Made By Hickory Chair

Featured in July 2011 Architectural Digest

After a ten  year absence, Hickory Chair has launched its centennial year advertising campaign!  Shown left is our first image that you will find in the July 2011 Architectural Digest issue.  It can be found on page 27 across from the Editor's Page.   We are proud to partner with Architectural Digest as we celebrate our 100th year making fine furniture to order.  As the year continues you will find a variety of images in Veranda, House Beautiful and Traditional Home magazine as well as in Lonny and TradHome online magazines.

Our image showcases the Ellliott Wing Chair and Artisan Curved Front Chest with Overlay from our new 1911 Collection that celebrates our centennial year.  The Elliott Wing Chair in the foreground is upholstered in a luxurious espresso colored velvet and finished in our new Espresso finish.  Its 'reflection' in the mirror is upholstered in a rluxurious paisley and is also finished in Espresso finish.  The Artisan Curved Front Chest with Overlay in the foreground is crafted from mahogany solids with ribbon stripe veneers and is finished in our new Tawny finish and is accentuated by black hand striping, Antique Bronze ferrules and drawer pulls.  In the Sophia Mirror by Thomas O'Brien is another Artisan Curved Front Chest with Overlay, but made from fine ash solids and veneers.  Another new finish, Weathered Mineral has been applied and Antique Silver ferrules and drawer pulls. Because our craftsmen make these pieces in Hickory, North Carolina they can personalize them for your room.  In fact, 90% of our entire product offering is made in Hickory.   

This issue of Architectural Digest should prove to be a very special issued.  Elizabeth Taylor adorns the cover and a beautifully written and photographed tribute is featured from pages 58 through 69.  She will be surely missed.

Perfect Partners - June 2011 Architectural Digest

The updated Architectural Digest is a treat to enjoy with each new issue!  The June 2011 issue is no exception.  Our friend, Alexa Hampton, teamed up with architect, Joel Barkley, as "Perfect Partners" to create a home with a mix of English-style architecture with Swedish charm.  The result is calming and fresh.  We at Hickory Chair are honored to have created many of the furniture pieces included in this inspirational environment. 

Shown below is the L-shaped home.  Its rich black exterior with crisp white trim complements the cedar shake roof - classic and modern.  From the inviting exterior the interior welcomes you.

Shown in the foyer are a pair of quatrefoil chairs - the Alexandra Side Chair from the Suzanne Kasler Collection - by Hickory Chair.  They are finished in a dark stain and flank a stool - the Pleasant Street Ottoman from the Thomas O'Brien Collection - also by Hickory Chair. 

 
The living room features a grouping of Hickory Chair pieces.  From the Alexa Hampton Collection, the Gabriella Chair, Kate Cocktail Table, Ian Bench and the Nadine Side Table were selected.  A pair of Tilden Chairs were selected from the Thomas O'Brien Collection.  Beautiful Cowtan & Tout fabrics were selected for each piece of upholstery.

 
In the dining room a set of vintage Camille Side Chairs by Hickory Chair are shown.  In the den a Made to Measure Charles Hassock in a rich blue upholstery and the Roberts Made to Measure Sofa by Alexa Hampton is shown.  The sofa is availalbe made from as small as a chair to a lengthy 120 inch sofa.  The hassock is made in one inch increments from as small as 18 inches square to as large as 60 inches square or as a rectangle. 

In Hickory, North Carolina for 100 years the talented artisans and craftsmen hand made each piece to order.  We appreciate Alexa turning to Hickory Chair for pieces for this beaufitul home.  We appreciate the Pollack family entrusting their home to Alexa and the craftsmen of Hickory Chair.  As each piece is custom made, we can take the time to personalize these pieces.  With time each should become a family heirloom. 

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!