By Design — Volume 4

about charleston forge

The company was founded in 1984 with a commitment to 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. Every piece of furniture is built by hand every step of the way, from cutting the steel through forging, 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.

To learn more about us or find a dealer near go to www.charlestonforge.com. At left: Charleston Forge Frontier Drink Table shown in Burnished Iron finish with a Clear Coat on Walnut top.

See more of the Frontier Collection and learn about our partnership with Craft + Forge starting on page 16.

Transformation Before & After

linda griffeth interiors | charlotte, nc

This traditional home was a time capsule of traditional living and decor. Linda Griffeth’s clients were frustrated that the two front rooms of their home, the first rooms their guests see when entering the home, were underutilized. In the traditional style, the room to the right was the formal dining room, and to the left was the formal living room, home to a baby grand piano. No one in the home even played the piano.

“After learning more about their lifestyle and interests, we took the very traditional, formal dining room and created a wine room and a comfortable gathering and conversation space,” Linda says about the renovation. ”And across the foyer, we transformed the unused formal living room into a Billiard Room.”

“Because of this room’s location, it was very important that the Billiard Room look classy and not like a pool hall or youth lounge, she says. “No art with dogs smoking cigars! Both the Gathering Room and the Billiard Room serve this family’s lifestyle so well and are often used.”

For more information visit www.lindaginteriors.com

Design

Linda Griffeth Interiors

@lindagriffethinteriors

Photography

Heather Ison

www.heatherison.com

The formal living room before the renovation, transformed into the Billiard Room at right.

Charleston Forge Naples Barstools and Kern Bar Height Table.

Soaking in Luxury

custom bath side tables

Our featured designers have created luxury bath designs that are on par with a favorite spa, including next-level freestanding bathtubs positioned in front of floor-to-ceiling windows, revealing picturesque views.

At left, sitting next to the free-standing tub, the designers at Helm Home in Murray, UT, chose a Charleston Forge Crescent Drink Table as an accent piece. The black metal base and thick glass top will stand up well to steam and splashes.

Much like Charleston Forge, Helm is a company that strives for a higher

standard. They believe that the true meaning of luxury is the right thing, made well, and delivered effortlessly. The curated collection of premium furniture is hand-picked by their team of interior designers to set a new standard for quality and enduring style. Charleston Forge is often chosen for the luxury designs for which they are known.

Marta Mitchell’s original design, seen above, is a custom bench/table combination that combines our Emmitt Ottoman with a small glass shelf raised above the cushion, nicely combining both form and function

Above: Custom Bath Side Bench by Charleston Forge. Interior Design: Marta Mitchell

The Speckled Trout

restaurant reno & outfitter build out blowing rock, nc

The Speckled Trout Restaurant in Blowing Rock, NC, and their recent off-shoot, The Speckled Trout Outfitters, approached Charleston Forge’s Contract & Hospitality Division to create custom furnishings for both locations. Some of their restaurant furniture needed updating and the outfitter location required a display case and bar for the taproom area.

The solution for the taproom was a one-piece, 14-footlong, 1½-inch-thick, live-edge ash top sitting on a custom built steel bar. The steel panel facing of the bar is patinaed so as to give the appearance of the movement of a rippling river.

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A live-edge ash top adorns the 14-foot long steel bar at The Speckled Trout Outfitters.

www.charlestonforge.com

The steel, maple, and glass display cabinet inside The Speckled Trout Outfitters is 18 feet long and 5 feet deep. It features lighted display shelves with locking cabinets underneath.

The display case is 18-feet long and 5-feet deep and incorporates lockable storage cabinets beneath the twotiered display area. The glass, steel, and wood structure is also outfitted with recessed lighting.

For the restaurant the clients requested a retro chair to replace all their seating. We also supplied solid maple table tops for part of the dining area as well as metal bases for another. The chairs are finished in our Alchemy powder coat finish with a custom channeled black vinyl seat. Being made of tubular steel makes them strong but lightweight. The hospitality grade vinyl looks good, wears well, and is easy to clean.

Being American made and working out of our single North Carolina facility means our team of designers and fabricators can confer daily on projects in order to incorporate changes that might be needed or solve challenges that may arise.

