On Saturday, June 11th come visit our studio as part of Made in Brooklyn’s open studio walking tour of historic Red Hook. Made in Brooklyn Tours are guided walking and bicycle tours that tell the story of Brooklyn’s industrial revolution and current resurgence. Tickets for this tour can be purchased here. On our stop of the tour, visitors can view our studio collection, observe pieces currently in production, tour our machine and finishing rooms, as well as take part in a Japanese joinery tutorial, and learn about the collective of artists that all reside at our studios.

Inhabitat.com and Philips are sponsoring a lighting design contest called “Bright Ideas”. The contest features lighting designs that feature the use of energy efficient LED bulbs. Our BRANN Pendant Light Series is a nominee and we need your votes! The Readers Choice Award winner, chosen by online voting, receives $500 and a feature on Inhabitat.com’s website! It just takes a second to vote and help our BRANN Lights gain notoriety and recognition! THANKS!

Click here to vote!

We are pleased to be invited to exhibit with BKLYN Designs at this year’s ICFF! For the occasion, we are making a special chandelier version of our BRANN Pendant Lights. We will be in booth# 1466, Saturday May 14 through Tuesday May 17.

Here is a video we produced showcasing our workshop and the making of our Ond Bench. Grab some popcorn and enjoy the movie!

A couple weeks ago, ABC News unveiled a new project that they will be periodically covering called ‘Made In America’. ABC is filming and producing a series of news segments about American made manufactured products. Specifically, the project will follow the reconstruction and furnishing a home complete with American made furniture, housewares, appliances, etc. and report on the true cost of this endeavor.

As a furniture maker based in New York, I am immediately interested in following this series. While I do not directly compete with IKEA, Target, West Elm, and such for customers, there is a larger conversation at present that includes all of us. I am often asked about the value of domestic vs. overseas production. While I won’t go out on a limb and say domestic production is the only answer for everyone, I can say that I am definitely biased towards domestic craftsmanship.

I have a tremendous source of pride in our products. And I can’t imagine making these products and our furniture anywhere but here in our workshop in Brooklyn. I love being able to pay my workers a geood salary for their skills and talent. I love being able to walk the ground in the forest of our wood supplier where a majority of our wood comes from. I love working with metalworkers and painters and finishers based here in NYC. I thank all of my clients who also value this approach to manufacturing.

There already was a great discussion about this news segment on Apartment Therapy here. But I welcome any comments and would gladly address this conversation in further or more specific details.

As winter settles in and the snow continues to fall here in the city, we are taking this opportunity to re organize our workshop and do some winter cleaning. Some old tenants are leaving our workshop and new ones are moving into the space. The energy the new designers who will be sharing our space will be welcome for the new year. But now is the time to wrap up loose ends.

2010 was a busy year for us. We introduced a new line of bamboo veneer lamps for our studio line. We outfitted an upstate university with cherry benches. And our custom clients kept up busy with walnut media centers, custom lights, and bamboo bathrooms.

With any project, there are always scraps of cut off woods leftover. This year we accumulated quite a bit. These pieces are too small to be made into furniture parts, but I can never seem to get rid of them. Throwing them in a dumpster feels wasteful. Instead, we have decided to ‘up-cycle’ these cutoffs into a limited edition of house ware items. Our first item will butcher blocks. Our first run of six blocks sold out before we even had a chance to tell the world. Available on a first come, first serve basis, the next run will be available through our Etsy store. Check here for availability.

Apartment Therapy is giving away one BRANN Pendant Light as part of their 2010 Holiday Giveaway!

Entries are now being accepted and will be open for the next three days! Only one entry to person is allowed.

We’ve just made ordering and shopping with us a little easier with our new Etsy store. As we design and add more houseware items to our collection like pillows, bolsters, and lighting it makes sense to offer these items for the online shopper. We are in the process of adding new items to the Etsy store, so if you don’t see an item immediately please have patience while we continue to add our entire collection. You will also find a shipping and return policy detailed on at our Etsy store. This is something new to us, so if you do have any questions that haven’t been answered or outlined in our policies, please send us an email and we will answer you questions as thoroughly as possible.

On Wednesday, November 10th at 6:30pm, I am giving the opening presentation at the NY Design Meetup hosted by Apartment Therapy Offline. I’ve been attending these monthly meetings semi-regularly this past year and I was quite honored to be invited to give a five minute opening presentation. These meetups are always informative and fun as Maxwell Ryan (founder of Apartment Therapy) does a great job holding a one on one conversation with the main presenter; in this case, Kevin Sharkey (Senior Vice President and Executive Editorial Director, Decorating, and Executive Creative Director of Merchandising for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.).

I will be discussing my new, green BRANN Pendant Lights, as well as give a quick background into who I am and how and why I design the way that I do. I am also giving away one of our Large Oval BRANN Lights to one lucky audience member. RVSP is required and you can do so here. I hope to see many of you there!

Last month, New York City experienced a severe storm which produced tornadoes that ripped through Staten Island and Brooklyn. Unfortunately, in its path where two landmarked 200 year old Black Locust trees in Staten Island. These trees were very special because they were part of the Underground Railroad’s trail, identifying that there was a safe house on the property.

The homeowner of these trees contacted me about reclaiming the wood and turning the trees into furniture. She hates the idea of these trees being turned into mulch and I agree. So we are having the trees milled and will air dry the planks for awhile (2-3 years), making the wood suitable for furniture use. This will give me time to think about the wood and how best to pay respect to these life saving trees. My initial thought is that the wood should be used to make outdoor seating. Black Locust is renowned for its durability and is well suited for outdoor environments.  By making benches and seats out of the wood, it would allow the user to also have time to contemplate these trees former service. What are your suggestions? I would love to hear ideas from others about the best way to pay respect to these hero trees.