Popular designer quick to share skills, knowledge

Andrew Lefevre was an artist and interior designer whose curtains, bedspreads, tablecloths and drapes were valued by clients across Western Pennsylvania.

He was very artistic and talented and sensitive, said his business partner, Francis Simko Jr. of Swissvale.

Andrew Lefevre of Swissvale died of kidney failure Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014. He was 79.

Mr. Lefevre was born in Adamsburg and graduated from Jeannette High School in 1954.

In 1976, he and Simko Jr. opened Originality Plus in Youngwood, a consignment shop that sold the work of local artists.

When the shop was moved from Youngwood to Swissvale, Mr. Lefevre started to receive many requests to design and make custom bedspreads, curtains and other textiles.

He learned his trade as a young man by installing draperies for JCPenney and by working with interior designers, Simko said.

By the mid-1980s, his design work took up all of his time.

It got so busy that we actually closed the gift shop, Simko said.

When he was at his busiest, Mr. Lefevre had eight to 10 employees, according to Simko.

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Popular designer quick to share skills, knowledge