Vol. 01
BY DESIGN
featured designer spotlight
why buy charleston forge?
charleston forge hospitality
Meet Liz Tate & Marta Mitchell
Handmade, Customizable Made in the USA
Andrew Pearson Glass & Stoneline Designs
by design
On the cover: Vector Apartments, Hillsboro, OR. Garrison Hullinger Interior Design, Portland, OR. Photography by Blackstone Edge Studios This page: Springhouse Lounge Chair and Ottoman
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BY DESIGN a charleston forge publication Table Of Contents Who We are
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Designer Spotlight — Liz Tate
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Specialty Glass by Andrew Pearson
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Designer Spotlight — Marta Mitchell
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Stoneline Designs
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Contract & Hospitality
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Where to Find Us
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Customer Feature
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Employee Feature
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Sustainability
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About By Design By Design is a periodic publication by Charleston Forge. Its focus is sharing the work of interior designers who use our products as well as to provide information about the company, its affiliates, the products we make, the people who buy them, and the dedicated team that builds them. Enjoy.
Contact Us Phone: 828.264.0100 Email: info@charlestonforge.com www.CharlestonForge.com 251 Industrial Park Drive Boone, NC 26807
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Who is Charleston Forge? proud to be american made Charleston Forge was started in 1984 by Susan and Art Barber in Boone, North Carolina. The company was founded with a commitment to always provide innovative design, superior quality, and outstanding customer service — something we’re proud to say we have been doing for all of our nearly 40 years in business. Our products, which range from dining and occasional tables, to consoles, chairs, barstools, étagères, desks, and beds, are all built in our Boone, North Carolina factory. Many of these are made using age-old forging techniques of heating and hammering the steel. Every piece of furniture is built by hand every step of the way, from cutting the steel through welding and painting, all the way to the assembly department. This approach makes customization of our product easy, something that makes us a go-to resource for designers. Our products are sold by a network of furniture stores and interior designers throughout the United States and Canada. This ensures that every buying experience involves working with a knowledgeable professional who can guide the customer in their choice of product, materials, and finishes, thereby maintaining the quality of the Charleston Forge experience from start to finish.
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designer spotlight
Liz Tate
interior designer, ut Liz Snyder Tate found her passion for design during her college years when she studied and worked for international fashion designer, Nicole Miller. With offices in Park City and St George, Utah, Liz has an impressive portfolio, having worked on numerous luxury residential home sites and commercial projects across the United States.
Liz began utilizing Charleston Forge as a resource in 2019 when she specified more than a dozen pieces for “Deja View”, a stunning, custom-built home in St. George, Utah. For one setting she combined several custom and standard Cooper tables, all topped with Seascape Fusion glass, to create the fabulous, interlocking grouping seen above. Seen first at the renowned St. George Parade of Homes,
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charleston forge where you can find us
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by design where you can find us
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charleston forge the grouping has been repeatedly ordered by other designers as it continues to turn heads. A custom dining table base, dining and lounge chairs, and several consoles were also included in the home. See more of this project at www.liztatedesign.com.
At left: A Cooper Drink Table with 2-inch Seascape Fusion Glass. Far left: A 34” Chairside Cooper Console with 2-inch Seascape Fusion Glass. Below: Vero Dining Chairs with custom backs.
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Specialty Glass andrew pearson glass As the Sales and Marketing arm of Andrew Pearson Premium Glassworks, Charleston Forge is able to offer a wide variety of truly unique glass products as both inline and custom tops. Andrew Pearson glass can also be used in a variety of other applications such as in residential kitchen and bathroom countertops and backsplashes, as well as in hospitality settings such as bars and restaurants. The glass can also be used as vertical elements, such as room dividers and privacy screens in both residential and commercial environments. As leaders in glass technology and innovation, Andrew Pearson pioneered processes, such as UV bonding, that are now considered market standards. The company was also the first to bond metal to glass, and the first to modify stone cutting machinery to finish their unique glass creations. That creativity is what keeps their products at the forefront for many architects, interior designers, and furniture designers alike. Several years ago, they developed new fused glass technologies to create a line of thick glass products. With fine-tuned processes in place, they launched countertop, vanity, and stair tread lines for commercial and residential applications.
