There is nothing you can dream of, when it comes to custom woodwork, that we cannot create.
Evolution of a Chair
A long time client and friend commissioned us build a custom dining table made from rare slabs of American Black Walnut that were nearly 200 years old. The challenge: How do you find chairs to go with that? You have the same craftsmen who built your table build your chairs. The design process started by crafting a design that utilized all of the remnants of the 200-year old slabs for the chairs. Remnants, by definition, are small, so the design had to make use of small parts.
The first draft of the chair design did just that. But small and lightweight failed to complement the heavy table. After several more iterations of design, the chair became just what the client wanted.
“I need a mesquite slab countertop that’s eleven feet long and about two feet wide.”
Have you ever noticed a mesquite tree? Most of them are 6-8’ tall and about 8 inches across at the fattest part of the trunk. We found this rare gem that had been cut near a river bed in South Texas…and it was exactly what was ordered! We filled the natural fissures in the slab and custom fit it to the surrounding cabinetry. It truly completed the room!
“Can you build an arched wine rack that looks like this, and fits in this extra space?”
Yes, ma’am…we’d love to! First we’ll draw it…then we’ll measure the space against our drawings to make sure it fits in your wall space…the rest is worth opening a nice bottle over.
“We want an island with a natural wood slab top, but we want ‘live edges’ on all four sides.”
The challenge: Technically-speaking, a natural wood slab can only have “live” edges on two sides and not on the ends. So, what we did is find a slab that was the right width, then cut it to the right length and then fashioned the two cut ends to look like live edges by cutting gouges and wane into the end grain.
