Old New York Upholstery Atelier Selling Half Century Accumulation

June 1, 2009 - PRLog -- In the heart of what was once New York City’s colorful Yorkville, before the advent of McDonald’s and Blockbuster, is a rare hidden gem – an Old World studio that has been making exceptional upholstered furniture for its celebrated clientele for over forty years.  Ernest Studios at 207 E. 84th Street, is where many of Jacqueline Onassis’s upholstered pieces were carefully planned and created, where Rod Stewart’s decorator commissioned a distinctive, upholstered chair for the client’s living room, and where Bill Clinton’s decorator found the perfect upholstered chair for his new office.

If you wanted quality and exceptional workmanship, this is where you headed!  And you were never disappointed.  Beautiful pieces by Ernest Studios graced the pages of Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and Home & Garden in colorful decorating spreads.  And, celebrity decorators like Albert Hadley, Richard Keith Langdon, Sheila Bridges, and Frederika Biggs  returned time and time again.  The busy studio continues to be a mainstay in the decorating world today as consumers discover that old-world quality is the new chic!

Now, New Yorkers will have a special opportunity to own exceptional furnishings and antiques from this celebrated studio, when it opens its doors to the public with its first-ever sale -- an unprecedented three day event starting Thursday June 11 and continuing through Friday and Saturday June 12 and 13.  The sale will feature fine fabrics and trims, custom frames for chairs, sofas and head boards, and many more pieces – including antique furniture--many of which are already upholstered or covered in muslin.  

The 84th Street studio, with its huge arched windows, is literally spilling over with treasures that reflect a lifetime of work.  In fact, the sale is both a celebration of the studio’s 42 years in business as well as a necessary step in reducing its ample inventory.  The studio is packed to the rafters with sofas, settees, padded headboards, slipper chairs, formal hassocks, side chairs – some beautifully upholstered and ready to take home and many pieces in muslin and ready for the buyer’s fabric selection.  Completed drapery sets, upholstery supplies, and boxes of carved drapery finials are among hundreds of other items that will also be offered in this sale.

Sales hours are set for 9am - 6pm on all three days, with admission by number.  Admission numbers will be distributed at the door beginning at 8am each day.  There will be a shipping agent on site for your convenience.  

Those who cannot attend the sale can purchase items shown in the Preview Gallery by calling 800-508-0022. Phone orders will be accepted after noon of the first day of the sale.

Ernest Mandel will be on site during the sale to welcome customers and advise the best way to finish your purchases. He will also put you on his client list, and arrange to have the Ernest Studios complete the upholstery work if you so choose.

Ernest and his wife Judith, a holocaust survivor, both grew up in Hungary and after surviving the events of World War II, they moved to France where Ernest learned how to dress fine furniture with fine fabrics.  In 1950, he and Judith immigrated to New York with little more than pocket change and their creative skills, but within three days of disembarkation Ernest was hard at work, launching their American dream.

Ernest set up his first shop on East 29th Street with two young French men, but he was soon to go out on his own, opening a studio on East 84th Street, just east of Third Avenue.  Ernest worked there almost everyday for the next 42 years, building relationships with the most important fabric houses and interior decorators of the time, including Franco Scalamandre, the internationally known fabric virtuoso.   Ernest's work graces the pages of the book Keith Irvine, A Life in Decoration by Keith and Chippy Irvine, and appeared on covers or in articles in decorating magazines from Architectural Digest and Elle Decor to House and Garden and Town and Country.

The Ernest Studios Sale is being managed by LLD Specialty Sales who managed the Scalamandre City Sale and who also recently produced The Great Belcourt Castle Tag Sale in Newport, RI.  For more information on the Ernest Studios sale, and LLD’s upcoming sale at Villalon Inn, Newport, RI, visit www.lldspecialtysales.com or phone 800 508-0022.

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The business of LLD Specialty Sales is to provide a quality selling venue for the dispersal of old /;unusual property. Our services include appraisals & strategic planning, on-site sales, auctions, & creative marketing concepts.