At left: Facet glass tops, seen here inset into a maple frame on a Hudson Cocktail Table, is created by bonding three sheets of glass together and cracking the middle layer.
Ellwood Interiors, Birmingham, MI. Photography by Beth Singer.
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At left: A Fusion glass kitchen cou with a Seascape textured bottom silvery metal backing above the c creates a striking contrast with th see-through bar overhang.
Like Charleston Forge, Andrew Pearson’s glass products are fabricated by hand at their North Carolina factory. Given that, they too are easily able to accommodate custom orders that range from small tabletops to bar tops for large restaurants, to expansive wall panels for hotel lobbies. Charleston Forge has a team dedicated solely to glass sales who are focused on helping interior designers and architects learn about the materials we have to offer and how they can be used in both residential and commercial applications. We are members of the National Kitchen & Bath Association and closely follow design trends to inform future product development by Andrew Pearson. To learn more about Andrew Pearson Glass and their capabilities contact Kelly Gwaltney, VP of Glass Sales, at kelly@charlestonforge. com or visit www.AndrewPearsonGlass.com.
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untertop m surface. The cabinets he
Above: Iridescent glass panels create a visual break in a conference center lobby.
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designer spotlight
Marta Mitchell interior designer, nc
Marta Mitchell Interior Design is an awardwinning, full service interior design firm based in Greensboro, NC. In a career spanning more than 25 years, Marta has done projects across the country and specifies Charleston Forge furniture on a regular basis. While many of the Charleston Forge products Marta uses are in-line pieces, she also takes advantage of the company’s custom capabilities on a regular basis. In the downtown Greensboro, NC penthouse project seen here, Marta took inspiration from our Emmitt Lounge Chair to create custom dining chairs and barstools, thus achieving the client’s desire for a more contemporary look. In addition to the dining chairs, Marta used Andrew Pearson Glass for the Seascape Fusion glass top on the dining table. For more information about Marta Mitchell, visit www.martamitchellinteriordesign.com.
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An Omega Cocktail Table with textured Seascape Fusion glass from Andrew Pearson Glassworks, mimics the motion of the water that can be seen from all around this New Jersey shore home.
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A 12½-foot long Crescent Conference Table with a Pebble Fusion Glass top, a Crescent Credenza, and Fremont Conference Chairs. Top right: An Apex Conference Table with an Acid-Etched Glass top and Fremont Chairs.
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Executive Furniture stoneline designs
A subsidiary of Charleston Forge, Stoneline Designs has been producing hand-crafted office furniture and conference room tables since 1989. The company specializes in creating highly functional, contemporary executive furniture that emphasizes form with modern functionality. Matching striking design with distinctive materials and finishes, ranging from solid steel to stainless steel paneling for the bases and specialty glass products, wood and granite for the tops, these pieces are truly unique. Learn more about the company and their capabilities at:
www.StonelineDesigns.com
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Contract & Hospitality custom capabilities
Our Contract & Hospitality division has been building Community Tables for Starbucks since 2015.
Charleston Forge Contract & Hospitality represents the capabilities of our three distinct companies. Both Charleston Forge and Stoneline Designs products are manufactured at our Boone, North Carolina production facility, glass tops come from Andrew Pearson Premium Glassworks. The great in-house design and engineering talent, combined with the diversity of products and styles these three companies represent, provide a unique resource in the furniture industry. Contact the Contract team directly at 828.264.0294 or via email at contract@charlestonforge.com.
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8 West Apartments, Greensboro, NC Kern Dining Tables with Acid-Etched Glass tops
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Open Year-Round stop by our las vegas showroom anytime Above: The Charleston Forge showroom in the Las Vegas Design Center is open year-round. At right: Our High Point Showroom. For more information: Contact showroom manager Linda Recania at 702.405.7237 or lrecania@charlestonforge.com.
