Why We Design & Build Custom Furniture

I bet you’re wondering, why does Origin Woodworks exist? What do they make?

All valid, burning questions indeed.

It’s not enough to just have beautiful, quality products these days. It’s good to know the “what” and “why” behind a company to ensure you support companies with values that align with your own.

Why We Exist

It started a long time ago. I (Chief Wood Elf John) was always creative as a child. I enjoyed drawing and painting things and building with Legos.

I was raised in a DIY environment with my parents always working in the garden, fixing things and refinishing furniture. My dad (Master Chief Wood Elf) is an engineer by trade and was always making furniture out of wood.

In high school I had a natural interest in art and music. As an introvert, I found these outlets to be a healthy way to express myself and it felt good to create things.

While I was never building things out of wood at a young age, I must have absorbed it from my dad with projects always being in my environment.

Fast forward to my early adult life and Origin Woodworks was born out of a problem: I needed a new coffee table for my new living space in the Ozarks.

I loved the look of live edge tables online but no one locally was offering that style. I began researching where I could get a live edge piece of lumber and found a local supplier.

With my dad being a Master Chief Wood Elf, I knew with his capabilities and help I could craft my own coffee table.

As I was in his workshop sanding a piece of wood that became the centerpiece for my living room something hit me: I need to make more functional art for the world. Other people needed to bring a small piece of nature indoors to enjoy! The seed was planted for Origin Woodworks.

In short, that’s my very own Origin Story.

It’s about honoring and carrying on the work of my dad, recognizing the importance of place, and ensuring my work treads lightly on the environment.

What We Make

Origin Woodworks makes functional art in the form of custom wood furniture. Specifically, we build live edge, rustic style pieces. This style has a character and charm that makes it very unique and quirky.

What is live edge? It’s a style pioneered by Japanese-American architect and craftsman George Nakashima in the 1940s.

It’s commonly referred to as a “slab” and features at least one edge being left natural rather than being cut straight. Asymmetrical shapes therefore take center-stage in this type of furniture.

I love building live edge furniture because it reminds me of the outdoors. It looks like a slice of a tree was cut out and placed in your living space. And since we’re all spending more time indoors these days, it’s more important than ever that we bring nature inside.

So that’s the main style we build. But what specific pieces of furniture do we make?

Namely, anything that is a “top” including but not limited to dining tables, countertops, desks, and coffee tables. We also make smaller items like serving/charcuterie boards, wine racks, and raised garden bed kits.

But, do you want in on a secret?

We make the furniture I just described but really we help you make memories with loved ones.

Dining tables bring you and your guests together to share meals, conversation and laughter. Coffee tables serve as statement pieces for your room allowing for interior design to be completed and lift your mood. Serving and charcuterie boards carry food made with love to your guests.

It’s really about bringing people together to share. And if the past two years have shown us anything, it’s that we have a very human, primal need for connection.