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It’s
furniture, it’s art: Lewis’ tulip chairs.
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Out
of the Woods, Into the Limelight
The
April issue of Architectural Digest, that hefty, high-gloss
bible of design, has Diane Keaton on the cover. But more interestingly
for local design mavens is who’s on page 173: That’s Troy
wood sculptor Jim Lewis, owner of Icarus Furniture. Lewis
is just visible within the doorway of the photograph of his
Fourth Street shop; along with the shop’s exterior shot, the
page includes two pictures of tables, “a cherry lamp table
with walnut accents” and a “square birch table with a curly
maple top, Adirondack inspired.” The feature, titled “Out
of the Woods,” includes a paragraph on Lewis and his “intriguing
array of uniquely crafted pieces using native American and
exotic hardwoods.”
“It’s
a real honor,” says Lewis of his inclusion in the publication,
which is considered a top arbiter of design talent. “I was
pretty thrilled, we got a full page, and that’s the most you
can get in that feature. It’s called Discoveries by Designers,
and it looks really good.”
Lewis was recommended to the magazine by nationally lauded
interior designer Naomi Leff. Lewis explains that Leff had
an idea for chairs with tulips, but she couldn’t find anyone
who was able make them for her. She was put in contact with
Lewis by a decorative painter who is related to Lewis’ friend
and neighbor, dance choreographer Ellen Sinopoli. The painter
told Leff “we could do anything,” says Lewis. Lewis made a
prototype, brought it to Leff in New York City, and then built
the finished product (pictured) incorporating Leff’s suggestions.
“She just loved them,” he reports, adding that the chairs
went to a 13,000-square-foot beachfront penthouse in Naples,
Fla. The owners were so pleased with the chairs that they
ordered a table from Lewis, who made them a “ribbon table”
based on an antique Chinese writing desk.
“Naomi
was amazing,” says Lewis of Leff, who died in January. “She
had really good design sense; she knew what had to happen
in the room, and how to get it.”
Following Leff’s recommendation, a photographer from the magazine
spent an entire day at Icarus last December, “and we spent
the next three months guessing what pictures they were going
to use,” Lewis says. “They picked pieces that show the left
and right ends of what we do—and we do a lot. The art nouveau
lamp table is a sculptural piece and it comes off the page
well, it’s got interesting lines.” Although Icarus has always
done art furniture, Lewis and his four employees are better
known for creating sacred furnishings for places of worship
(most recently, a set of intarsia Stations of the Cross for
St. Matthew’s Church in Voorheesville). But that may be changing.
Lewis happily reports that since the April AD hit the
stands, his phone has been ringing off the hook, and that
he’s talking to designers “from Miami to Anchorage.”
—Ann
Morrow
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Columns
& Opinions
