Kittinger Furniture Company of WNY has been chosen to make two additional chairs to grace the podium on which president-elect Barack Obama will be sworn into office later this month.
The two will be added to the six existing Kittinger chairs that were made for President Bush’s inaugural in 2005, along with an additional wine/utility table to match the one that was also made for Bush.
According to Kittinger president and owner, Ray Bialkowski, “These chairs are used strictly for the inauguration. I think they kept the other six in storage and they’ll pull them out for the event.”
Bialkowski explained that the chairs for the inaugural are a modified version of the Kittinger chairs that sit in front of the White House fireplace. “We made the fireside version taller and narrower during Reagan’s administration. You’ll see them in a lot of pictures with heads of state sitting in them; Gorbachev, Clinton, Bush.”
The newer design differs from the Reagan years in that it’s shorter, with a cabriole leg and spoon foot, rather than the ball and claw. Made of mahogany, with a blue leather seat, Kittinger is offering identical reproductions to the general public for a limited time.
Bialkowski says Kittinger has been in the White House since the Nixon administration in the 70s. “It started with the West Wing during the Nixon years, and the Cabinet Room is all Kittinger,” Bialkowski says. “There’s a tremendous amount of Kittinger in the White House; many of the West Wing offices have it, and then some of East Wing was done under Laura Bush.”
During the Bush years, Bialkowski went to the White House and worked directly with the First Lady’s designer. “Years ago, we used to send a repair man once or twice a year to service the more antique pieces,” he explained.
Owner of the company since 1996, Bialkowski said that the order for new furniture usually comes from the Executive Office, but this order came in through the US Senate. Suggested that the Obama’s may ask for Kittinger people to do maintenance on the furniture once again in the future, Bialkowski agreed. “Maybe so,” he said. “That would be nice.”