition to his roles as Chairmen, CEO and head designer at AICO, Amini serves as president 3 of the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Foundation, an international, home furnishings industry wide organization created in 1990 to research, collect and preserve the industry’s history.

Philanthropy Giving back is a key component of Amini’s DNA. The humanitarian side of Amini was honored in 2004 with the Lifetime Achievement Award 4 by City of Hope, a Duarte, Calif.-based research hospital focused on finding cures for cancer, diabetes and HIV. In 2007, City of Hope opened the doors of the Michael Amini Transfusion Medicine Center 5. The three-story, 60,000-square-foot facility allowed City of Hope to consolidate its blood collection and procession programs to benefit patients and donors, as well as support its ongoing research programs. In 2013, Amini was honored by City of Hope with the Spirit of Life Award and in July of 2014, Amini was awarded an honorary doctorate degree 6 from City of Hope’s Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences.

Other honors In 2007, the International Home Furnishings Representatives Association honored Amini with its “Pillar of the Industry” award 7 for his commitment to the home furnishings industry, his community and mankind. Two years earlier, in 2005, Amini was awarded the Furniture Supplier of the Year Award by Furniture|Today, 8 a leading business-to-business publication covering the furniture industry. For an industry that had been dominated by the “old guard” manufacturers and “furniture families”, the award was a prestigious achievement for a company that was less than 20 years old at the time.

References 1.	http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-himi-amini-20150628-story.html 2.	http://www.post-gazette.com/life/homes/2016/04/04/The-Las-Vegas-furniture-market-shows-off-its-glitzy-glamorous-side-with-some-bold-sexy-designs/stories/201604040001 3.	http://hfbusiness.com/hfbnow/articleid/12540 4.	http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/363634-city-of-hope-plans-spirit-of-life-awards 5.	http://www.cityofhope.org/patients/cancers-and-treatments/departments-and-services/michael-amini-transfusion-medicine-center 6.	http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/490188-michael-amini-receives-honorary-doctorate-city-hope 7.	http://hfbusiness.com/News/Daily-News-Archive/articleid/8145 8.	http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/390548-innovative-aico-years-top-supplier 9. http://www.wsj.com/articles/furniture-worlds-king-of-bling-lists-gold-filled-california-palace-for-69-8-million-11622648724 10. http://robbreport.com/shelter/homes-for-sale/palais-de-cristal-newport-beach-69-8-million-1234619453/

External Links Michael Amini - https://www.amini.com Michael Amini Transfusion Medicine Center - https://www.cityofhope.org/patients/departments-and-services/michael-amini-transfusion-medicine-center≈≈≈≈ Keithduross (talk) 23:27, 1 July 2021 (UTC)