Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 29, 1990 TAG: 9004300462
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DORIS DALE PAYSOUR Landmark News Service
DATELINE: HIGH POINT LENGTH: Medium
He'd asked his mom to come up with an idea for something he could make during his business's January-to-August slack time. He owns Carpenter Decorating Co., one of the country's four major manufacturers of Christmas street decorations.
His brother, Terrell, is general manager of the company started by their grandfather, Carroll Carpenter, in 1928.
Another brother, Andy, handles all the welding, including his mom's new brushed- and stainless-steel prototypes.
An interior designer for 26 years, Pat Carpenter says that she was returning from Italy last May when the idea hit. While in Milan hunting upholstery fabric, she noticed steel furniture used to show off the fabrics.
"The whole way home I thought about steel furniture. When I got back, I said, `Boys, have I got a great idea. What about us building steel furniture?' "
Rick Carpenter asked her to get it together. She did, in time for the signed eclectic group to have its debut last October in her small design studio during the International Home Furnishings Market.
The timing was on the mark. Her handmade steel designs, some incorporating whimsical silhouettes of people, flowers, animals and musical instruments, debuted with the "metal movement" that's said to be heating up the home furnishings market.
"People are going back to crafts and handmade things," she said. The designer attributes the popularity of metal furniture to its sturdy look that has a fascinating punch to it.
Her finish selection is verdigris, Old World, antique beige, white-and-black lacquer and European bronze. All her pieces have a protective coating to make them rustproof.
At the October market, furniture visitors discovered her collection mostly by word of mouth. Carpenter, who's listed in Baron's Who's Who in Interior Design, says she distributed business cards among the furniture crowd but got more attention from people walking past her show window a few yards from the International Home Furnishings Center.
"The silhouettes were the most popular pieces."
Among the passersby were House and Garden editors, who sent for the lyre chair to show off eight different Old World-design fabrics that appeared in the April issue. The Furniture Retailer gave Carpenter's design special mention in its February issue, and Ballard Designs Catalog is offering her collection exclusively to the mail-order trade.
Carpenter, who says she's loved home economics since childhood, completed a correspondence course from Chicago School of Design.
Although she grew up in Hickory, a furniture-producing town, she says only an uncle, the late Rome Jones was in the industry. He founded Prestige, an upholstery company, now part of Bassett Furniture Industries.
Carpenter says she made draperies professionally while studying design, taught interior design at Catawba Valley Community College, and worked for an importing company creating artificial flower designs, permanent trees and gardens. The import job led to her involvement in the furniture market as a showroom designer, she says. At one time, she designed 12 showrooms for each market.
For the spring market, which ended last week here, Carpenter added two canopied bed designs, a tulip chair, a neo-classic mirror, a console table and upholstered benches. The collection's retail price range is from $336 for a side table to $2,000 for a king-size canopied bed.
by CNB