Members of the Charleston Forge Contract & Hospitality team: Fabricators Nick Johnson, Carden Lamb, and Blaize Ward, with product designer, Abigail Rupa.

3D Rendering by Theresa G Design Photography by Mindee Malloy

Hello Yellow!

spunky designs with sunshine shades

Nisha Tailor’s Instgram handle, @befearlessyellow, says it all, expressing her love of the color and the optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence it exudes.

So when she was approached by Ethos Design Collective to create a Charleston Forge piece with vibrant color, the choice was an easy one. The result is the Cooper Desk seen at left, finished in “Be Fearless Yellow” with a black back-painted glass top. Based in St. Louis, Nisha is a certified LEED Green Associate.

www.nishatailorinteriordesign.com.

The Belvedere Bench by designer Katy Skelton

Lori Sparkman, owner of Fifteenth and Home Furniture and Décor in Tulsa, OK, chose a pair of Springhouse Lounge Chairs and Ottomans for her own home. “It’s everyone’s favorite chair,” she says. Fifteenth and Home provides design services to create imaginative solutions to the

client’s lifestyle. “My philosophy and objective in design is to edit, place, and mix new pieces with the client’s favorite acquired items,” she says. “The final product is not an expression of my taste, but an interpretation of theirs.” Learn more about her work at www.fifteenthandhome.com.

www.charlestonforge.com

Denise Taylor M.A. Allied ASID, founder and design director for Aspen Design House, created this bold vignette at the top of a grand staircase. This beautiful home project was featured in Luxe Interiors + Design Magazine’s January/ February 2023 Issue. Charleston Forge’s Springhouse Ottomans were chosen to complement the striking artwork.

www.aspendesignhouse.com

Photography

Dallas & Harris Photography

Marta Mitchell, President of MM Interior Design Group in Greensboro, NC, customized this Beaufort Bench; part of the Jarrett Bay Home Collection, from Charleston Forge.

www.martamitchellinteriordesign.com

The Armory Drink Table shown in Burnished Iron finish with a Brentwood on Maple top.

Furniture that honors the designs and techniques of the past while offering beautiful pieces for your home that are both comfortable and livable.

Craft & Forge is a Colonial Williamsburg brand that celebrates artisans of the past by making historically inspired, heirloom-worthy products with people who share our passion.

The brand takes inspiration from the skilled makers of The Colonial Williamsburg Historic Trades Program, who continue to use traditional techniques and tools, inspiring younger generations to research, preserve, and practice increasingly rare trades from the past.

The new Craft & Forge pieces by Charleston Forge honor designs and techniques of the past while offering handsome pieces that are comfortable and livable.

www.craftandforgebrand.com

www.charlestonforge.com

The Frontier Collection

During a time of great expansion, frontier settlers needed the right tools in this uncharted land. The long rifle, a distinctly American innovation, was needed for hunting, and legendarily helped win the Revolutionary War. Much more accurate than a musket, the long rifle was a key component of our victory and serves as a symbol of American ingenuity and craftsmanship.

The Frontier Collection was inspired by the process by which rifle barrels were made by hand. The gunsmith forged a flat wrought iron bar into a tube, then forge-welded the seam, producing the hole that was bored out smooth and then rifled.

This page: The Frontier Drink Table shown in Champagne finish with a Clear Coat on Live-Edge Walnut top. At left top: The Frontier Cocktail and End Tables shown in Burnished Iron with Clear Coat on Walnut tops.

The Armory Collection

The Revolutionary War wasn’t won through battles alone.

To keep pace with the might of British industry, Virginia desperately needed new resources and craftspeople played a huge role. Metalsmiths took red-hot iron from the fires of their forges and hammered it into a variety of tools, hardware, and weaponry to strengthen the colony.

Distinctive forms of iron and steelwork in the Colonial Williamsburg collections — for example, the graceful curvature in a bayonet, an icon of the American Revolution — inspired the Armory Collection.

Top: The Armory Cocktail Table is shown in Burnished Iron with a Brentwood on Maple top. At left: The Armory Console is shown in Alchemy with a Cashew on Maple top and shelf.

