Thayer Coggin Kai Lounge Chair

Thayer Coggin

Thayer Coggin's love of furniture began one early Christmas morning, when all he asked for was a claw hammer. After receiving it, Thayer made his own bedroom suite. A few years later, in shop class at High Point High School, he made rocking chairs and cedar chests for tuition to attend High Point College. Then, after service in WWII, he returned to his first love and founded James Manufacturing. But, Thayer dreamed of producing designs that were innovative. He traveled to Europe for inspiration and he was impressed by the light-scaled upholstery he saw there. He said, "The simple, clean lines appealed to my sense of beauty...[their impression] hit me like a ton of bricks." Home in High Point, he developed a singular focus: to develop furniture featuring sleek, horizontal lines, synonymous with the ranch-style homes that characterized post-war suburbia.