Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993 TAG: 9304300433
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: STRASBURG LENGTH: Medium
Tim Maloney of One Design has created a garden chair that has the fine lines of a 1765 Isaac Sack Philadelphia rococo chair but can be stored in a space 3 1/4 inches wide.
But it doesn't fold and collapse. It comes apart in five pieces.
The innovation in indoor and outdoor lounging has caught the eye of large department stores, catalog companies and even an antique furniture museum in Delaware that has its own furniture line, Maloney said.
"The feedback has been as positive as anything I have ever designed," said Maloney, who also has designed solar heating units and a "mini" house.
The chair, for which Maloney is seeking a patent, will be featured in an article on garden furniture in the May issue of House Beautiful, he said.
Although the marketing of the chair is still in an early stage, Maloney said there is potential for big sales. Bloomingdales will sell the chair for $220 in a mail-order catalog this month. J.C. Penney, Winterthur Museum and two gardening catalog companies, including Smith Hawkins, have expressed interest in the chair, he said. Smaller orders have had to be turned down, he said.
Maloney-Davidson Co., founded by Maloney's great-grandfather, has been given the rights to market the chair. The company, headed by Tom Miller of Winchester, is negotiating with retailers and looking for investors.
Maloney said he came up with the idea for the chair when he was designing the mini house. Because there is little room in the house, he said it needed chairs for guests that could be stored in tight spaces.
But the idea of the antique design came to him another way.
Maloney said he was invited to a picnic on the banks of the Shenandoah River where the host seated his guests outside under a big tree at an antique table and chairs.
Maloney said it was a scene that seemed to be taken right out of a movie and he thought "wouldn't it be neat to have Chippendale outside."
The Chippendale design is not the only style that Maloney has used for the chair. In fact, the first chairs he made were whimsical designs featuring fox shapes on the legs and arms. On one chair, the arms and legs were formed to look like asparagus, he said.
Maloney said the chair can be adapted to virtually any design.
"We want to encourage different people (retailers) to have different shapes," he said.
The chair is designed and manufactured using the most advanced computer technology, Maloney said. It is made of resin-treated plywood that looks like Formica and was originally created for highway signs. The pieces interlock to make a sturdy chair.
Although the chair is made to withstand wind and rain, Maloney expects that about 75 percent of the chairs will be bought for indoor use.
He said the price of the chair probably will drop in one or two years as sales pick up.
The only piece missing from the chair is a name. Maloney says he's open to suggestions.
by CNB