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Take a seat, Cap'n says

A St. Pete Beach man got into both macaws and custom chairmaking by happenstance.

By ROBBYN MITCHELL
Published August 6, 2006

ST. PETE BEACH - Markus Lehtovirta and his blue and gold macaw Captain are practically Pass-A-Grille beach celebrities, frequently bicycling through the populated area.

"I take him to the beach and he rides on the handlebars of my bike," Lehtovirta said. "People will chase us down and ask me to take pictures with him. I'm known as the guy with the bird."

It's this local notoriety that has helped get Lehtovirta's handcrafted wooden chairs out of his garage workshop and into the homes of St. Petersburg and Tampa residents.

In fact, each of his customized Island Time Design pieces is branded with a profile of a macaw.

Lehtovirta credits Captain with landing his biggest job, designing and building 50 double chaise lounge cabanas for the deck at the Don CeSar Resort Hotel and Spa on St. Pete Beach.

One day while he riding with Captain through the Don CeSar parking lot, a guest standing with the resort's general manager, John Marks, pointed out Captain. Marks recognized Lehtovirta as "the guy who makes the chairs."

Lehtovirta pedaled over and started a conversation, one that led to his opportunity to make the chaise lounges, the first of many jobs tied to his unusual pet.

It's all because of the dog

Markus and Natalia Lehtovirta first got into birds after their dog, Sadie, brought home four baby parrots that had fallen from a nest over a 2-month period.

The couple tried to nurse the birds back to health. One died, one escaped and two were well enough to be released into the wild.

After that, the couple bought Captain from a breeder, a deal Markus said he didn't completely understand at the time.

"It's a challenge because they are moody and they can live up to 70 or 80 years," he said. "We had to clip his wings so he depends on us a lot."

But rather than feel guilty about keeping a wild bird as a pet, Lehtovirta uses his business to promote donations to the Macaw Landing Foundation, which preserves the habitats of these birds.

"In a way Captain has become the spokesperson for the wild macaw and at least he is helping keep others free," Lehtovirta said.

Linda Courier-Seegars, mother of tennis hall of famer Jim Courier, said she adores the designs and the comfort of Lehtovirta's chairs.

Courier-Seegars first saw his work at a charity auction. Lehtovirta donated a clown fish-shaped child's chair, based on the popular lead character from Disney's Finding Nemo.

"I saw it and I just had to have it for my grandkids," Courier-Seegars said. "Since then I've bought a few more chairs as gifts and one mermaid chair so beautiful I couldn't bear to part with it."

Lehtovirta operates his business the old-fashioned way: by word of mouth, which he says means he's serious about quality.

"I want to make sure that the item is what the customer wanted," Lehtovirta said. "I also make the chairs as comfortable as possible."

He offers 30 styles of Adirondack chairs and 50 other products are handcrafted out of cypress for the customer, most times to fit the contours of that specific person. His chairs range in price from $100 to $250. A native of Finland, Lehtovirta came to the United States to study at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

He said that of the 15 exchange students who came with him, he is the only one still in America.

"It was just too hard for some of them because when you lose your job, you lose your health care," Lehtovirta said. "Here you can work all year and only get one week of vacation, and they were just not used to that."

After graduation, he started his career in business and eventually came to Florida in 1993 as a software salesman.

While he admits it was a good job, Lehtovirta said he didn't find fulfillment until he started making chairs nearly three years ago.

Broken chair ignited a passion

Lehtovirta's first chair was actually for his own home. His wife had asked him to buy a new Adirondack chair to replace a broken one in their furniture set.

Feeling creative, Lehtovirta bought some wood instead and built a replacement chair.

Surprised at how well the project turned out, Lehtovirta decided to take up chairmaking as a hobby. Soon friends started to request custom-made chairs and his new passion began turning a profit.

He would work five days a week at his regular job and then make chairs on the weekend, a schedule that eventually began to wear on him.

"I just couldn't keep going at that pace," the craftsman said.

Lehtovirta quit his cushy sales job and plunged into the furniture business full time. In order to distinguish himself, he started a brand: Island Time Design and the macaw silhouette.

Because he doesn't have a storefront, Lehtovirta hopes word of mouth and craft fairs will help sustain his brand.

"It's not like Nike and I don't like to see it as a commercial logo," he said. "But if it's what gets people to buy my chairs, then I support it."

[Last modified August 5, 2006, 21:07:05]