Today we’d like to introduce you to David Stine.
Hi David, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I craft one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture using wood that I harvest and mill myself from my family’s 500 wooded acres in Illinois.
I am the fourth generation to steward my family’s land. The woods are both the source of my lumber and the source of my design inspiration. Being so close to the wood—from growing it to harvesting it to milling it—informs my work in the most natural, harmonious way, and this is reflected in the natural designs of my work, where I let the wood speak for itself. My furniture represents the finest in traditional American craftsmanship, sustainability, and integrity. That’s how I live my life, and that’s how I run my business.
I was born and raised on the land from which I now harvest my timber. My grandfather and uncles were dairy farmers. We worked on the farm with our hands every day, doing whatever needed to be done: mending fences, harvesting corn, fixing tractors, chopping firewood, milking cows.
My grandfather and father taught me woodworking. We repaired furniture and fences and we built tables, cabinets, bookcases, and beds. I fell in love with it. I loved taking something so simple and natural—a piece of wood¬—and crafting something beautiful and useful from it.
Woodworking gave me great joy as a child and as a young man. That joy never left me, even when I moved away from the farm to attend Penn State, where I majored in political science. After college, I moved to Washington, D.C. where I attended the George Washington University School of Law.
I missed creating things and working with my hands, so while I was a law student, I started a little side company, David Stine Woodworking. I went back to the farm and returned to D.C. with tools and some lumber. I worked out of a friend’s warehouse, crafting humidors, little tables, and small items. It was the perfect complement to the long hours I spent reading law and being in class. It grounded and nurtured me.
After I graduated from law school I worked as a trust and estates attorney, but woodworking kept calling to me. Every night after work and on weekends I would be in my wood shop. After 18 months of practicing law, I realized that I was miserable, that working with wood was my passion and my calling. It was the only thing I wanted to do. So, in 1998, with $90,000 in law school debt and the blessing of my wife, I quit my law job and devoted myself full-time to woodworking. It was the greatest decision of my life.
Four or five times a year, I’d travel back to my family’s farm in Illinois to cut timber, mill boards, rotate my stock, and bring lumber back. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to use only native hardwoods in my work, and I wanted to use only timber that I sustainably harvested myself from my own land. This was an essential component of my work. “Green” and “sustainability” weren’t buzzwords back then, but that is how I’ve always run my company. Word quickly spread in the DC area that there was a custom woodworker who was dedicated to both the craft and to a different way of doing things. My roster of clients grew so much that I quickly outgrew my woodshop. I had gotten bigger, but my ethos never changed.
In 2002, my wife and I decided to leave DC and move back to Illinois, where we could be near family and the land that I love so much, land that I care about and cultivate, land that is the source of my lumber and the source of my inspiration. We bought a 40-acre farm, renovated an 1871 farmhouse, and installed a woodshop, kiln, sawmill, studio, and seasoning sheds. We’ve been there ever since.
I’ve just celebrated my 22nd anniversary in business. My business has grown tremendously over the years. I now have clients around the world, and I’ve been a featured furniture maker at shows from coast to coast, including the Architectural Digest Show, where I exhibited for 13 years and was awarded “Best in Show, Sustainable Design” by ASID New York. I’ve grown bigger and more accomplished, but I’ve never changed the way I do things: by hand, one piece at a time, with authenticity, integrity, sustainability, and tradition as the cornerstones of my work.
And it all starts in the woods. I draw strength and inspiration from the trees, by how and where they grow. As I mill the logs, every cut is a revelation as I see the inner life and extraordinary beauty of the wood. Often, as I mill a board I see what the wood will become. I don’t try to bend the wood to my will. Rather, I let it be what it wants to be, and my designs maximize its raw, singular, natural beauty—knots, live edges, and all. Every piece I craft is the articulation of the natural beauty of that tree, which lives on in a beautiful and useful way.
Mine is a different sort of craftsmanship, one that’s infused with stewardship and a deep appreciation and respect for the wood. It’s about taking my spirit and passion and putting it into something beautiful and lasting. It’s not just craftsmanship; it’s a way of life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our biggest challenge is educating people on real wood furniture. So many people are used to fake wood, veneers, and the like, that they are not used to seeing what real, natural wood looks like.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are unlike most furniture makers. First, we are vertically integrated: we own and steward the forests where we sustainably harvest the wood we use in our work; we own the sawmills and seasoning sheds; we design and craft in house; and we deliver most of what we make. Second, we collaborate closely with every client. Just like no two pieces of furniture are alike, no two clients are alike. We take the time to get to know our clients so we can craft the perfect pieces for them, whether they are a homeowner, a restaurateur, or a hotel, each client gets our undivided attention. And third, we let the wood speak for itself. We don’t torture it to fit some style or design; we let it speak for itself. Clients choose us because they love the natural beauty of real wood.
How do you think about happiness?
Being in the woods and stewarding my trees makes me happy. I am moved by how and where the trees grow. Taking only the dead and dying trees, I know that that tree will live forever as a beautiful, functional piece of furniture. I love milling the logs to see the inner beauty of the tree. And once I see it I know what it will become.
Pricing:
- Dining tables start at $4,500
- Beds start at $4,500
- Coffee tables start at $1,500
Contact Info:
- Email: info@stinewoodworking.com
- Website: www.stinewoodworking.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidstinefurniture/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidstinefurniture/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV1r0Ci0jC7SQQA1Kz_bZjw?view_as=subscriber
Image Credits
Starboard & Port
