A tiny glass chair handblown by the Hot Shop artists at Tacoma’s Museum of Glass is the headline item for the third annual Chair Affair, the fundraising auction for the Northwest Furniture Bank. Every year the auction features chairs created or painted by local artists to benefit the Bank’s mission of providing home furnishings for Pierce County families in need. The auction this year is on March 20 at the Museum of Glass.

Along with the glass chair and other art chairs, new this year at the auction are artist-designed pillows, ‘glassy baby’ goblets and tickets to local performances and sporting events around the region.

“The Chair Affair team has put together a fantastic program this year,” said Bill Lemke, co-founder and executive director of the NW Furniture Bank. “I think this will be our best year yet for Chair Affair.”

The 2011 Chair Affair event had nearly 400 attendees who raised $58,000, giving artists exposure and furnishing new homes for 794 families emerging from homelessness, recovering from fire or flooding, or escaping domestic violence.

The Chair Affair begins at 6 p.m. March 20 at the Museum of Glass, 1801 Dock St., Tacoma. chairaffair.org, nwfurniturebank.org