Forging Your Next Design

meet the people behind your custom vision

April Lyle is our colorful and creative Senior Project Engineer. On any given day you’ll find her with a smile on her face and a pen clipped to the neck of her shirt, which is inevitably adorned with some quirky quote.

April is a native of nearby Ashe County, NC and a graduate of Appalachian State University here in Boone. She joined Charleston Forge in 2014 shortly after earning her degree Industrial Design. April oversees all custom orders, both contract and residential — she’s involved in the process from a project’s first CAD drawings through the fabrication process and into assembly.

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Custom barstools at the Hickory Wine Shoppe in Hickory, NC.

Senior Product Engineer, April Lyle, and customs welder, Ernie Houser, confer regularly to ensure that every custom piece going through the factory conforms exactly to the customer’s specifications.

This page: Custom Vero Dining Chairs.

Below: A customized cluster of Cooper Occasional Tables.

Below right: A custom Facet Glass bartop backlit with blue LED lights.

The designs she works on are conceived by our customers and submitted to us for a quote.

April then collaborates with the customer and creates a drawing that reflects the designer’s vision. Once approved, April works with our purchasing department to make sure we have all the parts needed for fabrication. Final fabrication drawings are then made for the factory team and released to begin production.

April spends much of her day shuttling back and forth between her desk and the shop floor, consulting with others involved in the fabrication

of the piece, answering questions, approving any required changes, and making quality checks through the entire building process.

April most frequently collaborates with Ernie Houser, who has been with the company since 1986. “If I can’t figure out how something is going to come together I work with Ernie to come up with a solution,” says April. “It’s that ability to collaborate that helps us exceed a customer’s expectations”

“My work brings me something different every day. That is what I love about my job.”

Custom Solutions

Kelsey Herrick, owner of Kelsey Herrick Design in Walnut Creek, CA, had us build four custom Naples Barstools for a project she was doing for Mike Brown, then assistant coach of the Golden State Warriors basketball team.

Now coach of the Sacramento Kings, Mike wanted a taller, wider barstool with the same graceful lines that make the Naples the best-selling product in the Charleston Forge line. The result was a barstool 8 inches taller and 4 inches wider than the standard model.

“The Naples Barstool from Charleston Forge was a sophisticated piece that perfectly reflected the new design,” says Kelsey. “Their custom fabrication team is second to none.”

Kelsey Herrick and the over-sized barstools she had custom built for client Mike Brown (top). At bottom left is one of the customs next to a standard barstool.

Looking Fetching!

pet friendly furniture

Spiffy Stuff, owned by husband and wife team Andy and Kelly Kardian, is a to-the-trade only showroom with a 10,000 sq. ft. design center in Atlanta. The showroom represents Charleston Forge as well as 65 other manufacturers. “One of our favorite manufacturers has always been Charleston Forge” Kelly says. “When looking for beautiful product styles and quality craftsmanship, Charleston Forge is a must on any designer’s list.”

Shown at left, this custom Cooper Cocktail Table is located in their living room, which is the heart of Andy and Kelly’s home. It’s a hit with their 3-year-old Bernese Mountain dog, Bentley.

CECILIA Interior Design in Lancaster, PA specializes in custom residential interiors, which is why they love Charleston Forge’s custom capabilities. “This Legacy Bench was sourced for a living room we designed at a client’s traditional home in Lancaster.” says Cecilia Zagas, owner and lead designer. “We wanted the Charleston Forge bench to mesh with the classic style of the home, so we sized this leather bench to fit seamlessly in front of this wall of windows, serving as the perfect accent for this underutilized area.”

At left, Tank, the Cavapoo, shows just how comfortable and functional this piece is for the clients.

As owner and lead designer of EM Interiors, Erin Walker, the spouse of PGA Tour Professional, Jimmy Walker, offers boutique design services and creates a unique experience tailored to her client’s needs. Erin and her pup, Leia, enjoy floral arranging at home with a splash of champagne. She chose a Naples Bar Height Table with a Seascape Fusion Glass top for her personal residence.

Design: EM Interiors

Above: Charleston Forge Naples Bar Height Table with a Seascape Fusion Glass top

Matthew Pennell smooths out welds on a Triumph Drink Table base. Carefully grinding weld beads creates seamless transitions between the various elements of a piece of furniture.