Made By Hickory Chair

Hickory Chair In The News!

Recently Jon Wilson of 'Wilson's World', a Fox Charlotte, NC television station, visited us. He and his film crew interviewed not only Jay Reardon our president bit also various craftsmen. Beginning in the area where we make upholstery frame parts from kiln-dried American lumber, to assembly, to spring-up to the upholstery area Wilson engaged with our employees. In this 17 minute segment he captures our culture from our passionate family of nearly 600 talented craftsmen.

We hope he returns in the future to show our wood products are made! We are told that we have the only integrated wood and upholstery plant in the world!

Want to come see it for yourself? Contact press@hickorychair.com!

To watch the Wilson Show feature 'Hickory Chair where furniture is still American Made!'

Made to order. Made to last. Made for you.

If You Can Describe It We Will try To Make It!

Our 102-year journey as a company is marked by many milestones. We hold the honor of being the first furniture maker in Hickory to make upholstered furniture. We were the first furniture company in North Carolina to create a licensed collection in 1931. In the decades that have followed we have had other milestones from ownership changes, war, recession and depression. as we have survived these challenges it has made us stronger. In fact, it iis said that we have the only integrated.wood and upholstery workroom in America.

It is a can do attitude that had fueled our determination to overcome obstacles. This attitude benefits you as well. Each of the pieces shown below are customized and made to order. i.e. not 'standard'. First is the Chelsea Bed from the Thomas O'Brien Collection. The designer selected white ultra suede, asked us to cut and sew it and then requested that we mail it to another address. The headboard fabric was returned with rhinestones applied in an eagle pattern. After contacting the designer we learned that the lady that bejeweled Elvis' jumpsuits had created this motif for Dale Earnhardt Jr. His bedroom was to be in the Elvis spirit and was to be on MTV's show Cribs. The eagle is also in honor of Budweiser that was his sponsor.

The Eton M2M Sofa is standard as a skirted love seat. This customer did not want the skirt, selected legs from a different sofa and specified the custom length that was right for her room.

The Ceylon M2M Dining Table is custom in every way. The designer wanted it made as 72 by 52-inches, painted White and then a have custom silver Greek key motif be hand-painted on the reveal of the apron.

The pair of tufted leather settees are actually a pair of Townsend Wing Chairs. The designer specified the length, remove the seat cushion and then tuft the seat, back, arms and wings.

In the last image is the back view of a custom length M2M Wakeley Sofa and a custom height, length and depth Milo Console table. The designer was able to get exactly what she needed for her client's home.

Each designer sent sketches along with their wish. Our Hickory Chair workroom became their workroom. Why would you ever settle for standard?

www.hickorychair.com

Hickory Chair is Well Crafted

Recently Hickory Chair was honored with a very special award!  The Hickory Business Development Committee selected Hickory Chair as the first recipient of their "Business.Well Crafted.Award"!  This new award is part of the city of Hickory's ongoing 'Life. Well Crafted.' initiative where local businesses, artisans and craftsmen are celebrated that make or manufacture products in the Hickory area.  This very special award does have a unique criteria - the company must have been doing business in the community for 75 years or more!

The city has a blog that featured Hickory Chair in its 'Well Crafted' series.  After the presentation, the local Hickory Daily Record newspaper released this story, 'Hickory Chair gets first 'Business. Well Crafted.' award. These great articles pay tribute to the talented artisans and craftsmen that choose fine furniture making as their vocation.  We are proud to report that 86 additional artisans and craftsmen joined our Hickory Chair team in 2012 AND we have approximately 40 additional openings now!  Contact Hickory Chair for more information 828-328-1801 or info@hickorychair.com.

We enter 2013 as a company dedicated to continuous improvement, teamwork and collaboration between our 580 employees, practicing lean manufacturing while making fine furniture  one piece at a time by hand.  It is the talent and vision of our team that allow us to create custom pieces to order.  For example, we can take a classic wing chair and make it as tufted settee...turn a console into a bar table...add a dressmaker skirt to a sofa with legs...hand stripe a wicker chair.  We call these 'special construction requests'.  We receive them every day and try to say yes to most!  Every time we say yes this means we have accepted the challenge to hone our skills by making something we have never conceived in our imagination.  Each completed piece gives us confidence to stretch and do things we might have declined in the past. We at Hickory Chair would like to say THANK YOU to all of you that have allowed us to make pieces for you. 

