Made By Hickory Chair

Thanksgiving Holiday

Hickory Chair will be closed from Thursday, November 26 through Sunday, November 29 in observance of Thanksgiving.  We wish a very happy and safe holiday to everyone.

Thanks To You!

 

 

Our talented craftsmen at Hickory Chair give thanks to you, the visionary that can see our classic form and see how that form would be perfect for your room.  We give thanks to the way you thoughtfully select from ourdiverse finish and hardware options to design an heirloom quality piece for us to make by hand.  We enjoy making these special pieces because it allows them the creativity to do something outside of standard.  Because we make almost 90% of our entire product assortment here in Hickory, North Carolina, we can offer you the opportunity to personalize pieces just for you!

   
 
For example, the Tuxedo Cabinet by Suzanne Kasler is made as a Chest and as a tall cabinet that is available with your choice of bar interior or an armoire/entertainment center interior.  We offer 68 finish options along with our Customer's Own Hardware^TMprogram.  With these options you can make a really unique piece. However, recently we have had the opportunity to take personalization to the next step!

In this example, the designer provided a finish panel for us to match and then requested that we hand stripe it in our solid Ivory paint.  Another client asked that we add clear mirrors behind the pulls on the doors. 

 

Unleash your creativity!  Let us help you create a distinctive heirloom quality piece for your project!

Giving Thanks to Tobi Fairley

Today we, Hickory Chair, and Cathy Whitlock, author of Re-De-Sign, were the subject of Tobi Fairley's blog!  Tobi is a very talented interior designer, licensee, blogger, speaker, wife and mother!  We have had the great fortune of knowing Tobi for the last six years.  In her post today, she chronicled Cathy's new book about the interior design field.  The book has enjoyed great exposure and reviews in the weeks since its release.  We were honored to hold a book signing for Cathy during the October International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, North Carolina. 

Tobi Fairley & Cathy Whitlock in Hickory Chair Showroom  
  

In Tobi's blog today she shares her experience getting to know fellow bloggers Habitually Chic, Life In A Venti Cup, Coco + Kelley and La Dolce Vita.   She shares her conversations with Alexa Hampton, Suzanne Kasler and Thomas O'Brien.   She shares her support of  the Hickory Chair team as well as  pictures of many of these talented designers and the Hickory Chair Showroom. 

As we look toward the Thanksgiving holiday next week, Tobi does a great job inspiring me to realize how very fortunate we are at Hickory Chair.  We have over 400 craftsman here in Hickory, North Carolina that have the talent to make one-of-a-kind hand made pieces to order.  On our team we have the amazing talents of Alexa Hampton, Thomas O'Brien, Mariette Himes Gomez and Suzanne Kasler to guide us into product areas that they have mastered.  We have licensing programs with Albert Sack, the Winterthur Museum and the James River Plantations.  We have earned the respect of magazine editors and blog authors that enjoy sharing our products, designers and stories with their readers.  We give thanks to the designers, furniture stores, department stores, boutique stores and to the trade showrooms that share our products and options with their loyal clientele.  Giving Thanks to Tobi Fairley has made me excited for the holiday where my family and friends will gather to share our blessings and gifts.  I am sure that if you stop and reflect today, you will think of many things you are thankful for as well.  Does it not feel good? 

Holiday entertaining with Hickory Chair's James River Collection pieces

 

Sharing Design Solutions

Many of you are aware of HCC University where designers, sales associates and owners travel to Hickory, North Carolina for our program that includes tours of our workroom and showroom along with other exciting seminars.  Last week we had the great pleasure of having another energetic group participate!  One of our new friends, Kristin Drohan of Boulevard Furnishings, shared her blog with us today.  Her post, New Before & After, she shared the home of a client who wanted a fresh and updated look for their family room and living room.  For both rooms she had custom pieces made along with selecting four of our Hickory Chair Oxford Chairs .   As you can see in the "after" image, the soft gray velvet is beautiful as contrasted against the warm yellow walls.  The gold leaf mirror was painted white for a less traditional look.  The use of four chairs around a round cocktail ottoman or table creates a comfortable conversation area.  Have you ever thought about how guests sit on sofas?  One person typically sits at each arm and no one in the middle (unless there is an event on television that a group is watching together)! 

After:

In the "before" image shown below, you can see the amazing transformation Kristin made for her very happy clients!  One does not have to have a BIG budget to make BIG changes! 

Before:

What Is The 1930's Chair?

I must say that mentioning a chair that we had made continuously since before 1930 sparked some interest! This is the cover of the oldest Hickory Chair catalog. It is ledger size made with loose pages and brass brads. It is all black and white with a duotone cover, but even so, you can see the meticulous carving and beautiful crotch mahogany veneers on the wood pieces. You can see the clarity of the finishes and crisp tailoring of the pieces. This foundation has proven to be very solid in the almost 80 years since this catalog was published!

The 2418-00 Occasional Chair is the piece with the greatest longevity in our line. Made continuously since before 1930 it has endured the test of time. A part of the James River Collection today, it actually predated the collection and was made a part of it in the 1940's. Small scaled, it has been perfect for a bedroom chair, vanity or living room. It has beautifully carved legs and arm stumps. Meticulous hand nailed nail trim accentuates the curves of the back, arms and seat. There is not a single straight line anywhere on this chair!

Today the 2418-00 Occasional Chair is still made here in Hickory, North Carolina by talented craftsmen who carve, sand, assemble, cut the cover, sew, upholster and hand nail each chair to order. As we look forward to our 100th anniversary in 2011, it is very special to realize that we have the talent and timeless forms such as this little occasional chair that we can make to order for you.

