Made By Hickory Chair

Sectionals - Family Sized!

We do not know anyone who would choose to settle for an off the shelf item when they could get it exactly the way they wanted it. This is the real definition of luxury. At Hickory Chair our craftsmen create luxurious solutions for homes every day!

We are honored by talented designers who entrust us to make custom pieces for their clients. We have shared below some of the most incredible sectionals we have ever made!

The first is a Silhouettes sectional made from a right arm facing chaise, a left arm facing chaise, a made to measure armless sofa and a pair of custom sized ottomans that when fitted together create a sanctuary for a large family.

The second Silhouette sectional also requires a very large room. It is made from two corner wedges, a pair of custom length armless love seats and a custom length armless sofa. You can see by the picture that it dwarfs the writer shown standing in the center of it.

The third sectional was made from a Sutton Sofa. The designer specified the length of the right arm facing chaise and left arm facing sofa.

The fourth is a Silhouettes sectional. The client wanted a modern looking sectional. The designer was able to create this for their client using some of the same pieces shown in the first two pictures!

For 103 years our craftsmen have made visions of luxury into reality. We hope to make something special for you this year!

 

 

Loving Ludlow

This week while walking through our workroom, I noticed a Ludlow Chair being hand nailed. As I watched our craftsman carefully measuring the distance between each nail the customer had specified, it made me appreciate how very special it is to be a part of Hickory Chair.

The designer in Raleigh, NC had selected a pair of 124-24 Ludlow Chairs. They chose an embroidered Hickory Chair fabric 4005-11 and selected our Antique Ivory paint finish. Then they decided on a decorative treatment to accentuate the form. First a tape trim was applied around the base that was from a soft Belgium lavender linen, 4014-02. Spaced NS-03 Chrome nails were applied 'every third nail'. These Ludlow Chairs are beautiful! We just wish we could see a picture if the room they were made for someday!

Our Ludlow Chair from our centennial 1911 Collection is a modern interpretation of a vintage chair from our 103 year archive. With its companion ottoman, the Ludlow is as comfortable as its is fashionable! We have included some additional pictures of our Ludlow from our workroom as well as a stock image of the ottoman. We hope you'll be loving Ludlow too!

Celebrating The Season

As we bring our 102nd year as the Hickory Chair Furniture Company to a close and look forward to a fresh New Year in 2014, we wanted to take a moment to share pictures of homes dressed in holiday fare by Tobi Fairley (a talented designer from Little Rock, AR and Dallas, TX) along with a few images from our Hickory, North Carolina workroom where the pieces are made.  We would not be here in Hickory making furniture if it were not for all of you who give us the opportunity to make pieces for your home, office, hotel, country club or other place AND those of you who choose to follow and share our company through magazines, blogs, facebook, twitter, pinterest and other social media types. 

To simplify coordinating our schedules, we wanted you to know that all of us at Hickory Chair take our vacation the same time.  We will close at the end of the business day on Friday, December 20th and will re-open on Monday, December 30th.  We will close to bring in the New Year on January 1st as well! We hope you will enjoy these pictures that capture the spirit of the season!  Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Tobi Fairley - Breakfast for Santa & Rudolph

Amsterdam Chairs by Suzanne Kasler with custom made slipcovers

 

Merry Christmas from the Sewing Department!

 

Hickory Chair's James River Collection Holiday Style!

809-02 Chippendale Side Chairs and 2469-30 Table shown

 

Stockings Hung With Care in the Upholstery Department

 

 

Tobi Fairley Holiday Images

Sutton Skirted Sofas featured

 

Your orders make our 'Elves' happy!

 

Tobi Fairley - a cozy living room

Sophie Wing Chairs from the Winterthur Country Estate Collection featured

 

Mother (Customer Service) and Daughter (Swatch Department) enjoying our annual Holiday Celebration Lunch at Hickory Chair!

 

Tobi Fairley - Pretty in pink for Christmas

Vintage Hickory Chair Sofa shown

Wishing you a very Happy Holiday and a New Year filled with peace, prosperity and joy!