Why settle when you can have it MADE? Thank you for visiting your local Hickory Chair dealer or our website to view our extensive selection of products, options and customization possiblities. 

 

Prices Are Coming Down at Hickory Chair

Have you ever returned to a store to replace your favorite shoes only to find that they now cost an extra $20 more? I bet you looked at the soles to see if they were different, was the leather the same, was in insole different... I bet you tried to see why they were $20 more.  If you could not see any quality enhancement I bet you took your money and bought something else that had more apparent value.

 We feel this way at Hickory Chair. We do not want to raise our prices to cover the increasing cost of materials.  We want to offset those expenses with a lean, efficient workroom that creates special pieces right the first time in just a few weeks from order.  Over the past 10 years we have only had three price increases while adding options, sizes and reducing the time you wait for a piece to be made. 

Recently we upgraded our standard throw pillows to luxurious 100% goose feathers and now offer optional hidden zippers for no additional charge.  Most throw pillows in stores are filled with polyester fiber.  Better manufacturers use Blend-Down which is a mix of polyester fiber mixed with small duck feathers and down.  Very few invest in 100% goose feathers to fill throw pillows like Hickory Chair.  The benefit is that not only do our throw pillows look plump and feel plush, they require less maintenance to keep them looking and feeling new.  Goose feathers are less likely to migrate out of the pillow casing than down or duck feathers.  All pillows whether throw pillows, back pillows or seat cushions require plumping or fluffing to keep their shape over time.  Some interesting information is available at ehow on goose versus duck down.  We prefer not to use petroleum based polyester fiber in our throw pillows when we can use goose feathers which are natural and biodegradeable when the throw pillows are no longer needed... in other words environmentally friendly.

Our goose feather filled throw pillows are also generously scaled.  Most sofas are standard with 20-inch to 22-inch throw pillows. It is important that the throw pillows are in proportion to the sofa. Depending on the particular sofa, some are standard with as many as four throw pillows.  Some have round bolsters.  We also offer throw pillows in a range of sizes so you can add them to existing sofas and beds in your home.

While our throw pillows are sewn closed as our standard, we now offer hidden zippers upon request at no charge. The hidden zippers allow one to remove the pillow cover for a change of fabric or to have them professionally cleaned.  Always have upholstery fabrics professionally cleaned as very few were designed to be washable at home.

Come Experience Hickory Chair!

In the rolling foothills of North Carolina you will find the quaint city of Hickory, North Carolina.  In 1911 the Surry Chair Company moved to this growing city and Hickory Chair Company was begun.  In the years since this company that only made one style of dining chair has evolved by listening to its customer.  In the beginning it was why not sofas? Why not rocking chairs? Why not wood furniture?  By responding to customer wishes the company today makes almost 90% of its entire product line of living room, dining room and bedroom furniture in this 101 year old 600,000 square foot workroom.

While one might consider a manufacturing space of 600,000 square feet a factory, previous visitors have denied this definition.  Due to our expertise of craftsmanship and artisanship to make one-of-a-kind pieces to order in just a few weeks, the term workroom has been selected by the Hickory Chair dealers who have joined us for HCC University. 

 During these HCC University events, interior designers, retail sales associates, specifiers, store owners, trade showoom associates, customer service and other staff travel to Hickory Chair to meet the over 500 artisans and craftsmen who choose fine furniture making as their vocation.  Who choose to collaborate to take the waste out of the process so that one-of-a-kind pieces are made to order and ship in just a few weeks from order.  Who can personalize wood pieces through finish, decoration, hardware and even size to order.  Who can make upholstery personalized through not only fabric, COM, leather, COL and trims but also through distinctive finishes, nails, and much of it by the inch in size.  In addition to learning about our workroom and its capabilities, we learn from our participants the things they wish that could be done to further personalize pieces to order.  Then you can relax and enjoy our showroom at Hickory Chair where we have on display a wide range of our products personalized to showcase the capabilities of our workroom.

