Weatherford native, Kelly Gale Amen, began his working career as a teenager in the basement of Tautfest Furniture and Appliance in Weatherford cleaning old appliances and quickly decided he wanted a bigger world to live in. Over the years he embraced his life as an international interior designer, a creator of functional art, and a philanthropist.
It was evident at an early age that Kelly had a gift for design. After graduating from Weatherford High School, Kelly would attend the University of Oklahoma’s School of Architecture and Design, graduating in 1972. Following graduation, he landed in Houston stepping into the design studio at Foley’s. The next several years found him traveling the world establishing contacts with artisans he would partner with and employ in his projects and his developing business… KGA Design. Based in Houston Texas, KGA Design has created stunning homes around the world from Paris to Los Angeles, Houston, New Orleans, New York City and as we mentioned, Weatherford, OK!
The creative embrace of functional homes opened the desire to develop KGA functional art furniture. The mimic of wood furniture, cast and fabricated in metals. This work being done by skilled artisans with a foundry in Alabama. Each piece is signed and numbered at the foundry as this collection keeps growing. Bronze, aluminum and/or iron… your choice of metals.
You will see KGA Design art furniture installed in public spaces in Houston and the Oklahoma State Capitol building as a permanent display in the official state art collection. The KGA collection can be viewed locally in the Pioneer Events Center on the SWOSU campus, the First Baptist Church south lawn, the Thomas P. Stafford Air & Space Museum ,and right here in the Tautfest Property Rentals building, all in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Also, the Commemorative Stafford Bench, created to honor astronaut Thomas P. Stafford, is the first piece of American art to be displayed in the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics.