Pershing Dressmaker Sofa from the Hartwood Collection and Nadine Side Tables from the Alexa Hampton Collection shown

 

 

 

Our Growing North Carolina Furniture Industry

Hickory Chair, Hickory, NC

Not all furniture factories are closed in North Carolina!  In fact many of us are enjoying a type of renaissance. Hickory Chair has actively hired artisans, craftsmen, customer service, engineers and other positions.   In fact in December 2011 approximately 450 worked for our company.  Today that number is 675!  I am told that other local furniture manufacturers are hiring as well.  This means that the fabric mills, spring, cushion, lumber, veneer, glue, fastener, etc. companies have more being purchased for the increased amounts of local furniture being made.  Our local economy is growing enough to support a number of new restaurants and hotel that are currently under construction!

 

What does this mean to our community?  JOBS, FUTURE, OPPORTUNITIES for all ages! We do have a concern...enough talented artisans and craftsmen living in our local community!  Early in the 2000's as countless furniture manufacturing facilities closed or moved their production offshore, the community college watched its furniture program enrollment dwindle.  Each semester courses were cancelled due to not enough students.  In addition, displaced furniture craftsmen learned new skills and many moved out of the area.  We knew that we must recruit in schools and in the community individuals to join our industry.  

Hiring at Hickory Chair, Hickory, NC

 

Over the weekend a wonderful article was published "College to Offer New Furniture Program".  The article announced that six local furniture companies, including Hickory Chair, partnered in the development of the new furniture program at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC to help build skills necessary for the growing local industry! During the past year we have had middle and high school students tour our workroom.  Over the summer we had interns in several areas of the company from design to manufacturing.  We believe in the guild system where apprentices work with our talented artisans and craftsmen to learn the skills to become future masters!

Are you interesting in joining our family of artisans and craftsmen? Visit our corporate career center that includes all openings for Hickory Chair and our sister brands at HeritageHome.com.  Maybe you will find yourself part of our team in the New Year!

 

Making It Special

Every day we are given the opportunity to make special pieces at Hickory Chair.  Since we make each piece to order and make most parts here, we can make pieces other than the way they are pictured on our website or in catalogs.  We call it a 'special construction'.  Our craftsmen know that with each new special piece we say Yes to, they will build new skills to say Yes to even more sophisticated special construction requests in the future.  While we enjoy each piece we make there are days where we have to smile as a designer's imagination becomes reality! 

For example, today we made a 5303-49 Curtis Chase in an amazing shearling hide.  It just wants you to lounge, nap, relax and nuzzle into the luxurious fur!  A lucky home in Connecticut requested that we make this Alexa Hampton chaise for them in their COL shearling!

A couple weeks ago we were walking through our work room and noticed a rich yellow painted finish on our 9771-70 Murano Chest.  In close examination of the ticket and we learned that it was made in a Sherwin Williams 6689 Overjoy paint color with Hickory Chair light distressing and weathered technique applied as well as Antique Silver knobs from our Customer's Own HardwareTM program! We are amazed how many pieces we finish each week in custom paint or stained finishes!

Custom Murano Chest

Thinking out of the box is what we love more than everything!  Our own Skip Rumley gave our artisans and craftsmen a big challenge for our High Point Showroom!  They were up to the challenge!  This 9845-70 Duchamp Sideboard was ordered with its optional wood top and then finished in Antique Ivory paint. Skip ordered glass beaded wallpaper from Maya Romanoff and we applied it as Customer's Own VeneerTM over over the curved door panels and under the standard Duchamp Brass grills.  From Anthropologie he purchased turquoise drop pulls that we applied as Customer's Own HardwareTM.  The resulting piece is stunning!

Custom Duchamp Sideboard

 

 

Suzanne and Lauren McGrath

 Our last piece mentioned our excitement for our December HCC University event.  We had a great event and two amazing blog posts have been created that capture their experience!  The first was created by Lauren and Suzanne McGrath of Suzanne McGrath Interiors in Rye, NY and the blog (and book) 'Good Bones Great Pieces'!  Click here to read their great post "Behind the Scenes at Hickory Chair". Their post is a guided tour through the workroom that shows you the countless times  hands add value to each piece being made!

