Based out of Lynchburg, Virginia, since the Great Depression, Moore & Giles stocks the largest collection of leather in the world—four million square feet, to be exact. And although most of its skins are shipped to hotel, restaurant, and airline companies, these days the brand is giddy over one of its smallest endeavors. The 33 Chair—named in honor of the year the company was founded and the number made per run—was inspired by a vintage piece picked up at a Paris flea market. Each compact club chair is cut from vegetable-tanned leather (a shoulder hide chosen for its natural markings) at family-run tanneries in Italy. Delicate legs are hewed from pine and birch in Hickory. As the piece begins to develop a patina, the amber hue deepens into a rich caramel. Daryl Calfee, the company’s vice president of marketing, explains: “Depending on where you sit, the chair is going to tell your story very quickly.”
>33 Chair, $3,800 from mooreandgiles.com
MORE MADE IN THE SOUTH:
>Home category and overall winner: Alabama Sawyer
>Home runner-up: Mollie Jenkins Pottery
>Home runner-up: ME Speak Design
>Home runner-up: Moore & Giles
