Charleston Forge’s Market Showroom Will Feature Award-Winning Student-Designed Chairs

Furniture World Magazine

Charleston Forge (CF) has announced that their showroom at the upcoming International Home Furnishings Market will feature more than just the company’s most beautiful innovations in iron furniture– it will also display exemplary creations designed by five students as entered in the Second Annual Appalachian State University Chair Design Competition, which took place last April within the university’s Department of Technology. The chairs on display at the CF showroom will include the contest’s first-place winning chair entitled “Staying Alive” by Ben Johnson (Summerville, GA); along with second-prize winner Tighe Smalley’s (Ithaca, NY) “Ralph Wiggums Three-legged Pump Chair,” a combination drawing table, drawer and seating bench for children; as well as Whitney Bradford's (Chattanooga, TN) “Phyllis” which took third-place honors. The Appalachian Chair Design Competition was judged by noted furniture-industry designers Charlie Sutton, Bill Faber and Todd Campbell. For their efforts, the three winners received awards of $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. All three winners are already recipients of the American Home Furnishing Alliance (AHFA) scholarship. AHFA is a trade association dedicated to the advancement of the US furniture industry and assists students at Appalachian who have chosen to double major in Furniture Studies and Business. Chairs designed by two other Appalachian State University students will also be on display, a Stickley chair designed by Appalachian junior Skylar Davis (Newport, NC), and Matt Parks’ (The Woodlands, TX) “The Klyde Rocker.” According to Susan Barber, CF principal, “The winners of the Appalachian State University contest exemplify the level of creativity, excellence in design, and attention to detail embodied in our own furniture. We believe that the students’ visions will interest visitors to our showroom. It’s just an added bonus to all of the wonderful, new design ideas to be shown this year from the artisans at Charleston Forge." All five Appalachian students were also displayed as finalists at the AWFS® Vegas 2005 Student Design Contest held in July at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with two earning first place awards. Johnson won first place in the "Chair, Creative" category for his design while Smalley took first place in the "Special Theme: Special Needs Furnishings" for his entry. Each received a certificate and a $1,000 cash award wrapping up an impressive showing by the students from Appalachian’s College of Fine and Applied Arts. The AWFS® Vegas 2005 competition drew from both high schools and postsecondary institutions across the nation, including Georgia Tech, Auburn University, the University of Kentucky and Brigham Young University, among many others. About Charleston Forge Charleston Forge, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, uses age-old blacksmithing techniques and the newest technologies to produce exceptional furniture and accent pieces. Their skilled artisans use only the highest quality materials to create beautifully designed pieces in iron, which is also used in combination with the finest woods, glass and other materials, to offer unique and very special pieces for every lifestyle. Charleston Forge furniture and accent pieces are offered throughout the US, Canada and the United Kingdom in high-end furniture and lifestyle stores. For further information, please visit www.charlestonforge.com. Charleston Forge, 251 Industrial Park Drive, Boone, NC 28607.