 

Rachel Cannon Lewis

 Then a second blog post by Rachel Cannon Lewis of SoHaus Interior Design from Baton Rouge, LA.  Her blog, So House Interior Design post is entitled Hickory Chair & The Myth of Instant Gratification! Rachel's post is beautifully written and helps you understand why we are so passionate at Hickory Chair about our company, our people, our products and those who choose to entrust us to make special pieces for them!  This blog post has a very different perspective from the first post. This is what makes us love what we do so much!  We are all unique and why should anyone settle for something that only comes one way?

 

 

 

 

 

Kicking of our December HCC University Event!

Hickory Chair opens its workroom, showroom and offices numerous times each year and invites designers and authorized Hickory Chair dealers to come see how furniture is made.  Not just furniture, but custom furniture made one piece at a time is made to order.  It is in this 102-year-old workroom where generations of families have chosen to practice their vocation.  It is this team of talented artisans and craftsmen that have embraced lean thinking and custom making.  It is this 'odd combination' of lean and custom that has allowed Hickory Chair to flourish in a time where America's furniture industry has suffered.  It has been a decade of plant closings and company closings... but not at Hickory Chair!

In 1997 Hickory Chair introduced the concept of lean manufacturing to its staff.  A vote was made to change the way we think about making furniture... and how we choose to treat each other.  In these 16 years that have passed, we have made great strides in our journey.  We now make about 90% instead of just 78% of our product line here in Hickory, North Carolina.  This allows us to control our resuorces, our process and our work flow.  It allows us to make one piece at a time custom to order! I ask you, is there anything more luxurious that getting something exactly how you want it?

Our HCC University group this week has traveled from Oregon, Virginia, Minnesota, Louisiana, Georgia, New York, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Kansas and North Carolina to come spend a few days with our team.  We hope that these strangers leave as friends on Wednesday.  We know we will learn as much from our visitors as they do from us! 

An added benefit to the designers that attend HCC University is the opportunity to earn CEU credits during their stay.  Hickory Chair, as an ASID Industry Partner, has two courses that are offered throughout the year.  Across the country a 1 hour (0.1) CEU is typically given numerous times during the year in different areas of the country.  But, here at Hickory Chair's home, our new CEU course rewards the participant 6 hours (0.6) credit!  We feel at Hickory Chair that this is a service we can provide to help the talented designers in ASID, IIDA and IDC organizations keep their licensing in effect. 

Are you interested in attending HCC University?  Email us at [email protected] for more details about our exciting 2014 HCC University program!

 

Giving Thanks

If you have followed our Hickory Chair blog you have become aware of how passionate we are to make fine furniture custom to order.  We have so much to be thankful for as we close for the extended Thanksgiving holiday. (We will be closed Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th). 

We give thanks for every designer, sales associate, store owner and consumer who has entrusted us to make fine furniture for their home or office for these past 102 years.

We give thanks to our suppliers who make springs, fabrics, leather, hardware, screws, lumber and the rest of the components we use to make fine furniture. 

We give thanks to members of the press who chose to share our story and feature the special pieces we make to order.

We give thanks to the talented designers - Alexa Hampton, Mariette Himes Gomez, Suzanne Kasler and Thomas O'Brien as well as our licensees Hable Construction, Albert Sack, the James River Plantations and the Winterthur Country Estate for colloborating with our talented design team to create distinctive exclusive furniture and fabric collections.

We appreciate the 640 artisans, craftsmen, design team, engineers, sales representatives, customer service and office staff who choose making and servicing fine furniture as their vocation.

We give thanks to the investors who saw the great value in Hickory Chair and its sister companies.  We appreciate the opportunity to continue to make fine furniture as a part of Heritage Home Group that replaced Furniture Brands. 

We give thanks to you for your support as well.  We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving and extended holiday season through the New Year.  We hope you enjoy the series of dining room scenes shared from designers around the country.  Can't you just imagine each of them dressed for the Thanksgiving meal tomorrow surrounded by family and friends?  Share your pictures of homes and restaurants from across the country dressed for the holidays (any season) with us!  We will share them back in a future post! 

