Feature Artist: Jenny Ellis

By Gina Malone

Jenny Ellis’ first sewing project as a child was a pillow. “But not just a square of fabric,” she says. “No, it had to be a velvet monkey with a fluffy trimmed tail sitting in a coconut palm tree. I never did anything plain—always had a bent for embellishing.” Though she didn’t come from a family of creators, the sewing bug bit and her parents, recognizing her passion, bought her a small sewing machine. By then, her family had moved from Ohio to Boca Raton, Florida.

“I first learned about ‘status’ dressing when I was made fun of at school,” she says. “My Ohio ‘practical clothes’ were not fashionable (in Florida).” With the sewing machine and determination, she continued to teach herself how to sew, learning to read patterns and making her own clothes. “I also frequented Lilly Pulitzer’s first dress shop in Delray Beach for my inspirations,” she says. “That’s where I fell in love with colorful fabrics.”

At college, she obtained double degrees in Fashion Design and Foods and Nutrition, deciding that both would be helpful as she raised a family. She married after college and moved to Portland, Oregon. Even while raising her children, she says, she was running small businesses out of her home—creating home décor items and making window treatments. In the late 1990s, they moved to Georgia, just north of Atlanta.

“What really launched me into the furniture world is when I was hired as a window treatment designer for Rich’s, which later became Macy’s,” she says. “As part of my training, I learned their furniture lines and frequented High Point Furniture Market. It was like Disney World for the entire home furnishings industry. I was enamored by the whole design process of creating custom furniture.”

In 2004, having remarried and moved to Asheville, she decided to reinvent herself and shared her dream with her husband. “I told him my idea of creating really beautiful chairs as I did dresses, using the whole chair front and back and putting in technical details that nobody had ever seen before,” she says. With his encouragement, she enrolled at A-B Tech for two years of classes. Afterwards, Kim Hubbard, owner and creative director of K2 Studios, in Asheville, helped launch Ellis’ chairs and noted the smiles they brought to faces.

Fellow chair artist Wendy Conklin appreciates Ellis’ creative style. “Jenny has an extraordinary talent for taking antique chairs to another artistic level with her imagination and skill set,” Conklin says. “I love watching how she envisions the chairs becoming something entirely surprising—and then pulling it off.”

She scours thrift stores, flea markets and roadsides for the chairs that will provide the bones for her creations. “I usually draw my chair as I would a dress,” she says, “sketching the silhouette and creating details on paper before I make my final decisions. Sometimes the chair shape dictates the design. All of my chairs are made with upholstery fabrics and done with exact standards to the industry. You will get a well-made chair, and a lovely statement piece.”

An example is her signature Peacock Chair, created from a large fan-back butterfly wing chair. “The inside is hand-painted and freehand embroidered with peacock feathers,” she says, “and when you sit in it you become part of the art—the peacock!” Her chairs have appeared on movie sets, on billboards, in magazines and in gift shops throughout Asheville, including at the Biltmore.

“Making my own creations makes my spirit soar,” Ellis says. “It’s just a joy I have like none other when I am creating. I do it knowing that what I put into it will give the person who acquires it great joy, too.”

Jenny Ellis’ business, The Artful Chair, LLC, is located at 170 Lyman Street, Studio #5, in the River Arts District. Hours are Monday through Friday, 12–5 p.m., with varying hours on the weekend. Design projects are by appointment only. Learn more at TheArtfulChair.com, and on social media @TheArtfulChair. Online classes are available at TheArtfulChairClasses.com.