Part 3: good news from talents helping with IFDA Take A Seat charity and chair auction on May 16 at Lillian August Showroom in NYC

a beautiful chair featured on Nest by Tamara
written by Tamara Matthews-Stephenson

 More glimpses of  designer's "before" chairs
 as they transform for the
IFDA NY chapter's

TAKE A SEAT charity and auction

We have exciting new developments,and all of us at IFDA NY are very grateful to have professional auctioneerKarl Green of Bonhamsas our auctioneer for the evening on May 16With Jamie Drake hosting, and Karl Green utilizing his expertise to auction off these 25 chairs,we are in for a special evening.

About Karl:

Karl Green is the Director of Furniture & Decorative Arts at Bonhams, New York.

Green has 30 years experience in the European and American auction markets as an appraiser and auctioneer.  He has worked in a variety of auction houses from Freeman’s and Butterfield & Butterfield to Switzerland's Koller.  For six years, Green was also Secretary General for International Auctioneers.  He specializes in French and Continental Furniture and Decorations in Bonham' Furniture and Decorative Arts auctions in New York. 

Jamie Drake, FASID IIDA

world renowned interior designer, Drake is known for his glamorous spaces, and exuberant color sense, his eye for the unique and telling detail, his practical approach to planning, and his equal facility in traditional and modern styles.  He creates inviting delightful and resolutely livable environments. 

take a look at a few more designer's 
refurbishing chairs...

17. Rose Ott

is the owner of Rose Ott Interior Design in Merrick, Long Island.  She had a plethora of discarded chairs in her neighborhood to choose from after they were hit with Hurricane Sandy.  Ott chose this discarded beechwood bergere chair with lovely swan carvings, and plans to use a vibrant, large scale fabric to give the chair a happier future. 
Note:  the chair and finish has generously be donated by fellow Sandy victim, Frank Vacarro of Master of Furniture.  Upholstery generously donated by Emanuel Decorators and Upholsterers.

Rose Ott Interior Design

16. Andrea Algaze

is an interior designer and alumni of the School of Visual art.  Algaze has spent her career journeying through many fields in the design world, art ,fashion, jewelry ,home furnishings and architecture.  Inspired by her love of travel , color, design, fabric, food ,the arts, colleagues, friends, volunteer work, family & the creative energy of NYC will be repurposing an old back room find, fireside chair with the idea of the the beauty of nature.

15. Nancy Fire

designworksintl.com

is the Creative Director Founder of Design Works International

Since 1989, Fire has served as founder and creative director of Design Works International. Initially a fashion and lifestyle studio, Design Works has expanded into the home furnishings arena.

Fire found an antique metal chair in NYC that she will use in her "Heavy Metal" theme combining metal inspired fabrics and finishes. Nancy loves to repurpose furniture while keeping an updated sensibility by using trend inspired influences. With the importance of metal accents in the home, this is a perfect way to combine trend and tradition by bringing fabrics, finishes and style to a simple structure.

14. Lois Croce

http://www.windowfashions.com 

is the design director for Metropolitan Window Fashions, a chain of retail stores in New Jersey & New York City specializing in custom window treatments, furniture re upholstery and fabric accessories.

the "before"

This chair will be colorful, whimsical and contemporary, the 80's Retro Chair has been repurposed into a modern one-of-kind creation! This vintage upright chair, purchased at Habitat for Humanity Restore in New Jersey. Inspired by Pantone's Color of the Year Emerald Green, the seat was re-upholstered with a bright green, black and white graphic fabric from Waverly's HGTV Collection and replaced the back with my own original naive ‘modern art’ acrylic painting. This chair leads the viewer across decades and artistic styles.

13. Rosemarie Hittmeyer, IFDA NY
ifdanyny@verizon.net
Hittmeyer is the IFDA NY chapter administrator, as well as her Alma Mater FIT's marketing and design associate
Green Goddess

You can take the girl out of fashion but you can’t take the fashion out of the girl. Rosemarie's chair saunters right off the fashion runways.

Wearing the latest coat of sea glass colored metallic paint and shimmering apple green peau de soie, she exudes femininity. This French Rococo-style fauteuil has cabriole legs and is paired with a petit footstool so her delicate feet needn’t touch the ground. The piece de résistance is the millinery details on the chair backs. Appliqued ombre silk ribbons create a spring garden complete with small berries, inspired by ladies hats of yesteryear. The discreet scroll and floral details on the chair are touched with plum and mauve paint to pull the whole ensemble together.

 

12. Mary Little
 www.designbius.com

Wear the chair, a chair to wear

Built on Little's esteemed reputation, she co-owns design bius with husband Peter Wheeler.  For Little's chair, she wove two threads together:  a frame from the historic collection of master upholsterer Al Mario, and the beautiful fabrics of Rosemary Hallgarten.  The luxurious sensation of wrapping oneself in a shawl of Alpaca was her inspiration, as well as the shawls worn with 1950s couture evening dresses.  She is experimenting with the Alpaca "wraps" and the open arms of the chair and how one may look wearing them.