How I got started in the custom furniture business – Blast from the past
How I got started in the custom furniture business
Once I started designing a few pieces and realizing there was a big market for them, things got very hectic. Not only was I still running my successful custom cabinet business, I had to make time to develop and build new furniture pieces. This meant long days, weekends and many hours spent at the shop.
The use of juniper and oak logs was a great way to get a lot of character, as well as a rustic style that I liked. We spent many days wandering the desert looking for the right logs that would make a great piece. At this time, my sister Teresa and my two sons Kalib, and Kade began to join in. Helping to design and build. This was around 1998.
As we developed our own style we wanted to stand apart from every other log furniture builder out there so we started adding more carvings to our designs. Like the carved tracks I mentioned before. We carved and applied leaves, rocks, pine cones and whatever we could come up with.
As I was carving one day, and had my reference books out on the bench, I thought to myself, I need to carve those books. The next day, that’s just what I did. These started to be carved accessory pieces we would attach to different pieces.
Trying to create unique pieces, we started to combine traditional styles with barn wood. To add another element of art, I had a fellow artist paint different scenes on the old textured wood.
Here is another design with a painted buffalo scene.
There was always the drive to push the envelop on design, and to me there were no boundaries.
Watch for my next post, to see how I pushed the envelope of design.
