For people who take their furniture seriously, we found antique chairs being used as a motif on everything from fine china and pajamas to pillows, tableclothes and-you guessed it-chairs. Several of the chair-printed fabrics look like pages torn from an 18th Century artist’s sketchbook: The images are drawing-like and accompanied by script.
“Think about how many Leonardo da Vinci sketches that have been reproduced-it’s the thought processes, the ideas” that people are drawn to, says Ronna Griest, president of Expressions Inc., a chain of custom furniture stores based in Metairie, La.
“It’s a very contemporary usage of something that is so normal, something we’re all so used to,” says Griest of the furniture-on-furniture trend, noting that Expressions plans to expand its use of the motif.
Expressions (the Chicago store is at 435 N. LaSalle St.; 312-744-1480) is showing a Louis XV occasional chair and throw pillows covered in “Chairs-Natural,” a chair print drawing.
Bloomingdale’s carries a similar chair in its “Home for the Holidays” catalog along with chaise table linens, again with a sketch-like chair pattern and French script. The catalog also offers Fitz and Floyd dessert plates with a single French reproduction chair on each piece.
But if you want to think about the trend before investing big bucks, Victoria’s Secret has something for women in its Christmas catalog: cotton flannel pj’s decked with chairs.
