The Windsor chair, an iconic furniture design in New England, is more than it seems. In the eyes of designers, it scores well on many fronts.
O&G Studio, a design and manufacturing business in Warren, took inspiration from the classic shape and function of the chair and launched a successful business.
By focusing its business on interior designers and architects, and more recently on the hospitality industry, the company founded by Sara Ossana and Jonathan Glatt in 2008 has succeeded and expanded.
The company employs 18 people, having acquired the Warren Chair Works and its specialized furniture makers.
It all started with the Windsor chair, a nearly 300-year-old design. In Ossana and Glatt’s hands, the chair has been made more contemporary, with fresh colors that have become something of an O&G signature. Choices include turmeric and cyan.
What makes the Windsor inspiring?
“They’re very much about delicacy and tension and comfort and the suitability of the materials,” Glatt said.
The chairs designed and manufactured by O&G Studio are functional. The 63-inch standard settee, for example, can accommodate 550 to 600 pounds of weight comfortably. The seats are hand sculpted, shaped to provide comfort.
The business started with just the two founders, both graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, where they now teach a class.
They view the world as designers primarily, and take that approach to their business.
“We’re designers first,” said Ossana. “And we apply that design thinking to the business model, and that permeates every part of the business and what we do.”
In the beginning, they made a variety of furniture pieces, then started to focus on designing the best version of the classic Windsor chair. Their first contemporary line was the Colt line, including an armchair and a side chair.
The customer base is primarily residential, through relationships with interior designers and architects. In recent years the company has also provided furniture for hotels and restaurants. In Warren, for example, the Bywater Restaurant features O&G furniture.
The furniture is made of domestically sourced wood, renewable North American hardwoods such as maple, ash, walnut and white oak.
The cost varies by design and wood choice, but side chairs are about $680, while more elaborate armchairs are $920.
In 2014, when O&G Studio acquired Warren Chair Works, it expanded from six to 18 employees, and by retaining the woodworkers from the more traditional chair-making company, adopted a skilled workforce.
Chair making is a specialty in itself, Ossana and Glatt explained.
“Windsor chairs are much more like sculpting, with the hand fitting and the delicate parts,” Glatt said. “You can’t always rely on a ruler.”
Few retail stores feature the furniture, by design.
“We don’t want people to find us everywhere,” Ossana said. “We carefully pick our brick-and-mortar stores to make sure they understand the product.” •
