Happy Birthday, Wiggers Custom Furniture Ltd.

Wiggers Custom Furniture Ltd. turns 45-years-old today.



The company was founded on January 13, 1967 by my parents Ann and Johan Wiggers. Just like today that day also happened to be a Friday the 13th.

Although some consider Friday the 13th to be unlucky, I guess it doesn't work that way for everyone.





When I was very small I spent a great deal of time playing on my father's workbench, while he was still working out of the basement of his home.



The first actual workshop wasn't built until 1968. (Notice the Ford Econoline van parked on the side. Years later that was the first vehicle I learned to drive, complete with standard transmission and three-on-the-tree.)




This is the shop today. It is now approx. 12,000 sq. ft. in size, but still has a number of original tools and machines still being used each day.



Although he's now retired my father keeps himself active which, in turn, keeps him young.



This coming year will also mark my 31st year as a full time furniture maker, and I am amazed how quickly the time has flown. (Such a cliche to say too, I know).



My son Kevin is now working with me as well.

Although he's only 21-years-old he's already far more skilled and experienced than I was at the same age. What parent wouldn't be happy to admit that?



It's great having my father around to teach Kevin things like wood turning and marquetry. Kevin is patient and shows great respect listening to his grandfather.

As an interesting historical footnote it was also 45 years ago today that Time Magazine published the following cover:



Times have certainly changed, because in recent years China has transitioned away from being an agrarian Communist society to become what is now a manufacturing juggernaut - becoming so wealthy in the process that it is now the holder of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars formerly held in the West.

This certainly wasn't the playing field that confronted my father and grandfather during their respective eras. Then again, they had Great Depressions and World Wars to deal with. Regardless, I remain hopeful that we as a small business can continue to find ways to navigate forward during these uncertain times.

In the meantime Happy Birthday, Wiggers Custom Furniture Ltd. !

Ellipse II Table - The Story Behind its Creation

In 2002 I began to experiment with ideas on how to bend wood across complex three dimensional planes. In the course of doing this I inadvertently created a tapered elliptical cone shape that, at first glance, looked ideal for a dining table base.

After building a prototype of the cone my next challenge was making the top. After heeding advice to "keep it simple" I settled on a pure elliptical oval shape with bookmatched grain and flat edge apron. A 1" high stainless steel plinth was added to the underside of the base. The resulting table was finished in Tobacco Mahogany, and named the Ellipse Dining Table.



Although the resulting table looked OK, there was something about it that was just plain missing. What bothered me most was the finish - which was a basic chocolate/mocha/expresso brown. At the time this was a safe finish to use, because just about every professional in the interior design industry was using it in one form or another since it "went with everything".

One could probably credit Holly Hunt and Christian Liaigre with first introducing this look to the high end of the market in the 1990s. By the early 2000s, however, the finish was everywhere and I soon realized that to be the main problem. Namely, because of the finish this table was looking like everything else out there - even the cheap dross knock-offs that were now beginning to flood the market by the containerload from offshore.

By 2006 I decided to refine the design with some subtle changes. I began by using a wood called Nero Chaquiro, which is a lesser known species that comes from an FSC certified forest in Brazil. In addition to being certified as sustainably harvested the use of this wood also helps support an indigenous community living along the banks of the Amazon River by providing a tangible incentive for the peoples living there to manage their surrounding forest responsibly.

The main structure of the table was crafted out of FSC certified ply, which was also NAUF and CARB2 compliant due to the fact that there were no added urea formaldehydes in the glues and binders. To minimize the heaviness of the top the grain pattern was changed to sunburst and the edge profile became a deep undercut bevel. The stainless steel plinth was removed in lieu of a small convex inlay of Narra being added as a subtle detail. The resulting table was finished in a low-VOC water based urethane, and renamed the Ellipse II Table.





Taken together these changes created a more sculptural look to the design, and the response from the design community was tremendously positive. Our ability to custom tailor this design to meet the requirements of each individual client has since resulted in the Ellipse II Table becoming one of our most popular offerings today.

