Victoria and Richard MacKenzie-Childs will be re-emerging in the public eye at the family's private residence in King Ferry this weekend.

The couple, founders of MacKenzie-Childs in Aurora, started their home furnishings company in 1983 and found a great deal of success until a series of business decisions in the late 1990s led to the company filing for bankruptcy. In 2001, MacKenzie-Childs Ltd. was sold to Pleasant Rowland for $5.5 million, and the couple largely faded from public realm.

But the couple is opening their residence to the public this Friday and Saturday with a barn sale, partially in recognition of a new company they have formed, Victoria & Richard Emprise.

Laura Middleton, executive assistant for the couple, said the barn sale will feature both experiments and prototypes created for the couple's new line of household furnishings, as well as private items from the MacKenzie-Childs home.

The event largely came about as a way to sell some of the seconds of works created for the new company, Middleton said. The experiments and seconds, which will include a lot of pottery, are items not being offered to shops. Middleton said the couple wanted to offer them to the public.

The new line will feature similar items to those from the MacKenzie-Childs company, but Middleton said the designs will be more progressive and “a little more sophisticated.”

The barn sale will also feature personal items, including bed frames, glass and dinnerware, kitchen items and clothing, she said.

One area will be designated for the sale of items from the couple's new company.

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5322 ext. 243 or at anne.gleason@lee.net