To the untrained eye, Chris Brandt's woodpile is no more impressive than the average stack of scrap wood in a homeowner's garage. It's a seemingly nondescript assortment of rough planks in various widths and shades.
But when Brandt's team of cabinetmakers are done with those rough planks, which are actually fine woods like cherry, oak, maple and walnut, the finished products are far from average, as evidenced by the array of fine furnishings throughout Brandt's showroom at Woodcraft Design in Riel Park.
Smooth, finely joined and richly stained, the items represent a lot of hours and skill by certified trades people. Depending on the project, the materials are either all solid wood or solid wood in conjunction with plywood, which doesn't expand and shrink as readily as solid wood. The price tags are in a different league than what you see in an average furniture store. For example, a wardrobe unit lists in the $1,200 range.
In this age of low-cost foreign manufacturing and cutthroat retail pricing, you'd think a local craftsman specializing in middle to high-end custom furniture would have trouble staying afloat. Not really.
Brandt keeps himself and his three cabinetmakers busy full-time. In fact, despite minimal advertising, word-of-mouth exposure has him running with a four-month waiting list, producing items like custom kitchens, entertainment centres and bedroom and dining room furniture.
"It's quality. It's the same reason anybody spends money on something that has value," he says of the appeal of his products.
His clientele aren't necessarily wealthy, but are mostly regular folks who appreciate quality, craftsmanship and something that's built to last, he said.
"It's people who know that they want something good. They know that it's not cheap to get something good," he said.
"It's not like IKEA which is sort of 'we'll get this while we look for something better' because it doesn't cost much and you know it's not going to last very long."
Brandt's customers fall into one of two categories — those who know exactly what they want and those who have no idea.
A prime example of the first category happened a few years ago when a woman wanted a barstool like she'd seen in a movie.
"She paused the movie, took a picture of her TV screen, brought us the picture of the stool and we built her that stool," he said.
For people who fall into the latter category, he has a catalogue of previous projects to inspire ideas. From there he can sketch out a design and finalize it on his computer.
Family tradition
Brandt is a second-generation furniture maker. His father Reinhold, a master furniture builder from Germany, immigrated to Canada and started the company in 1970. Brandt and his brother both learned the craft from their father, becoming journeymen cabinetmakers themselves and eventually taking over the business. The brother now operates a competing business in Edmonton, making custom furniture and handmade toboggans.
For Brandt, the business is satisfying but challenging.
"It's a bit of a difficult market to be in," he said. "I think we're one of the only furniture manufacturing businesses that isn't production-based of our size in the area. There's lots of smaller woodworking shops that are run like smaller one-man businesses."
While his company is larger than a typical home-based operation, it's still a small company with a lot invested in equipment — about $750,000. And while his customers are willing to pay a premium for quality, there's still a limit.
"It's a fine balance between what we can charge and the time it takes to build," Brandt said.
"It's a lot of hard work and a lot of hours because it's more of a traditional craft. There's a lot invested with each piece. It's very satisfying in that sense of creating furniture. It's sort of a trade-off with the money side of it. We're not getting rich doing this."
Local appeal
Glenn Sheets of Old Hippy Fine Home Furnishings on Perron Street makes no bones about the fact that his products cost more than most. But he's also keen to educate his customers how to identify furniture that's made of solid wood.
"You look at one side, you follow the grain right through the wood to the other side. It's the same grain," he said.
His furniture, which is manufactured in a company facility in Edmonton, is all stamped, numbered and catalogued, so the pieces can be recognized as antiques 50 or 100 years down the road.
Most of his customers seem to be average people, usually in the 40 to 60-age bracket, and they don't all spend huge sums, he said. Many come in looking for just one special item.
"They can't afford to buy the whole bedroom suite so they buy the bed and later on they add to it," he said.
Sheets' customers want something unique to themselves and their space. And many of them find appeal in the fact the furniture is produced locally, he said.
"I think it's just because it's Canadian-made, they know it's not made off-shore," he said. "More people are looking for Canada-made products."