In October 2008 a custom commission of this table for interior designer Wendy Blount was even published in an issue of Metropolitan Home magazine.





Thanks to the positive response this article received, the table photo was subsequently republished in the book "Glamour: Making it Modern" by Michael Lassell.





Sustainable, Environmental, Eco Lifestyles, Healthy, All Natural, Home and Garden, Interior Design, Eco Friendly, Green Furniture, Green Furnishings, Green Designs, FSC Certified, Reclaimed Materials. Organic, LEED compliant, NAUF. CARB2, Bamboo, Natural Fibers. Non-Toxic, low-VOC, Non VOC, Natural Finishes.

Custom Commission - Kidney Shaped Desk

What follows is a series of photos of a recently completed custom commission for a Kidney Shaped Desk. These images will form the basis for a series of blog posts that will explain this desk in great detail, explaining not only the various holistic woods used but also the process for making the gold, copper and silver inlays that have been fitted into the pencil drawer.




This is the initial walnut blank with recesses cut to receive the gold, copper and silver inlays. After the inlay work is complete this piece will become the lid of the box located inside the pencil drawer.




The gold and silver inlays were cast using a lost wax process. This image shows the mold and wax casting for the silver Turtle inlay.




The mold and wax casting for the Eagle inlay, which ended up being made of gold.




Benchwork on the Turtle inlay.




Benchwork on Eagle inlay.




Cleaning the casting of the Eagle inlay.




Polishing the Eagle inlay.




Handscraping the copper Tree inlay. Since it is not practical to cast copper, this inlay was made of bar stock that was seamlessly soldered together.




Preparing to fit the inlay into the wood.




After much polishing and finessing by hand, the final fit is achieved.




The wood lid can now be sanded in preparation for gluing the inlay into place.




A protective Lanolin finish is carefully applied by hand to the Black Walnut lid and sculpted inlay pieces that will function as finger pulls under the drawers. It is highly relevant that these pieces are all located in areas that will be frequently touched, since this will allow the active holistic molecules of the Black Walnut wood to come into direct contact with the skin of the person using the desk.




The finished lid and finger pulls, ready to be fitted into desk.




Front view of the completed desk.




A closer view of the end detail of the desk.




Detail view of top, showing Macassar Ebony top apron and inset of black Tuscany leather.




Detail view of side drawer.




Pencil drawer - closed.




Pencil drawer - open.




Interior of pencil drawer, showing inlaid lid of Black Walnut. The trays on either side are made of Sassafras, which is a holistic wood known for its aromatherapeutic properties. The box portion below the inlaid lid has been crafted from a wood called Hawthorn, which is also known for its aromatherapeutic and Ayurvedic properties.




Detail view of inlaid finger pull below one of the side drawers. The finger pulls are made of a special cutting of Black Walnut wood, which has traditionally been used by Native American medicine women for its holistic properties.

The properties of all of the holistic woods, and the story behind the gold, copper and silver inlays in the lid, will be explained in greater detail in a subsequent post.

Boardroom Table for the New York Yankees

You never know what you'll find when digging through old photos.

Yes, this is me. It's photographic proof that I was once young, buff, and had hair.

I am sitting at the end of a custom boardroom table we made for the New York Yankees professional baseball team back in January 1996. The top was a modified elliptical oval measuring 26 feet long by 6 feet wide. It was made of highly figured Crotch Mahogany, which was stained and polished to a high sheen.

This boardroom table was commissioned by Brueton Industries of New York, as a modified version of the Virginian Table designed by J. Wade Beam.

(The table was shipped with a Toronto Blue Jays sticker attached to the underside. I'll never know whether George Steinbrenner saw the humour in that).

