NEWBURYPORT — Tucked away in the city’s industrial park, Wakefield resident Kevin Kille keeps his hands busy and his mind fresh by restoring handmade Windsor chairs at K Antiques Etc. on Graf Road. Thanks to years of practice as a shop teacher and a powerful online presence, customers from all over New England and even one from South America come by to take home a set.
“If you Google Windsor chairs, I come right up,” he said.
Windsor chairs began appearing in England in the early 1700s. They eventually made their way over to the United States by the mid 18th century. They are most commonly known for their unique look, according to Kille.
“Basically, a Windsor chair has the legs extending from under the seat. Whereas on, say a ladder-back chair, the whole back leg is incorporated into the back,” Kille said.
Popular in the New England area, Kille said, Windsor chairs can often be spotted in historic paintings.
“Ben Franklin was painted sitting in one, signing the Declaration of Independence,” he said. “There are so many different styles that have come out of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania. But they were all influenced in the beginning in England and they have never gone out of style.”
While there are still a few companies like Warren Chair Works in Rhode Island as well as D.R. Dimes & Company, Ltd. in New Hampshire, that continue to hand-make Windsor chairs, Kille said most are mass-produced by larger concerns like Ethan Allen, and Nichols and Stone.
Kille said he repairs about 300 chairs a year, selling roughly 30 or 40 in sets each month. Prices per chair range from $100 to $900.
“The $900 chairs I offer now are about $2,800 new,” he said. “The chairs I work on are also all hand-made.”
He sources his inventory from people who are downsizing their homes and through estate sale dealers.
“I try to find strictly American-made,” he said.
Everything in the restoration process, Kille said, is done on a “need-to-be basis.”
“If something’s loose, I would clean it and reglue it,” he said. “Then I would sand it, prime it and then paint it – if I were going to paint it. I’ve been painting a lot of chairs black these days. Most people seem to want them that way.”
Prior to opening his antique shop about three years ago, Kille spent over 20 years teaching technology education and eventually pre-engineering in Burlington Public Schools. He said he saw a lot of technological advancements in that time.
“I started making footstools and doing some metal shop,” Kille said. “By the time I finished up 10 years ago, I was working with a 3D printer. We printed a hand for a kid in Medford who was born without one, then I retired.”
Looking to get back to basics in retirement, Kille got to work restoring his chairs.
“I do have some antiques and collectibles. I have some pottery, porcelain artwork and whatnot. But my main focus is late 20th century, American-made Windsor chairs,” he said.
Although K Antiques Etc. is basically a one-man operation, his wife, Christine helps out with the company’s website.
Having a well-traveled webpage that also sends visitors to his different social media footprints, Kille said, has made all the difference in the world.
“I post in about 10 or 15 places throughout the Eastern United States, every morning,” he said. “Very few people drive by and knock on my door. Everything comes from people searching for me online.”
Working online, Kille added, has also given him some of his best stories.
“A couple of years ago, I noticed there was someone on my website from Paraguay,” he said. “Now, I don’t ship because it’s used furniture and I prefer people to inspect everything, prior to their purchase. So I didn’t pay it too much mind.”
But a few days later, Kille said he got a call from Washington, D.C.
“The guy told me his name is Lee McClenny and he would like to come up and visit the shop,” he said. “He came up about eight hours later and bought eight or 10 chairs. After he left, I Googled him and it turns out he was the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay. That’s the power of the internet.”
Michael Fortier, who works at the Canal Street Antique Mall in Lawrence, said Kille was a dealer there for a few years who tended to bring in “some high roller” customers.
“He was one of the vendors I enjoyed working with the most,” he said. “People came from places like Vermont, Connecticut, and New York, all year long to see him.”
The Canal Street Antique Mall, Fortier added, also makes use of an extensive online presence. He said that has turned a local antique mall into an international business.
“We’ve got a little bit of everything here, so we have people who come over from Belgium, three times a year,” he said.”They come over here, fill up some containers with our stuff and ship them back to Belgium where they do (an antique show) of their own.”
For more on Kille’s business, visit: kantiquesetc.com/.