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Where to Find Us around the country Our Charleston Forge, Stoneline Designs, Andrew Pearson, and Contract & Hospitality teams can be found around the country attending the various Furniture Markets and trade shows that occur throughout the year. Our main events are, not surprisingly, the High Point Furniture Market and the Las Vegas Furniture Market, where you’ll find a wide variety of products from every line of the company. Designer-oriented events such as Design Edge and BDNY give us an opportunity to introduce designers to our products and build relationships with many of the top creatives in the industry. Our teams can also be found at many of the other trade events during the year. These include the NEWH trade shows, Hospitality Link, NeoCon, and The International Surface Event.
Above from left: Product Development Engineer Tyler May, VP of Glass Sales Kelly Gwaltney, and VP of Contract & Hospitality Andy Beekman at BDNY. Top from left: Company president, Dan Minor, with owners Rick Grant and Susan and Art Barber at Design Edge in Boston (middle image).
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Customer Feature get social with us We love it when we meet our customers, like Russ and Lynne, right, who live in Minnesota and love to travel. On a trip through North Carolina they stopped into Boone to drop off their favorite chairs they bought from Charleston Forge more than 10 years ago. They wanted to switch out the leather sling seats, and who better to work on them then the artisans in our factory?
One of our favorite things is when customers and designers share photographs of their Charleston Forge furniture with us. Send yours to social@charlestonforge.com. And the team at Charleston Forge loves to be social — you can find us on Linkedin, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Stories and Reels. Follow us and see all the great stuff that’s going on at the factory.
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Employee Feature linda seatz A native and lifelong resident of nearby Ashe County, NC, Linda Seatz was one of the first two employees hired by Charleston Forge founders, Susan and Art Barber, when they started the company in 1984. “We might not be here today had Linda not joined us all those years ago.” says Art. “The pride she takes in doing whatever job we give her has set an example for all those who work around her, even to this day. She is what a ‘family business’ is all about.” “The other employee was the welder,” Linda says when talking about the early years. “Once it was welded I did the grinding, I washed it before it was painted, and then I painted it, then I boxed it and called the carrier to come pick it up.” Linda has worked in many other positions over the years, including as a section manager and as the purchasing agent. Currently she is the Starbucks Account Manager. Linda wire-brushing a baker’s rack back in the ‘80s . Today she works as the Starbucks Account Manager.
“In 2018 I said I was going to retire but I didn’t really leave, I just started working part time,” she says. “There have been a lot of good times — I’ve enjoyed everything and learned a lot along the way.”
Fire Friday Check out our weekly Instagram and Facebook Reels that we call #FireFriday. The Charleston Forge team works hard every day to get each built-to-order piece of furniture shipped and delivered. #FireFriday helps to tell that story. You can find these quick, fun videos on our social media platforms including our YouTube FireFriday playlist. Come be social with us and give this hardworking team a ‘Like’ and ‘Share’.
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There are 45 pieces that make up a Springhouse Étagère. These are the 13 you don’t see.
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Pictured here are 13 of the dozens on our team who had a hand in creating this Springhouse Étagère. From product design to forging and finishing, each Charleston Forge piece is made to order by hand by skilled craftsmen like these. From left: Cameron (Grinding), Glenda (Wood finishing), Lucas (Forging), Bryan (Boxing), Jesse (Assembly), Crystal (Handpaint), Jed (Cutting), Brady (Powder Coat), Gary (Post-Grinding Inspector), Wilson (Design), Josh (Welder), Tim (Wheelabrator), Randy (Shipping).
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Sustainability As we are located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, we are constantly reminded about the importance of nature and protecting the environment around us. • •
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We use recycled steel to create our furniture and we recycle all the scrap. Nearly all the wood we use for our tops and cabinetry comes from the Appalachian region around us, whose forests are certified by the USDA as growing at a rate of three trees for every one harvested. Our forges are all heated using propane, which is cleaner burning and more efficient than natural gas. Our powder coat paint system produces less waste and releases far fewer VOCs (volatile organic compounds) than wet paint spray systems. Our on-demand packaging system minimizes cardboard waste. More than 90% of our suppliers are located within 100 miles of our factory meaning a smaller carbon footprint. We build furniture that lasts literally for generations. Our products can be repaired, refinished, and even recycled.
Charleston Forge 251 Industrial Park Drive, Boone, NC 28607
tel. 828.264.0100
www.CharlestonForge.com
