Heltzer Outdoor
Over 20 years ago I was asked to design an outdoor collection of furniture for a well-known architect building a home along Lake Michigan. I was just getting started in my design practice and was honored and excited. We quickly went to work building and rebuilding frames with exhausting fitting sessions with the architect and client reminiscent of old world clothing makers. When we finally worked through all the design details we needed to address the goals of ensuring that the frames would look beautiful with or without cushions, as they would be left out in all seasons and seen through the 10 foot wall of glass looking out to the lake. They would need to weather Chicago winters without blowing into the frozen water or, even worse, through the wall of glass into their beautiful new home. This proved to be the greatest challenge. So back to the studio we went for what seemed like a lifetime. We finally reemerged with hand-built industrial stainless steel frames with popsicle stick slats for weather resistance, carefully fitted teak handles for comfort, spoke bike wheels for movement and open cell foam for dryness.
This blend of elegant and durable materials used in our hand-built tailored frames changed the next 25 years of our lives as our outdoor collection became the focus of our work for clients around the world.
Looking back……
I now realize that we met the challenges in a way I never anticipated as this collection is still owned and used every season by many of the original clients and, in fact, has beautifully endured not only Chicago winters but challenging conditions everywhere.
Looking forward…..
A trip back to the studio.
Another journey…..
Michael Heltzer