  Want to learn more about HCC University from previous attendees?  Click on these links for personal accounts of these graduates of HCC University.

http://www.paradigmdesigners.com/blog/2011/03/23/hickory-chair-university-day-1-casegoods/

http://www.designlinesltd.com/blog/?p=89

http://www.interiorsbystudiom.com/blog/2010/11/our-time-at-hickory-chair-university/

http://habituallychic.blogspot.com/2009/06/hickory-chair-factory-tour-day-one.html

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/a-visit-to-hickory-chair-hicko-158608

Are you interested in attending HCC University?  Just email press@hickorychair.com for more information.  Who knows you may be at Hickory Chair in the coming months experiencing this special place yourself! 

The People Behind The Furniture

Our centennial ad that has been featured in Architectural Digest, Traditional Home, Veranda, Lonny and House Beautiful showcases an Elliott Wing Chair and the Artisan Curved Front Chest each from the 1911 Collection that are reflected into a Sophia Mirror by Thomas O'Brien.  The Elliott Wing Chairs are upholstered in different fabrics.  The brown chest is made from mahogany and the gray one from ash.  Each of the wing chairs and tests were made by hand to order in our workroom in Hickory, North Carolina.

 We are so thankful for the talented craftsmen who choose to come to Hickory Chair each day to invest their talent and time to make one of a kind pieces to order.  We are proud that these talented employees have chosen to make hand made furniture as their vocation. They come to carve, cut, sew, upholster, sand, finish and make fine pieces. It is rewarding to see what they can do while at Hickory Chair. 

It is rewarding to learn about the talents and hobbies our craftsmen enjoy while not at work.  We have artists who create paintings and sculptures.  We have musicians who play professionally, serve as music ministers, and perform regularly.  We have employees who participate in community theater.  Other employees raise show dogs...some for their looks while others for their strength.  Some have beautiful voices and sing in their church choirs and community performances. Others spend their time exercizing, running, working out, playing golf, tennis or softball.  Some kick-box and compete.  Others cycle, jog or dance.  Employees serve as deacon, Sunday school teachers and other leadership roles such as Boy Scout leaders, volunteer firemen, and coaches. 

Each day this group of talented artists, musicians come to our workroom and have the opportunity to make one of a kind pieces to order.  They love making custom length sofas, dining tables made from the top of one style with the base from another, changing hardware and finish on a chest, making the depth of a sofa just right for that tall or small client.  Making one of a kind pieces allows our talented craftsmen to hone their skills.  You help us become even more skilled.  Our 100 year foundation with your custom pieces give us the opportunity to make our furniture in Hickory hopefully for the next 100 years. 

Making "It" For You

Finding "it" - the right thing for your room can be a daunting task.  Sometimes the piece you find is perfect except it is the wrong finish.  Maybe the hardware is not your style.  Maybe if it was a few inches shorter, taller or longer it would have been perfect.  

We listen at Hickory Chair.  It is the passion of our nearly 500 telented artisans and craftsmen to help you personalize our pieces so that they are just right for your home.  It is our 100 year old workroom in Hickory, North Carolina where we make one of a kind pieces to order.  It is the generations skill passed from the master craftsman to apprentice for these 100 years married to lean thinking and environmental stewardship that has allowed us to remain a relevant, valued partner to the designer and collector of quality American made pieces.  It is this passion that has allowed us to trim waste from the process while focusing on fine details of tailoring and finish.  It has allowed us to make one piece at a time from beginning to end in just a few weeks from order the way you want it. 

Shown in our ad featured in the July issue of Architectural Digest, Traditional Home and House Beautiful along with the July/August issue of Veranda, is the new Elliott Wing Chair and Artisan Curved Front Chest with Overlay from our 1911 Collection in the foreground along with the Sophia Mirror by Thomas O'Brien where another version of the chair and chest are reflected.  Because almost 90% of our pieces are made by hand to order that we can offer this kind of personalization.  These pieces tease you with our ability to transform almost every piece we offer for you for your room.  A classic piece can become transitional with the change of finish and hardware or the look of a cherished antique with an aged finish and antiqued hardware.  Want to create your own version of the Artisan Curved Front Chest? Want to upholster your own version of the Elliott Wing Chair?  By clicking on their names you can become the upholsterer or finisher of these pieces.  You can try different hardware on the chest along with finish choices, a combination of two finishes and then hand striping to create your own creation.  

