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Slow Studio Furniture that Takes Years to Make

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From his “slow studio” in North Alabama, the award-winning wood artist Robin Wade designs and crafts extreme one-of-a-kind handmade furniture.

The studio is fortuitously situated in the South with its lush, southern hardwood forests – and extreme weather.

This means the kind of severe storms that can bring down huge ancient old growth trees.

The studio tries to harvest wood primarily within a 60-mile radius from the studio, immortalizing downed trees from severe storms, as well as timber with particular historical significance.

Wade also saves urban logs or felled trees from the landfill by working hand-in-hand with local city and county governments.

The entire sourcing and production process mirrors an extensive effort to promote ecological balance and organic sustainability.

His work balances the raw, natural beauty of environmentally, locally sourced hardwoods with minimally invasive, clean lines.

The photographer Charles Moore – known for his photographs of the Civil Rights Movement in the south – documented the sustainable harvesting of the huge tree that came down during a storm at Barton Hall, an historic 1840’s plantation home near Cherokee, Alabama.

Why so long ago? The process that creates his unique, one-of-a-kind pieces takes time – up to three years.

The process begin by sourcing the trees, logs, or antique beams, flitch cutting the lumber (retaining the natural edges), debarking with a draw knife, stacking and air drying – which takes one to three years, and finally the kiln drying process.

“At this point,” says Wade, “we are ready to begin cooperating with the wonderful slab to see just what form we can come up with for its next life.

Utilizing centuries-old methods, machinery, and tools, each piece is finished on-site and transformed into a hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind piece of art meant to last for generations.

The result is that the very unique company creates only a handful of items each year that Wade calls both rustic and modern. “I haven’t yet found a better artist than nature,” he says.

“What’s the rush anyway”, says Wade. “It just makes sense (to me) that if furniture takes weeks, months or years to make – the customer would in turn value it more, keep it longer, and there would be a slow down in the chaotic mass consumption of our natural resources. Well, we’re doing our part”.