S#*t My Son Needs to Hear

S#*! My Dad Says is a popular Twitter feed started by Justin Halpern. It consists of quotes made by Halpern's father, Sam, regarding various subjects. Halpern started the account in August 2009, soon after moving from Los Angeles back to his parents' house in San Diego. He intended it only as a storage site for his 74-year-old father's expletive-laden comments, but a friend posted a link to it. Comedian Rob Corddry then tweeted the link, and it went viral.

Some examples of comments are as follows:

"No. Humans will die out. We're weak. Dinosaurs survived on rotten flesh. You got diarrhea last week from a Wendy's."

"No, I'm not a pessimist. At some point the world shits on everybody. Pretending it ain't shit makes you an idiot, not an optimist."

In less than a month the page was mentioned on The Daily Show and a popular San Francisco blog called Laughing Squid. As of October 2010 the feed had over 1,800,000 followers and has been since turned into a popular television show, with William Shatner starring as the father.

I find many of Sam's comments to be hilarious (the television show, less so). In many ways they remind me of my own father and some of the things he'd say - especially when I was younger. But now that I'm older I'm noticing something else too - namely that I'm starting to sound a lot like this myself.

I first learned of S#*! My Dad Says around the time my son Kevin started taking up custom furniture making full time. His decision inspired me to start this blog to help catalogue some advice, and since some of my views are rather caustic I briefly considered calling it "S#*t My Son Needs to Hear". Ultimately I settled on the more politically correct "Musings of a Furniture Maker" .

The purpose of this blog is to share my almost 30 years of experience being a full time studio furniture maker and small business owner. By no means do I consider myself an expert in either field, because along the way I have probably made just about every mistake imaginable. But somehow I've been fortunate enough to survive, and that alone has to be a testament to something - even if it is just pure luck.




This is my son Kevin and when I look at him I see an innocence and youthful optimism that I once had. Somewhere along the way I lost it, and it saddens me to think that this is something I'll probably never get back.

At the same time I also know that the real world isn't the fairy tale "la la land" most of us think is reality when we're younger. I've been screwed over enough by furniture industry players to know that the business side of this vocation has more whores per capita than Las Vegas, but I didn't know that when I was 20.




There are times when I come across as a somber prick or a cynical hardass, but it's not without reason. After 30 years of constant battle and war in this line of work I believe I have caught enough proverbial shrapnel in my ass to have earned those stripes. For me this isn't just a hobby - it's what I do for a living.

At the end of the day this blog is ultimately for Kevin, and anyone else who cares to read it. This blog is also for me, because I'm having fun doing this.

"YOU, a published writer?. Internet don't count. Any *sshole can throw shit up on there."

(Thanks, Sam. So true)

Wiggers Custom Furniture Ltd. Turns 44 Today

Wiggers Custom Furniture Ltd. turns 44-years-old today.



The company was founded on January 13, 1967 by my parents Ann and Johan Wiggers. That day also happened to be a Friday. Although some consider Friday the 13th to be unlucky, I guess it's not for everyone.





I spent a great deal of time playing on my Dad's bench while he was still working out of his basement.



The first actual workshop wasn't built until 1968. (Notice the Ford Econoline van parked around the side. Years later that was the first vehicle I learned to drive, complete with three-on-the-tree.)




This is the shop today. It is now approx. 12,000 sq. ft. in size, but still has a number of original tools and machines.



Although he's now retired my father keeps himself active which, in turn, keeps him young.



This coming year will also mark my 30th year as a full time studio furniture maker, and I am amazed how quickly the time has flown.



My son Kevin, who graduated college last year, is just getting started. Although he's only 20-years-old he's already far more skilled and experienced than I was at the same age.



It's great having my father around to teach Kevin things like wood turning and marquetry. Kevin is patient and shows great respect listening to his grandfather.



My blog "Musings of a Furniture Maker" also turns one-year-old this June. I came very close to calling it "S#*t My Son Needs to Hear" , but that will be explained further in tomorrow's post.

It was also 44 years ago today that Time Magazine published the following cover:



Times have certainly changed, but not the chaos.

In the meantime, "Happy Birthday, Wiggers Custom Furniture Ltd. !"