Designers known for making exquisite furnishings for adults are turning their attention to the children’s room. Stylish and artsy children’s furniture, minus the cartoon, fairy-tale and racing-car themes, is making a statement at prestigious furniture exhibitions–such as the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York and the International Furniture Market in High Point, N.C.–and in art furniture galleries and even traditional furniture stores.
More designers are paying attention to children’s furniture, says Marianne McNamara, one of the organizers of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, an annual showcase of lines from several hundred modern designers.
“It was common to see designers who normally do only adult furniture (showing) some children furniture at the show this year,” she says.
“The furniture is not just a copy of adult pieces. Designers are giving the children something that reflects the youthful character without being cutesy.”
The trend toward catering to the smaller set doesn’t surprise Glen Ellyn interior designer Suzanne Mauzey.
Kids are playing a key role in the design of their bedroom and the type of furniture they want there she says, adding that designers have become more aware of their interest. “They like the idea of having something like their mom and dad (have),” says Mauzey, “but they also want something that is uniquely their own.”
And whatever–or nearly whatever–Junior or Janey want is what Mom and Dad often end up writing checks for.
The demographics are very favor- able for this burgeonin 7/8 se 7/8ment in children’s furnishings, say Christopher W. Rusbuldt, a furn ture analyst at Wheat First Butche Singer Securities Inc. in Richmonc Va.
It’s the career-oriented Bab Boomers who had children later ii life who are being targeted as potential customers by furniture retailers, manufacturers and designers.
“There’s always going to be a market for the Cinderella room, but most companies are going beyond that,” Rusbuldt says.
Charles Shackleton, a Quechee, Vt., furniture-maker, got into children’s furniture when he designed a walnut wood chair with an upholstered bumble bee-print seat for his 4-year-old son, Hugh, and an upholstered camelback chair for his 6-year-old daughter, Sophia.
His children’s furniture, which is sold at Sawbridge Studios in River North, is being marketed toward young parents who want to pass their children’s furniture on, he says.
“They become beautiful little showpieces when the children outgrow them,” says the 36-year-old Shackleton. “Children’s tables can be used as coffee tables and the chair that belonged to your child will always be (his or her) chair.”
Paul Zurowski, one of the owners of Sawbridge Studios, says people don’t usually come in looking for a child’s chair or table.
“They see a chair or table by Charlie (Shackleton) and they are attracted to the size and workmanship,” says Zurowski. “It’s more an emotional purchase in the beginning and then they begin to see the keepsake quality in it and realize it is a memento they can pass on in their family.”
But Zurowski admits customers intitially have sticker shock.
Don’t let size fool you. Furniture for children may be small, but it can be just as pricey as furniture for adults.
“They assume because it`s smaller that it should cost less,” says Zurowski, who sells a child’s side chair by Shackleton for $265, a child’s table with a drawer also by Shackleton for $640. “But the same workmanship goes into the small child’s furniture that goes into adult furniture.”
Other examples: Upholstered wingback and easy chairs sell at Room & Board furniture stores for between $200 and $300; handcrafted custom pieces found in art furniture shops like Chiaroscuro in Chicago or Gallerie Entree Libre in New York range from $250 to $5,000.
“Having children’s furniture doesn’t mean you have something of lesser quality,” says Linda Jones, a spokeswoman for Masco Home Furnishings, parent company of several furniture stores including Lexington Furnishings Co., which showed its Kids Care line at High Point. “The workmanship is still there and it’s important for the quality to be there, too.”
In Masco’s Kids Care showroom, there were armoires with colorful geometric designs, a writing desk covered in graffiti and a brightly colored room divider.
“You can see how the furniture can advance to the next stage of a child’s life,” says Jones. “It doesn’t stop at a certain age with them. It’s creative, fun and personal. It becomes something very personal to the child-his chair or her writing desk.”
Making it personal is what it’s all about for designer Lori Johnson, who showed her furniture for adults and children at the ICFF in New York.
Johnson’s hand-carved wooden Hide Away bed, with its sloping high sides and peep holes along the bed’s skirt is a sleeping adventure for children. The bed (which comes in youth, a 33-by-66-inch bed, and traditional 39-by-75-inch twin sizes) has several steps so a child can easily get into it.
But Johnson believes the bed’s most important feature is its crawl space.
“Like most kids, I thought monsters were hiding under my bed and that they could see me, but I couldn’t see them,” says the 32-year-old Johnson. “Now with the crawl space, the place monsters would hide is replaced by a place for children to play and kids have a sense of ownership of the space.”
Johnson also has a line of squiggly-shaped table and floor lamps, whose colors and design were inspired by children’s socks, plants from the sea and even her brother’s blue and green T-shirt.
But these lamps, with their oversize, inverted V-shaped shades, aren’t only for the children’s room. They can make fun, colorful additions in other parts of the home, too.
“The child’s furniture is something adults like themselves,” says Kayte Less, 34, a children’s furniture-maker from Columbus, Ohio, whose career began in fashion design.
Less’ wacky unique design approach pops up in her tot-size chaises, upholstered in a mix of fabrics and colors. Fake fur and vinyl are often incorporated in her chairs, chaises and sofas.
“Sure the child is going to grow out of the furniture physically, but it’s functional art that the parent and even the children can live with as they go to the next stage of their lives.”
Eames Demetrios, a Venice, Calif.-based filmmaker and grandson of designers Charles and Ray Eames, agrees furniture should be functional. But, he adds, it also should be fun.
Demetrios remembers the multicolored clothes rack his grandparents designed for their grandchildren-the Hang It All, which continues to be manufactured and is available for about $125 at Manifesto, a Chicago contemporary furniture design store.
“I don’t think we thought of it as a functional piece so much. The color and shape attracted us as kids,” says Demetrios. Yet the Hang It All was in use all the time, he says.
The Eameses also designed a children’s line that includes chairs, stools and plywood animals, a House of Cards toy and other toys for their grandchildren which are sold through Herman Miller for the Home in Zeeland, Mich., and the Eames Office in Venice, Calif.
“As a child,” says Demetrios, “you have an appreciation for design and the way something makes you feel.”
That’s what furniture retailers, who consider the children’s market one with real growth potential, are discovering.
“We want the product (children’s furniture) to represent something that can grow with the kids,” says Julie Weil, a spokeswoman for the St. Paul, Minn.-based Room & Board.
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Lori Johnson’s Hide Away bed sells for about $4,500 to $5,000. Her floor lamps, $1,275. All at Gallerie Entree Libre in New York, 212-431-5279; or direct from the designer, 212-505-5786.
Kayte Less’ designs sell for $250 to $400 at Chiaroscuro, 700 N. Michigan Ave., 312-988-9253; and Pieces Art and Artwear, Highland Park, 708-432-2131.
Charles Shackleton’s work is sold at Sawbridge Studios, 406 N. Clark St., 312-828-0055.
For information about Eames children’s designs, contact Herman Miller for the Home in Zeeland, Mich., 800-646-4400, or the Eames Office in Venice, Calif., 310-396-5991.
Lexington’s Kids Care collection is available at Richard Honquest Home Furnishings, 1455 S. Barrington Rd., Barrington, 708-382-1700.
