DONATION TO RINGLING SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN

March 31, 2003 DECOR DIRECT ANNOUNCES DONATIONS TO RINGLING SCHOOL SUMMARY: Decor Direct, Sarasota's Young Business of the Year, has announced its March 2003 charitable donations to the Ringling School of Art and Design's “Evening at the Avant-Garde” Annual Student Scholarship Fundraiser.         Sarasota, Florida - Decor Direct, an importer of handcrafted furniture and accessories headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, is pleased to announce its charitable gifts donated to the Ringling School of Art & Design in March 2003.    Decor Direct donated a Tang Horse glazed ceramic statue for the Annual Student Scholarship Fundraiser for Ringling School of Art and Design.  The event, an "Evening at the Avant-Garde", was held on March 28 under starlit skies in Sarasota.  The 34” tall statue was a reproduction of an antique funerary object created during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) of China.      When the gavel dropped, the winning bid for the statue raised nearly $500 for the Ringling student scholarship fund. Decor Direct also donated the decorations for the event.      “We're pleased to be able to help support a driving force for the arts in Sarasota, especially since  our company has benefited from having staff members who graduated from Ringling work in our Florida office", said Decor Direct President Anthony J. Minicucci, by telephone from Thailand.        In addition to being a winner of the 2002 Young Business of the Year Award by Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, Decor Direct has also received other accolades, including the “Best of Show” award from the local American Society of Interior Designers. Minicucci was named to the Gulf Coast Business Review's "40-Under-40" list of local successful business people in 2002.    For more information about Decor Direct, please call Celeste Gruenstein at (941) 365-5757 or go to www.decordirect.net.