Related Object: Stacking Armchair
Keilhauer
Organization
Identifier
CU.ENT.00414
Display date
June 1 1981
(foundation)
History
"This family-owned and -run company has, through the use of design and marketing, become a leading manufacturer of contract seating. Its success with mid-management task chairs dovetailed with the growth of personal computers. It is one of the largest privately owned contract furniture companies in North America, leading the new wave of export-savvy Canadian manufacturers.
Mike Keilhauer founded the company with his three brothers Ron, Steve and Rick. Their father, Ed, contributes to design and has deep roots in manufacturing. Trained as an upholsterer-saddler, Ed established Fine Art Upholstery in Scarborough in 1956 to supply custom leather fabrics to Precision Craftwood and Nienkamper. In 1965 he launched Cambridge Furniture to serve the home furnishing market. The two companies were integrated as Fine Art International in 1976, but licensing problems forced it into bankruptcy five years later.
When the sons opened Keilhauer (originally called Keilhauer Industries), they produced foreign designs under licence. Ed's Elite chair (1983) was the company’s first in-house design, and it remains in production. In the early eighties, the Montreal designer Christen Sorensen created the Respons chair (1989), the company’s first multi-task chair and its meat and potatoes for many years. It captured the silver at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago.
President Mike Keilhauer moved the company into the global market by hiring the branding specialist Michael Vanderbyl of San Francisco. The firm now operates three factories in Toronto, and 80 per cent of its market is in the U.S. Since 1989 Tom Deacon has designed one-third of the company’s line and introduced wood with chairs like the Deacon (1989) and the Danforth (1993). Andrew Jones, Scot Laughton, Gord Peteran and Jonathan Crinion have also designed for Keilhauer. Kerr Keller Design created the Chit Chat chair (1996), the company’s first entry into plastic components. Deacon’s Tom chair (1997) solidified the move into plastics and has become the company’s best-selling chair."
Mike Keilhauer founded the company with his three brothers Ron, Steve and Rick. Their father, Ed, contributes to design and has deep roots in manufacturing. Trained as an upholsterer-saddler, Ed established Fine Art Upholstery in Scarborough in 1956 to supply custom leather fabrics to Precision Craftwood and Nienkamper. In 1965 he launched Cambridge Furniture to serve the home furnishing market. The two companies were integrated as Fine Art International in 1976, but licensing problems forced it into bankruptcy five years later.
When the sons opened Keilhauer (originally called Keilhauer Industries), they produced foreign designs under licence. Ed's Elite chair (1983) was the company’s first in-house design, and it remains in production. In the early eighties, the Montreal designer Christen Sorensen created the Respons chair (1989), the company’s first multi-task chair and its meat and potatoes for many years. It captured the silver at the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago.
President Mike Keilhauer moved the company into the global market by hiring the branding specialist Michael Vanderbyl of San Francisco. The firm now operates three factories in Toronto, and 80 per cent of its market is in the U.S. Since 1989 Tom Deacon has designed one-third of the company’s line and introduced wood with chairs like the Deacon (1989) and the Danforth (1993). Andrew Jones, Scot Laughton, Gord Peteran and Jonathan Crinion have also designed for Keilhauer. Kerr Keller Design created the Chit Chat chair (1996), the company’s first entry into plastic components. Deacon’s Tom chair (1997) solidified the move into plastics and has become the company’s best-selling chair."
History Source
Design in Canada (2004), p. 242
Domicile
Canada