In every industry, there are key followers that set the trends and the pace, and there are the leagues that follow them. In other words, there are thought leaders and visionaries, and then there are followers that come after. The industry for fine furniture is no different, and we are lucky here to have some of these visionaries so close at hand.
In the industry for fine furniture, some of these immediately recognizable names are Copeland Furniture, Wesley Hall seating, and Thayer Coggin Furniture. Truthfully, there are so many of them in and around High Point, North Carolina, that any attempt to enumerate them would quickly become a list. We’re lucky to have so many of them so near to us.
Additionally, furniture is one of those categories of luxury items of which, luckily, a large portion is still handmade by skilled artisans. As the greater economy shifts towards automated processes and machine manufacturing, the best furniture in the world is still made by hand, with meticulous attention to detail.
Among them, this company occupies a unique position. It is the cumulative product of one of the most talented artisanal designers that has ever graced the furniture industry: designer Milo Baughman, the founder of Thayer Coggin. His name lives on in their Milo Baughman collection and, of course, in the pioneering designs that originally made the name great - and still continue to do so.
A Short History: Built on Excellence
Much of the history of Thayer Coggin Furniture is the history of the man behind it. Born in 1923 in Goodland, Kansas, Milo Baughman created furniture designs for quite a range of furniture companies in addition to the namesake of this article. Companies such as Pacific Iron, Murray Furniture, and Arch Gordon all owe some of their successes to his insightful vision and prowess.
For Baughman, it started at a young age. When his family moved to California in his youth, he was instrumental in designing both the inside and outside of his family’s new house. During his service in the Armed Forces, he helped to design clubs for official military use.
His education and experience continued with his formal schooling at Chouinard Art Institute, at which he enrolled to pursue studies in architectural design. After college, he began work with a furniture store on the west coast specializing in modern designs. During his tenure there, his designs garnered a lot of attention and his repute and facility with modern furniture design and decoration began to spread.
It was in 1953 when he relocated to North Carolina that Baughman’s influence spread to Thayer Coggin. As they say themselves, “since 1953 Thayer Coggin has carved out a distinct identity” for itself by producing some of the most recognizable furniture designs in the world.
The company is best known for its mid-century modern designs which are both elegant and simplistic at the same time. Their collection of lounge chairs, sofas, sectionals and even dining chairs is distinguishable but the delicate yet pleasant interplay of capacious shapes and thin, contrasting, supporting lines.
Noteworthy not only for their elegant and yet angular, modern aesthetics but for their supreme quality and comfort, their furniture also only makes use of the highest quality materials. Natural hardwood and iron construction underlay the foundation of much of their collection, made better with the inclusion of high-quality foam cushioning that is free of CFCs that are harmful to the environment. High-quality, made with only the most reliable and proven construction techniques and materials and finished with comfort-enhancing cushioning, their furniture has carved out a distinct niche in the home furnishings market.
Customers also love the fact that their designs are also customizable. Naturally, not every stock, floor item is going to match perfectly with the vision of every homeowner. Milo Baughman, as a designer, understood that very well. While the bones of the mystique - that elegant, simple, minimalist aesthetic that underpins all Thayer Coggin furniture - might appeal to you, the finish or the upholstery or the wood might not.
That’s no cause for concern with this collection because topping off their collection is customizability that gives you so much freedom to create a unique sense of identity in the home.
Seating: Comfortable and Elegant
The cornerstone of Thayer Coggin as an entity is the variety of seating arrangements that they provide and have provided for many years. Furniture, in general, presents a unique and practical avenue for imbuing a setting with spirit and making it unique. Seating arrangements, as part of the furnishings of a setting, offer this but an additional facet of value.
Not only does the character of a seating arrangement impact the spirit of the location, but seating itself is a functional category of furniture in a way that other furniture is not. While you may use a hutch for the storage and organization of items, you may place a beverage on a coffee table or you may eat at a table, no other furniture has a sense of personality to the tune of a seating arrangement.
This is due to the very nature of seating. Visitors to a room interact with seating in a manner that is reserved for them only; only a bed can be said to be a more intimate fixture than a sofa or a chair. Each and every fixture of seating possesses its own personality and develops an intimate acquaintanceship with everyone who sits in it.
The way you and other visitors to your home will interact with seating is very personal. Also, over time, a sofa or a chair will age and become a truly unique fixture of the setting. You can’t just get rid of an old piece of furniture and expect to find a near facsimile. That is the kind of feature that has to be earned and can’t simply be bought.
