Sticks Furniture and Object Art

Sticks origins date back to 1985 when Sarah Grant-Hutchison, an abstract painter and college art instructor, was commissioned to design a wooden nativity set for Better Homes & Gardens Decorative Woodcrafts® magazine. At the time, Sarah’s artistic background was solely focused on drawing and painting linear surfaces, and this project challenged Sarah to incorporate her artistry onto a 3-D surface.

It was on a weekend excursion to a friend's antique store in Goldfield, IA that Sarah came across some etched wooden furniture from the twenties and thirties. She was inspired. Sarah's father, John, assisted her with carving the wooden structures for the nativity set, and she experimented with etching her designs onto the wooden structures. She found this technique was an extremely effective way to delineate her designs.

Decorative Woodcrafts® magazine purchased one of Sarah's nativity sets, and her mother, Carol, proudly claimed one of the "practice" sets to display in their family home. Sarah was soon inundated with requests from family and friends for nativity sets and small Christmas items. She began a small company called "Origin Art Forms" to supplement her income.

In the late eighties, Sarah was speaking to a drawing class at Drake University when she met her future partner Jim Lueders. Their friendship was immediate, and their partnership was imminent. Jim was a contractor who had returned to school with a scholarship in the fine arts program. He soon began working in a neighboring art studio and eventually began assisting Sarah with her nativity sets. Jim's carpentry expertise enabled Sarah to focus on drawing and painting, and their mutual talents were an ideal match for this growing business.

In December of 1991, Better Homes and Gardens® featured a story about Sarah and her company "Origin Art Forms" which solicited a large national response and an influx of orders. Sarah and Jim incorporated the company as Sticks, Inc. in 1992, and the company has flourished ever since.

Sticks has received national acclaim for its object art, accessories and furniture. Sticks' operations are housed within a 28,000 square foot design studio in Des Moines, Iowa. The product line features highly decorative pieces of sculpture and functional art that are handcrafted and designed by a team of over 100 craft artisans. Sticks' furniture and artwork is currently merchandised in 135 galleries nationwide. Sticks' business has also evolved to include installation projects for hospitals, libraries, schools, restaurants and hotels.

Sticks strives to create artwork that resonates with the imagination and creativity within us all.