If you enjoyed this, we invite you to enter our first ever Centennial Design Challenge that begins this Wednesday.  Have you have designed that you wish could be made for your home or client?  Are you a student wishing that someone could make your piece?  Beginning this Wednesday you can become the furniture designer and enter our contest.  Join us as a Hickory Chair Furniture facebook friend.  Check back on Wednesday to www.hickorychair.com or www.facebook.com/hickorychairfurniture for all the details.  Maybe you'll win the grand prize!

Doing The Right Thing

My grandmother loved catching us doing something good.  She would smile, give us a big hug and thank us for seeing something positive that could be done for someone else.  It could be picking up a piece of litter, simply playing nicely with each other or running inside to get help for a baby bird that had fallen from its nest. 

We celebrate this spirit each day at Hickory Chair. We call it EDGE (Employees Dedicated to Growth and Excellence).  It is our journey of environmental stewardship and continuous improvement. We set internal goals and celebrate when we reach them (notice the circus tent!).  We celebrate recycling and repurposing efforts.  We love celebrating when we have designed the waste from the product itself so that there is nothing to be recycled or repurposed.  We celebrate safety, quality and other valuable goals.  

 We set a goal to become EFEC (Effecting Furniture's Environmental Culture) registered by the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AFHA) and reached it in 2008.  We entered the contest for the first SAGE Award that was co-sponsored by the AHFA and Cargill.  We won not because of making the greenest product but because of a company-wide culture of doing the right thing... conserving materials and time, recycling and repurposing, and other efforts to control waste and the associated costs.  In 2010 we earned Sustainable By Design (SBD) registration also from the AHFA.  When a drought hit in 2010 we encouraged our employees to conserve water... let us know when a sink or water fountain had a trip or a toilet that ran.  Once everyone knew it was important and worked together, we reduced our water useage by 50%! 

With the rising cost of energy, we asked our team to help us reduce our need for power.  We began by turning off lights when we left our office or work station for meetings or breaks and this lead to turning off computers at night, not printing pages if they were not essential and other acts.  Our maintenance department replaced bulbs with energy saving styles along with new ballasts.  They installed heat reflective roofing in areas ready to be replaced.  The company then signed up for the program that would allow our power company, Duke Energy, to cut our power if a shortage occured due to cold or hot weather.  These countless acts of wise use of resources were noticed.  Hickory Chair was chosen as a 2010 Power Partner along with The Kroger Company - Cincinnati, Ohio; Greater Clark County Schools - Clark County, Indiana; Fabri-Kal - Greenville, South Carolina, Techtronic Industries - Anderson, South Carolina, the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System - Charlotte, North Carolina, DataChambers/Salem Business Park - Winston Salem, North Carolina; Davidson College - Davidson, North Carolina Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center - Winston Salem, North Carolina and Wells Fargo / Wachovia Bank - Charlotte, North Carolina.

On May 2nd, Hickory Chair had planned a picnic lunch for all 450 employees to celebrate a 100% safety record for the year.  Duke Energy contacted us about presenting Hickory Chair's employees with the 2010 Power Partner Award.  In addition, the AHFA had completed the hand carved award for the SAGE Award.  We invited both organizations to join us for our celebratory lunch.  We are proud that for 100 years we have worked hard to do the right thing making heirloom quality furniture in a safe environment for our talented artisans and craftsmen while conserving raw materials, energy and other wasteful factors.  we are proud that over 87% of our products are made by these artisans and craftsmen in Hickory, North Carolina.  We were caught doing the right thing.  We intend to be caught again in the future!

 

A Moment In Time For Our Very First Chair - The Surry Chair

Ever wonder how Hickory Chair got its name when we make so much more than just chairs and none of them are made from hickory wood?  We have to turn back over 100 years to brothers George and WaldronBailey who moved to Elkin, North Carolina from New York to begin a chair factory.  Their family owned a Pin or Dowel factory and the young entrepreneurstook their knowledge and began a dining chair company named the Elkin Chair Company in 1900. Within a year George purchased the rest of the company from Waldron and the George Bailey Chair Company was established.  In a few years George invited local Elkin businessmen to join him and the company became the Surry Chair Company.  