Shared by Belle Maison - Short Hills, NJ

 

Blackberry Farm - Walland, TN

 

Shared by Bruce Kading Interior Design - Minneapolis, MN

 

Shared by J Covington Interior Design - North Hampton, NH

 

Shared by Patera Home - Reston, VA

 

 

Shared by Mariette Himes Gomez - New York, NY

 

Shared by Roger A. Bills - Ocala, FL

 

Shared by Garry Mertins Interior Design - Little Rock, AR

 

From Hickory Chair's archives - circa 1990's

 

 

 

The People of Hickory Chair

If you are a Hickory Chair fan you know we have been around a very long time... 102 years in fact!  We are part of an elite group of American companies that have passed the centennial mark. The 'centennial club' includes IBM, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Hershey, Ford, Wells-Fargo, Exxon, Tiffany amongst a long list. While the 'club' has a very diversified group of goods and services they provide, they all share some very positive attributes.

Probably the most important attribute can be summed up in one word.  Employees.  It is the individuals that choose to practice their vocation at a particular company that is the core.  What makes the 'centennial club' companies special is the environment or culture.  Articles have been written about these companies and how they have succeeded through depressions, wars, recessions, takeovers, downsizing and all other challenging periods in their history. 

At Hickory Chair we believe our greatest asset are our people. We are blest to have nearly 700 artisans and craftsmen that choose to practice their vocation at our single workroom in Hickory, North Carolina. Our EDGE culture inspires creativity, collaboration and innovation. Their skills and can-do attitude allow us to make nearly 90% of our entire product assortment in this workroom.  Why not 100%?  We have to purchase stone, glass, metal, hardware, some species of wood, ornately carved items along with fabrics, leather and trim that we source from all over the world. 

Our loyal dealers have challenged us to innovate.  Every day we are challenged with requests to make one-of-a-kind custom pieces to order.  Every day we collaborate and do all we can to say yes we can do it to as many requests as possible.  The result of making custom requests is heightened skill and confidence.  What we might have said no to a year ago likely is a yes today! 

Want to learn more about Hickory Chair? Visit our website.  Visit us and share your pictures with us on Pinterest. Friend us on Facebook.  Follow us on Twitter.  Share your Ideabook on Houzz.  Share your ideas and wishes [email protected] . We would love to collaborate with you!  Is there anything more luxurious or special than getting it made just the way you want it?

Enjoy these pictures of some custom creations that we have made to order in our workoom!

 

Designer:  Philip Labossiere - Saddle River, NJ 

This Marielle Bookcase was made custom as a 3-piece TV cabinet wall unit.  It is normally a tall bookcase in your choice of a group of fabrics and nail head trims that comes with or without doors on the base.

Designer: Patrick Sutton - Baltimore, MD

The Kent Sofa was made into these banquettes for a restaurant.  Because of Patrick's request we now make the Kent as a sectional for everyone!

Israel's Furniture - Grand Rapids, MI

This designer selected the American Empire Tall Dresser as their 'canvas' for their client! Not only was it a group of match panel Benjamin Moore paint colors, but was hand-decorated as well!

Designers: Kevin & Susan Walsh - Little Rock, AR

The Elinor M2M Sofa was made just the right length for the room and without the back as a special construction.

For more customizations visit our 'Made Custom To Order' board on Pinterest!  If you have pictures to share us with just email them to [email protected]!

 

 

Wishes Coming True By Raising The Bar

Several years ago designers and sales associates visiting Hickory Chair wished that we made bar and counter stools.  We trusted the feedback and created the Madigan series of dining chairs with matching bar and counter stools.  None of us here at Hickory Chair could have imagined their popularity!  Since then we have added a wide variety of styles from modern to casual, from French to Regency, from in-house ideas to designs from our licensees.  Later new wishes were made for swivel bar stools that we have created as well!  Enjoy the pictures of how some designers have used a variety of the bar and counter stools that we now make. 

From the Today Show 2011 Kitchen Of The Year set are the Madigan Bar Stools

 

From the Today Show 2012 Kitchen Of The Year set are the Madigan Backless Counter Stools

Bickerstaff Interiors of Midland, Georgia selected the Amsterdam Counter Stools for this home

At the 2012 Las Vegas Homebuilders Show this designer chose the Ilsa Bar Stools with the open waist from the Alexa Hampton Collection

 

Gracious Home Design in Jenks, OK selected these Ilsa Bar Stools with FIgure-8 waist from the Alexa Hampton Collection

 

William Caligari Interiors of Great Barrington, MA selected the Dara Bar Stools in paint with hand striping from the Thomas O'Brien Collection

A pair of Newbury Swivel Bar stools are the perfect companion to this custom made Hutton M2M Bar Table

 These are just a few of the various bar and counter stools made to order at Hickory Chair.  All of them are available in your choice of stain or paint finish along with your fabric or leather choice. Personalize them further with optional nail head trims and stretcher finishes.  Want to see them all? Click here!