It Is A Personal Choice...

Recently I traveled to St. Louis where I had the great pleasure of visiting some Hickory Chairdealers.  Many of the designers and sales associates I visited are graduates of our HCC University training event we hold at Hickory Chair's home base.  During this two day event we tour the extensive 600,000 square foot workroom where we make almost 90% of our product line.  In addition to the tours, we spend time in our showroom, on our options and flexibility as well as the web site, catalogs and other support we offer to our dealers around the world. 

It was like a family reunion when I was able to visit our St. Louis HCC University graduates.  One of these graduates, Maria DeGange, shared with me her website and blog.  She also shared with me some pictures of a customer's home she completed recently.  The customer loved traditional 18th Century pieces but wanted a fresh, modern look.  Maria quickly turned to Hickory Chair as we have the timeless pieces AND the ability to make them personalized for the individual home.  In this example, Maria chose to use the Hunt Chair by Suzanne Kasler as host chairs instead of the matching Chippendale Arm Chairs.  She chose our Dark Walnut finish, sent to us a zebra print fabric and a monogrammed contrasting fabric and then requested that we use our pewter nail head trim to finish the pair of chairs.   These graphic chairs against the red and white walls make the room very fresh and modern feeling. 

 

What is your design challenge?  I am sure your local designer can help you find a solution with Hickory Chair!

My Very Own Hickory Chair Story - Part 2

After sharing Lauren's story yesterday, I started thinking more about that 1857-55 Chippendale Wing Chair. I investigated to see how long Hickory Chair had been making this wing chair. Since November 2, 1982 this wing chair has been made to order for clients. Twenty-seven years seems like a very long time until you consider that we have been making furniture since 1911! We actually have a chair that is pictured in our 1930 catalog! As this is the oldest catalog in existence, we really do not know when we began making that chair!

I thought more about how many other ways that I have seen the 1857-55 Chippendale Wing Chair upholstered over the years. I found a few pictures that helped me realize how a timeless form may be personalized for the home it is being made for. For example, the picture of the pair of chairs at the upper left were in a nice white sateen with a red and white braided welt cord. I can see this pair of chairs in a beautiful, traditional living room.

In the next picture, shown right, is an example where the designer sent COL hair-on-hide to Hickory Chair to upholster on the chair. They chose a contrasting solid leather for the seat cushion. I can almost see the snow falling outside the big picture windows at the mountain home where this chair might be located or perhaps this chair found a home on a ranch where the family spends their weekends and holidays!

In this example, the designer asked that we make the chair with a tight seat and eliminate the loose seat cushion entirely. They chose a reproduction French flour sack type fabric and used nail head trim to punctuate the fine lines of the shapes of the chair. These chairs could have shipped anywhere!

At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide what your style is and ask for it. It is not necessary to settle for off the shelf items when you have a workroom in Hickory, North Carolina eager to make your vision a reality!

My Very Own Hickory Chair Story

Lauren McKay, one of the talented designers at Design Lines Ltd. in Raleigh, NC, recently shared her Hickory Chair story with us. She found at an antique store a vintage Hickory Chair wing chair made in 1996. She saw past the dated blue damask fabric to see the fine proportion and scale of the chair. She knew it's quality of construction and quickly purchased it for her home. Turning over her prize possession to her local upholsterer along with her carefully chosen COM, the end result is a modern form for her home today.

The craftsman was able to strip and recover the chair because of the solid wood frame with mahogany legs and stretcher. Each solid wood frame part was made from maple, cherry or poplar kiln dried lumber and was meticulously shaped to have the same curves and form as the final upholstery as shown in the pictures. Like the vintage wing chair reproduced by Hickory Chair that Lauren found, the construction integrity that is still made in the creation of the frame, the wood gives the shape not the padding!

In the 18th Century, a craftsman would have only had horsehair, hay, grass, rags or spanish moss to use for padding - the wooden frame had to have the final shape and the padding was only for comfort. This time proven method is still in use today at Hickory Chair. Most companies today use CAD cutting machine to cut out plywood frames that are not intended for re-upholstery some day. We take the time to make a heirloom quality solid wood frame that will allow you to re-upholster the piece for your home and pass it down to future generations. The custom engineered 8-way hand tied springs with underlying steel bands were intact and did not need repair or replacement. The spring-down seat cushion was still resilient due to the quality of the coil springs, high density foam and down-proof ticking with channels of down, small duck feathers and ultracell fiber mix. The triple doweled frame with its corner glue blocks held with glue and 4 screws each held each joint strong as the day it was made. This hand made solid wood frame deserves to be re-covered again and again in the future!

Why fill up the landfills with furniture when you can re-purpose these classic pieces for modern homes? By the way, if Lauren wishes she had a pair of these beautiful wing chairs she is lucky because this classic wing chair, the 1857-55 Chippendale Wing Chair, is still hand made to order at Hickory Chair!

Share your Hickory Chair story with us at press@hickorychair.com!

Braving The Snow

Suzanne Kasler was the honored guest at Hoff Miller, Ltd. at the Denver Design Center in Denver, Colorado last week.   Sixty designers braved the first huge snowstorm of the season to meet Suzanne Kasler, hear her speak and participate at a book signing for her first book, Inspired Interiors by Rizzoli Publishers.  

Inspired Interiors is a beautiful book that showcases Suzanne's unique fashion and design aesthetic.  Her love of all things French is clearly visible and yet it is her modern approach that creates a warmth and timeless feel for the room scenes that inspire you to read on!  Next week she will return to the warm south for an event at Bungalow Home in Atlanta.  For more information contact Suzanne's office at jwilburn@suzannekasler.com.