Kudos to Stirling Design!

Our friend and HCC University Alumni member, Julianna Stirling, owner of Stirling Design in Fairfield, Connecticut, shared with us a picture of a client's poolhouse!

Julianna chose our Camp Chair and Ottoman, introduced at the October 2008 market, know for its distinctive form and surprizing comfort.

This great Campaign style chair is made here at Hickory Chair. Our craftsmen turn the ash wood to create the faux bamboo look. Each leg, arm stump and back post are capped with a custom solid brass turning inspired by the original folding chair that inspired it. Looking for a really comfortable lounge chair that is not huge? The Camp Chair could be the perfect solution!

Please share with us pictures of how you have used Hickory Chair pieces for your clients. We would love to share them with other HCC University Alumni!

re-de-sign by Cathy Whitlock

Today a large padded envelope arrived in my mailbox! Enclosed was an autographed copy of re-de-sign by Cathy Whitlock. She has written a text book for university interior design programs. We are very honored to be included in this beautifully written new book!

Fairfield Books, the publisher, describes it as "This book is a clear and concise survey of the field of interior design, providing a look at the newly expanded role of the interior designer and offering an array of career alternatives from the tried-and-true areas of residential and contract design to specialty design. Whether branching into areas as traditional as product and furniture design to the new trends of lifestyle branding and internet merchandising, Whitlock covers the full array of challenging and diverse career choices for those considering a career in design as well as the established designer who wants to take their professional practice to new heights."

Hickory Chair and its associates is very honored to be included throughout the book. Profiles of Alexa Hampton, Mark Hampton and our own Cathy Mitchell are included as well as quotes from Jay Reardon. Hickory Chair room scene and silhouette imagery was selected to illustrate the book from cover to cover!

The book is available through Amazon now. For a sample chapter review is available from Fairchild Books. Enjoy!

Making Wishes Come True!

Each HCC University group ends their experience with making wishes. We rank the wishes and do our best to make the most frequently asked wishes come true as soon as we can. Sometimes the wishes that are asked for are not exactly the same but have the same need. For example:

- I wish your finishes were posted on your web site

- I wish your fabrics were on your web site

- I wish that you knew what hardware options were available

- I wish you could get to ePreVue easier

These wishes have now come true! Go to Hickory Chair's web site and look at the new links on the homepage. At the bottom of the page is the SHOWCASE section. From this section you will have short cuts to these wished for features of our line.

If you click on Online Design Studio it will take you to ePreVue homepage which has all furniture categories posted. This is the fastest way to see all types of products. This feature has been in place for about a year. Now simply click on fabrics, leather, finishes, trim or Customers Own HardwareTM and you now have a shortcut to these features!

Thomas O'Brien featured on Kimberlee Jaynes Interior Design Blog

Our friend and furniture licensee, Thomas O'Brien, was featured in May on Kimberlee Jaynes blog Timeless Designs for Inspired Living. She was announcing his personal appearance in May 2009 at Parker's Furniture in Portland, Oregon.

Kimberlee beautifully profiled the prolific career crafted by Thomas O'Brien. From his early beginnings at Ralph Lauren Home to his homebase at Aero Studios, Ltd., Thomas has brought to us all a warm modernism from his Thomas O'Brien and TOB furniture collections at Hickory Chair, to his rug collection at Safaveih, to lighting at Visual Comfort, fabrics at Groundworks to an extensive offering at Target. His ability to channel his creative ideas into tangible offerings is inspiring and quite amazing.

It is also amazing to consider that the Thomas O'Brien colleciton is celebrating its 10th anniversary at the Fall 2009 market! We have exciting additions coming at the Spring 2010 home furnishings market in High Point, NC. Contemporary is of the day that never changes. Modern is something you can never date. If you ever meet Thomas O'Brien and see his amazing interiors you will certainly understand why warm modernism truly decribes the man as well as his work!

Alexa Hampton Featured on All The Best Blog

Today as I was giving thought to our Fall 2009 launch of the new introductions to the Alexa Hampton Collection by Hickory Chair, I found a wonderful profile/interview on All The Best blog where our dear friend, Alexa is featured! Alexa is an amazing mother, wife, designer, artist and business woman!

Her collection, launched in April 2005, has classic roots with skilled proportion, scale and geometry while focused upon comfort and easy living. Prior to the launch of her collection, we had enjoyed working with Alexa to add some very special pieces to the Mark Hampton collection that her late father had launched with Hickory Chair in 1988.

The beauty of these two collections are the timeless forms that have been thoughtfully scaled for people and their homes. Because of the great scale, proportion and classic style, the pieces from the Alexa Hampton collection as well as the Mark Hampton collection are relevant whether they are dressed formal or modern for the interior for which they have been selected. The artisans and craftsmen at Hickory Chair can then personalize the pieces through countless finish, hardware and upholstery details.