Making Custom Furniture To Order in Hickory, North Carolina

The last 18 months has proven to be a truly amazing time for all of us at Hickory Chair! We have been honored with the opportunity to make record numbers of custom furniture items. We have been challenged to make one-of-a-kind special construction pieces.  We have been entrusted to make both wood and upholstered furniture at a pace that has allowed us to add over 175 ADDITIONAL artisans and craftsmen to our Hickory, North Carolina workroom since July 2012... and we still have some openings! 100 of this group have joined our family just this year.  We have nearly 700 talented artisans and craftsmen making furniture to order in our 600,000 square foot workroom!

Pieces like this special construction 6272-11 Marlboro Chair reproducted from an antique from the historic Winterthur Country Estate Collection.  The client loved the chair but it was only available as a side chair.  They wanted arm chairs for host chairs.  They asked if we could use the arms from the Sebastian Arm Chair from the Thomas O'Brien Collection to create an arm chair verison of the Marlboro Side Chair.  We were able to make it!

How can Hickory Chair be hiring so many craftsmen with all the opposite news on the TV, radio and internet?  We believe that our success has been earned by our talented craftsmen making pieces just the way the customer wants it.  Making wood and upholstered pieces just the size needed for the room.  Finishing the piece in one of our 70 Hickory Chair stain or paint finishes or creating a custom finish to match a stain or paint sample.  Adding decorative touches like COH^TM (Customer's Own Hardware^TM), monogramming, tape trims around the skirt, hand-tufting with the customer's crystal buttons instead of fabric-covered buttons, and a host of other things we can do to order here in our Hickory, North Carolina workroom.

We are working very hard to share the knowledge of our long-term artisans and craftsmen with this large group we have added to our family in the past 13 months.  We are working hard to teach them our standards as well as the techniques to make custom-make wood and upholstered furniture.  They have brought us an appreciation for a place to practice their vocation.  All around us are examples of lay-offs and furniture plant closings.  These talented individuals choose the craft of making furniture as their vocation.  They enjoy the challenge of making solid wood framed upholstery, by the inch wood and upholstered pieces, of working with elegant fabrics and leather and making truly heirloom quality furniture.  They have brought to us fresh eyes and ideas of things we can do to keep our company growing.  We are a very young-thinking 102 year old company!

Why not ask us to make a pair of Artisan Chest with Single Drawer with linen upholstered drawer fronts?  You know we can do it!  These particular chest are designed in your choice of Ash or Mahogany wood, are available in over 70 Hickory Chair finishes and have Customer's Own Hardware^TM available as an option. In addition, this exact chest is available as a 4-drawer chest as well!  Even 'standard' does not mean one finish with one hardware!  Click on Personalize This Item when you are on our web page that features this chest and you can visualize it in our wide range of painted and stained finishes.  You can see how constrasting finishes would look.  You can see where our artists can hand stripe them.  You can see how different pieces of hardware in Antique Silver, Antique Bronze or Antique Brass would look.  We can make it once you can visualize it!

Designers challenge us to make special pieces.  For example, this spring a designer needed a chaise lounge for a bedroom.  While we had many to choose from, he did not find what he liked.  As he reviewed our website he found the Continental Club Chair from the Thomas O'Brien Collection.  He envisioned it as a chaise. Our craftsmen were able to make it just the length he needed it! 

Each piece with options on our web site has a visualization tool named 'Personalize This Item' as a part of our Online Design Center.  We can virtually upholster a sofa, add contrasting throw pillows,  add contrasting welt and change finishes on upholstered items.  Your interior designer or the sales associate at your local authorized Hickory Chair dealer can help you create just the right piece for your room.  Why not give us the opportunity to make something special for you?  Share your Hickory Chair with us and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Houzz and Pinterest!

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