“Our focus right now is on holiday installations, corporate events, and small, elegant dinner parties,” said Jones.
It’s November and Annie Sharp and Holly Jones could not be more thrilled. “We love the holiday season – it’s just fun!” said Jones. “We love to be a part of other people’s celebrations!” added Sharp.
After a vintage and specialized wedding- and event-packed September and October, the celebratory momentum at One Hundred Chairs has made a sharp turn toward candy cane lane, where visions of sugar plums, gingerbread and icicles first dance in their heads and then into local businesses and homes.
“Our focus right now is on holiday installations, corporate events, and small, elegant dinner parties,” said Jones.
The Prescott sisters bought the vintage-inspired wedding and event rentals company six years ago and have since then tripled their business and added five part-time jobs. They specialize in boutique and unique furniture and décor and have a nearly 2,000-square-foot warehouse full of tables, couches, chairs, dishes and decorations. They also offer design services to make events distinctly personal, magical and memorable.
Those who know them will tell you setting the stage for special occasions is what they were born to do. In fact, they built a reputation designing weddings and events for friends and family members before they went into business together.
“It’s something we did for fun, we weren’t necessarily seeking to go into business,” said Jones. “We saw the blissfulness of beautiful events and then we figured out the rest.”
A COLLISION OF TALENTS
“Holly and I often say we were starry-eyed when we were presented with the opportunity to buy the business. We didn’t stop very long to think about the details,” said Sharp. “One Hundred Chairs became a collision of everything we love to do and do together.”
Using their unique gifts and interests, Jones leans into design, trends and artful environments. Sharp’s superpower is getting people together, building relationships and creating the space for gatherings.
Sharp, 44 and Jones, 34, are the oldest and youngest of the “Favour girls,” daughters of Prescott natives Mark Favour and Dawn Creamer. Sharp’s and Jones’ children mark five generations that the family has been in Prescott and Northern Arizona. The women are the great-nieces of V.M. Slipher, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff credited with first detecting the expanding nature of the universe. His younger brother, E.C. Slipher, their great-grandfather, was also an important astronomer known for photographing the planets. He developed many photography techniques still used by astronomers today.
“If you were to look back at us growing up, we have had very consistent personality traits that have followed us through,” said Sharp. “Holly has always made brave fashion choices with the confidence that it’s all going to work out. And I probably have the bossy, older-sister traits.”
“She is the brilliant, logistical brain behind it all,” said Jones about her sister.
Both women went to school at Northern Arizona University. Jones studied interior design and fashion merchandizing. Sharp earned a bachelor’s degree in social work. “She really puts those skills to work when emotions run high, which happens – especially in planning for a wedding,” said Jones. “I’m grateful Annie puts out the fires so I can keep focused on the design details.”
Bringing Vision to Life
For Sharp, success is seeing happy clients and developing personal relationships along the way. Jones’ biggest joy is being able to take someone else’s creative vision that they don’t know how to achieve, and make it come to life.
For example, the women designed a wedding in May for a couple that enjoyed the outdoors. They wanted to express their love for adventure in a low-key, beautiful and fun way,” said Jones.
So, instead of an aisle for the bride to walk down, One Hundred Chairs created a meadow setting, with triangular arches to suggest mountains and a meandering path dotted with flowers. The wedding also incorporated antlers as décor.
In contrast, the women have styled a feminine atmosphere for the Annual Quad Cities ATHENA Leadership Awards High Tea, using antique China, delicate glassware and vintage silverware.
And now, as they deck the halls with boughs and wreaths, the women will tell you that whether the occasion calls for jingle bells, dinner bells or wedding bells, “it’s the smiles on our clients’ faces that make what we do so meaningful to us,” said Sharp. FBN
By Bonnie Stevens, FBN
For more information about One Hundred Chairs, visit onehundredchairs.com.
Courtesy Photo: Holly Jones and Annie Sharp planned gatherings for fun for family members and friends before they became business partners. “One Hundred Chairs became a collision of everything we love to do and do together,” said Sharp.
