Classic Meets Comfort in this Lounge Chair
Christian Grevstad's latest furniture creation is a formal take on the Adirondack chair
By Shannon O'Leary August 19, 2014
This article originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
It might look like just another tony gallery space in Pioneer Square’s Occidental Park, but behind the doors of Christian Grevstad (312 Occidental Ave. S; 206.938.4360; christiangrevstad.com) lurks an all-encompassing home furnishings design enterprise. There is covet-worthy art on the walls to be sure: The eponymous space is the exclusive Seattle gallery for the estate of the late, iconic Northwest artist Guy Anderson. But this is also where Seattle-area native Grevstad dreams up his chic interior designs (with projects ranging from European manses to Seattle condos), a European- and Northwest-influenced furniture line and a new luxe line of handwoven textiles—all made in the Pacific Northwest. Grevstad, who studied fine art (from painting to furniture design) at the University of Washington in the 1970s, says he began manufacturing furniture in 2004 out of necessity. “I couldn’t find anything on the market that…filled the gap between antiquities and modern design,” he says. His pieces—which include sofas, beds, armoires and lighting fashioned from substantial woods and metals—bridge that gap with comfort. Really. “That’s one of the things we are really strict about,” Grevstad says. “We’ll prototype a chair for 18 months to be sure it’s comfortable.” His newest creation, the Lopez lounge chair, a more formal take on an Adirondack chair, is the epitome of this classic-meets-comfort ethos. Although the designer favors a palette that he describes as “organic Northwest” (think pearly limestone to bourbon brown), Grevstad is far from a dictatorial designer. “We’ll put any fabric in the world that you want on any piece of our collection,” he says. Or you can have any of his textiles dyed your dream color as well. Grevstad’s collections are carried in showrooms in New York, Paris and Los Angeles, and in Seattle, at Terris Draheim (Georgetown, 5600 Sixth Ave.; 206.763.4100; terrisdraheim.com).
Updated September 17, 2014