In 1911, George learned of Hickory, North Carolina's interest in replacing woodworking jobs lost to the demise of the wagon industry with furniture.  Hickory investors unanimously voted and invested their own money in the fledgling dining chair company that had only one style that it made.  Hickory Chair Manufacturing Company was established on September 19, 1911. 

It is unfortunate that we have no catalogs prior to 1930.  From the picture in this ad and this photograph from ebay, we knew this was the first chair.  Even then we made this chair with a pitch of the back that provided lumbar support and a top rail that was curved to fit the natural contour of ones shoulders.  Queen Anne styling was popular in the first decades of the 20th Century.

As we prepared our new collection to honor 100 years of furniture making we began with this chair.  What made it relevant for today?  Certainly the Queen Anne styling is not currently the rage today, but the benefits of the features did!  It was the comfort of the shape of the back and the practical scale of the chair.  From this inspiration our team created the new Surry Chair to launch the 1911 Collection.  Its quality has allowed the piece to become a modern day antique. 

Our modern version incorporates the comfortable back splat and contoured top rail.  Unlike the antique that inspired it, we created a custom engineered 8-way hand tied spring system that provides great comfort and support.  The Queen Anne styling was made clean with tapered legs with stretchers.  Our modern version is made in your choice of mahogany or ash wood with endless fabric, nail, leather and finish options.  It is crafted in this Hickory, North Carolina workroom where the vast majority is made... in fact over 87% of our entire product line is made in this American workroom.  We do not make fabric, leather, hardware, stone, glass, mirror or metal and have to purchase these materials as well as intricately hand carved pieces.  The rest is made here by almost 500 talented artisans and craftsmen.

We were very excited about this transformation when an email arrived from Jill Thomas.  Jill lives in California and was considering parting with her Grandmother's dining set that she had inherited.  She wondered who made the pieces and turned over a chair to see.  The labels were torn on each chair but she quickly knew they were made by Hickory Chair.  A simple search on her computer and she learned that Hickory Chair was in business still making chairs.  She contacted us and we were thrilled!  She had no idea that Hickory Chair was a 100 year old company.  Her grandparents were married in 1928.  Her father remembers the set as a boy.  He remembers that they always had them versus being purchased as he was a boy.  She is researching to find out, if she can, if the set was a wedding gift or handed down to them.  The set is in great condition.  We hope that IF she ever decides to part with them she will give us the opportunity to purchase them for our archives.  The set is heirloom quality which has made them sustainable.

We are trying to research the dining table for her as well.  We are not sure but are still researching it.  Since we do not have catalogs prior to 1930 it has been difficult to research.  If you have any pictures or catalogs from 1911 to 1930 we would love to have them for our archive. 

Do you have a story from our 100 years?  Please share it with us at press@hickorychair.com!  Interested in learning more about our history?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1911 Collection - The Centennial Collection by Hickory Chair

Turning 100 years old this year is very special for all the employees of Hickory Chair.  We want to say thank you to everyone who has chosen Hickory Chair pieces for their homes these past 100 years.  We enjoy receiving emails with pictures of family heirlooms and special finds at antique stores that so many of you have shared with us. 

This week we have introduced a very special new collection at the Spring International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, North Carolina.  To create the 1911 Collection, a group of us perused our earliest catalogs.  As we reminiscedabout the products in these vintage catalogs beginning in the 1930's, we realized how beautiful and timeless many of the forms were.  We selected distinctive timeless pieces that we felt could be updated for today.  The result is a grouping of pieces that are respectful of their heritage but are decidedly modern! 

Normally you have to wait up to six months after market to see new pieces in stores, catalogs or web sites.  Not with Hickory Chair!  Our craftsmen in Hickory, North Carolina have already made pieces that have been ordered at market and are shipping them to the stores that ordered them!  Therefore, we have already posted the 1911 collection to our web site.   With over 87% of our entire product line made in Hickory by our talented craftsmen can offer custom finishes, sizes and other options that will allow you to personalize pieces for your home and made for you in just a couple weeks from order!