NEWH - Spring 2025 - 68

COVER STORY
Craft, Care, Community
Kellex fosters meaningful connections with clients and employees alike
By Alia Akkam
Photos courtesy of Kellex
I
n the 1990s, many residents of Norwalk, Ohio, just outside Cleveland,
were employed by Norwalk Furniture. So when a number of employees
were abruptly laid off during the 1993 Christmas season, it was a
profound loss for the city.
" It was a diff icult time
for the industry as a whole, "
recalls Chris Rice, president of
Kellex, the furniture company
he founded in 1994 with
his brother Charlie, then
Norwalk's director of business
development, and friend Doug
Fawcett. Although it was a scrappy upstart-the trio worked in
a makeshift off ice above a garage-Kellex was launched with
the noble mission of reinstating jobs to those who lost them,
reviving the neglected factories by turning out products
for the hospitality market sold under the Norwalk Contract
Furniture brand.
A few years later, Kellex began manufacturing fully
upholstered seating designs using its own name, and it has
organically evolved ever since. Rice, whose background is in
sales and marketing, continues to oversee day-to-day operations
(Fawcett has retired and Charlie is an advisor and on the board),
and believes Kellex's three-decade journey has been strongly
shaped by its client relationships. " Our customers are running
businesses and putting their livelihoods in our hands. We grew
by understanding their needs and providing solutions, " he says.
Today, Kellex fabricates everything from sofas to ottomans
and barstools for hotel powerhouses like Hilton and Marriott,
restaurants, country clubs, and timeshares as well as multi-family
housing and senior living facilities. Around 60 percent of these
off erings are bespoke, made at Kellex's 355,000-square-foot
vertically integrated production hub in Valdese, North Carolina,
or its 97,000-square-foot factory in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Given the diversity of projects that source Kellex furniture,
the design process is always tailored to each client's vision.
" Some customers choose an in-line style and then make a slight
change, some want something completely new and ask us to
help design it, and some come to us for the entire concept. We
love to create a one-on-one custom experience, " elaborates
Anna Chaney, Kellex's director of product design. " Designers
have so much to deal with. Furniture is only one piece of the
puzzle, but we want to support them in that one function so
68 newh.org
that they don't have to worry about it. "
Consider Kellex's mobile showroom, a trailer outfitted with products that
comes to the rescue of clients beleaguered by hectic schedules. At their
leisure, they pop out of their off ices to get acquainted with the furniture and
share feedback with Kellex reps in a " traditional lunch and learn " setting, as
Chaney puts it, that deepens connections.
There is much for them to choose from, too. Between July and December
2024, for example, the Kellex team was busy dreaming up 99 new styles-
iterations of the beloved Zen Sleeper among them-showcasing its in-house
upholstery, foam, and wood capabilities. A cost-eff ective dining collection is
currently under development.
While Rice is based in North Carolina, Chaney resides in Starkville,
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NEWH - Spring 2025

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