Shown left is the 5345-18 Regency Lamp Table by Alexa Hampton for the Mark Hampton Collection. The original edition is standard in Medium Mahogany finish with hand applied Gold Leaf decoration. The table below has been painted in Antique Ivory finish that gives it a very modern personality. The table below in English Antique finish that gives the piece the character of an antique with its hand burnishing, wear marks and antique finish. The choice is yours in just 2-4 weeks from order!

Habitually ChicTM Shares Our Story!

We were very honored to have Heather Clawson, author of the renouned blog, Habitually Chic, attend HCC University last week! She has just completed a wonderful series of posts that illustrates her HCC University experience! We hope that you enjoy her wonderful journey told through pictures and stories.

The first post was entitled "Not Your Grandmother's Hickory Chair!" For those of you who have visited The Mezzanine at Hickory Chair or the showroom in High Point, you know that we make much more than 'red mahogany 18th Century furniture"! (We proudly make that too because we have a very loyal following for this specific era).

The next day she was inpired to share her experience touring the wood products facility in a post entitled "Hickory Chair Factory Tour: Day One". In this tour she showcases not only the tedious steps we take to make not only heirloom quality pieces but also personalized pieces for individual homes.

After a good nights rest, she entitled the next post "Hickory Chair Factory Tour: Day Two" and shared her experience touring through the other side of our factory that houses the upholstery shop. Her enthusiasm for hand made upholstery echos throughout her post.

The first post she had planned to post was postponed when she decided to attend HCC University. This blog post was focused upon Suzanne Kasler's collection for Hickory Chair! We celebrated the first anniversary of this collection at the April Market in High Point. Habitually ChicTM's post, Suzanne Kasler for Hickory Chair, is beautiful created showing the muse, her sketches and the Hickory Chair final reproduction or adaptation of that piece. Shown here in this picture is Heather and Tobi Fairley that attended HCC University along with our friends from Utah, Maryland, South Dakota, Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas, Louisiana,Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas.

In today's post Oh Baby Update, she shared with all of us to see one of her installations for a family with a new baby on the way. In the post she shares the sources from the paint to the furniture. We appreciate her post regarding the Chair that says "I wish that I had visited Hickory Chair before we chose a glider from another retailer who shall remain nameless because then the beautiful Meredith fabric from Schumacher would have matched on all four sides! It still looks great though and can be moved to the living room in the future."

We appreciate everything that Heather has shared about her Hickory Chair experience. We hope that it is just the beginning of a long friendship. As she is a designer as well as a blogger, we hope that our craftsmen in Hickory are able to assist Heather in providing solutions for her client's homes in the future!

The Little Black Dress In Your Closet

Many of you may be familiar with Tobi Fairley after reading about her in the March 2009 issue of Traditional Home magazine. She was named one of the top 20 young interior designers in America. This week she attended Hickory Chair University where we had the opportunity to get to know her better. She is one of many designers who has enjoyed working with Hickory Chair to find solutions for her clients as well as for her own home. Shown below is a picture of the personalized Hickory Chair 6060-70 Serpentine Chest is from Tobi's home. The way she chose to 'dress it' made it perfect for her room. She chose Kohl finish with Antique Ivory drawer fronts and then replaced the reproduction brass hardware with COHTM antique silver V-3 bail pulls and Z-3 escutcheons.

The 6060-60 Serpentine Chest is a reproduction from the collection of H.F. DuPont that resides in the Winterthur Museum. The museum was originally the family home where H.F. not only raised a family but amassed the world's largest collection of American decorative arts. The Winterthur Country Estate collection has now celebrated its 10th anniversary.

These timeless heirloom quality Hickory Chair pieces are like the classsic little black dress in one's closet. You can add pearls and pumps go formal or you can add a jean jacket and boots and go casual with that same little black dress. Our classic pieces have great proportion and scale. Our employees allow you to select from over 6o finishes, COHTM hardware, hand decoration and special construction requests that will allow you to create a one of a kind piece for your home. Why settle for standard when you can have it MADE?

Giving Thanks

In our lives we come across a multitude of different personalities. This week we enjoyed getting to know a dynamic group of designers and sales associates from all over the United States. These talented purveyors of fashion through interior design inspired us with ideas for product development, our catalogs, our web site and in a multitude of other areas. We give thanks to everyone's willingness to share!

We were so fortunate to have Heather Clawson author of Habitually Chic join us. Please click on her link to enjoy here very gracious posting about her Hickory Chair experience. We hope it brings back wonderful memories of your Hickory Chair University experience!

The Peak of Chic's Story

I found the nicest feature by The Peak of Chic about an event at Max & Co. in Atlanta honoring the Suzanne Kasler collection by Hickory Chair. Max & Co. owned by Phoebe Howard has a beautiful personalized display of Suzanne's pieces. The pictures on the blog showcase the beautiful display that is signature Phoebe Howard while preserving the amazing fresh, modern, French aesthetic that is Suzanne Kasler.

Enjoy the complete Suzanne Kasler Collection by Hickory Chair.