Nonetheless, if it’s comfort you’re looking for, comfort that is evident from the first time you take a seat, their seating will not disappoint you. Check out our collection of Thayer Coggin floor items and if you don’t like what you see there, you can visit our page on Thayer Coggin’s built-to-order designs and have something made especially for you.
Tables, Storage, and Organization
While it’s true enough that every home needs seating, with some rooms having a more pronounced need than others, every home has an equal need for storage and organization. Whenever a furniture maker specializes, it’s a great thing in that it enables them to perfect one art; by the same token, a little bit of proliferation makes it’s easier to match up some distinct designs with others that might not be so easy to match up.
Luckily, Thayer Coggin has balanced specialization and diversification perfectly. While you’d primarily turn to them to outfit your home with novel, extremely comfortable seating arrangements, you can also turn to them for storage and organization that will match perfectly alongside your sofa, sectional or other seating.
Admittedly, it’s never really a chore to match up mid-century modern designs with other aesthetics, since that design trend is so inclusive and accommodating. There are more design schemes that are compatible with that minimalism than there are that are not well suited to it, but nonetheless, being able to source a few pieces of furniture from the same manufacturer makes the entire process even easier.
If you’re looking for a table or a sideboard to make a perfect, minimalist match for your seating arrangement in your living room or family room, this is one of the few companies that can bring you that. Simply get in touch with us to learn more about how you can have a cocktail table or another piece made to match with the rest of your interior design.
Custom Wood and Metal Finishes
Just like you can go awry decorating your home with furniture that is not well suited to the overarching theme or to each other, you can run into aesthetic issues arising from the wood or metal finish used with a given piece of furniture; even little features like the type of hardware used in upholstery can cause a clash of elements in design. These things are best avoided or prevented.
Luckily, with Thayer Coggin, you can customize the furniture you intend to work into your home right down to the fine details of the exposed wood and metal used in the construction. If a black powder coat is too severe or brutal for a setting, go with something offering a bit more levity, perhaps brushed stainless steel or brushed brass. Similarly, the wood finishes can be customized. Whether your home would benefit most from the dark, stately character of unfinished walnut or the brilliant, light tones of natural maple is up to you. What matters is that you can customize the finished look with their designs.
Finish with Custom Fabric and Leather
While the exposed metalworks and wood frame of a piece of furniture will have a marked effect on the setting, it’s more often the case that the direct influence of the leather, fabric, or upholstery of seating will have a more pronounced impact. Think of the hardware and wood finishes as accent marks; the leather or upholstery is the statement itself.
Just as Thayer Coggin gives you the ability to customize the look of your furniture with the exposed wood and metalworks, you can entirely personalize the design with hand-selected fabrics and leathers. This gives you complete control of the appearance and overall “feel” of a finished piece of furniture.
While comfort is built right into every design, a custom look is not. That’s the final piece of the puzzle with their furniture. With everything from coarsely woven natural fabrics to textured leathers and even hair-on hides, in colors ranging from neutrals to vibrant primaries, they leave nothing to chance. When you furnish your home you have to do it right the first time, and they take extra pains to make it possible.
Please take some time to look through our collections of Thayer Coggin designs through the links above to see what we currently have in stock as well as what the company can make specially for you!
Never Miss a Deal
Just in case you’re here to find a deal and like the thrill of shopping more than the thrill of having something custom made, make sure you stop by our reduced furniture section every time you visit our online store.
It’s the best way to get a real deal on a new look for your home and you never know what you’ll find there. You might even find a Thayer Coggin piece in our reduced collection, but since the nature of price reductions is fleeting and unpredictable, you should make it a point to stop back periodically.
Have an Item Custom Built to Complete Your Vision
Additionally, remember that Thayer Coggin is only one small piece of our huge collection. In addition to offering their furniture, we also provide highlights from our collections of Copeland Furniture, Wesley Hall Furniture, CR Laine, Leathercraft, McKinley Leather Furniture, and many others.
We also produce our own furniture in house, and just like the other producers addressed here, everything we produce for your home is made with an incomparable degree of care and attention.
Also like some of these other elite designers, everything we produce is entirely benchmade, right here in the U.S.A., by skilled artisans with collected lifetimes of experience in woodworking and furniture manufacturing techniques.
As with the other furniture makers listed here, we give you the ability to customize the finished look of the furniture that you order from us, not only in the wood from which we make it but also in the stain with which we finish them.
If you’re ever interested in learning more about what we can do for you, make sure you give us a call or arrange to come into our showroom in Peninsula, Ohio. We’re a bit out of the way, but like all true gems, we’re worth the work of discovery. Give us a call today at 330-657-2095 to learn more or set up a time to come in!