Why Consider Buying Studio Designed and Hand Crafted Furniture?
The best, most personal furniture comes from designer/craftsmen. This type of furniture can greatly enhance the visual and emotional appeal of a room or a living space. It can become an heirloom or a prized posession in a family for generations.
Rather than following the flock and buying what's available to do the job, furnishing with quality custom items is a way to take command and enjoy life by boldly making an individual statement.
This is the type of furniture De Granna makes.
If The Store Sells What I Want, Why Not Buy It?
We recognize the role of the factory/retail furniture business for many ordinary furniture needs. However, discerning customers have noticed that as mass production has become more globalized, the quality of materials and workmanship has generally declined in the industry. We think this is a natural side effect of the distances (figurative and geographic) growing between producer and client.
Our business bucks the trend. Our own specialties are:
high quality materials and fine craftsmanship
custom styling, sizing, and finishing
client involvement and interaction
items made locally
As much as possible, we source our tools and materials locally or within Canada. We try to support other local small businesses when we purchase. If we can't make something, we are usually able to refer clients to another local artisan who can.
How Much Does It Cost?
Clients often find that our prices are competitive with the better quality retail furniture stores (although we believe our quality is better). Undercutting someone else has not been a consideration in how we set prices, but we are happy when we are told that we provide good value.
Our products are priced according to the cost of materials and the amount of time we expect to spend. Figuring out a price is one of the challenging and potentially rewarding tasks of design.
What Kind of People Are Our Clients?
Over the years, we have noticed that our clients share most if not all of the following attributes*:
attraction to wood and other natural materials
appreciation of fine craftsmanship
curiosity about the world and the things in it
ability to describe clearly an item they desire
interest in interacting directly with the designer and craftsman
a comfortable, not necessarily excessive, income or lifestyle
* Credit goes to Jim Tolpin for his insight in creating a similar list of attributes of clients purchasing his custom cabinets.
What Styles Do We Like?
Our family has a strong lineage of Scandinavians and early European immigrants to North America. From these roots, we like the traditional furniture found in rural Sweden, the furniture of the Shaker and Arts & Crafts movements, and the style known as "Canadiana". We also have a fondness for modern furniture that features clean lines and simple geometric shapes and colours.
What Is Our Favourite Wood?
Any current discussion of materials must consider sustainability and the impact on global climate. The question of whether a magnificant old tree is better left in an ancient forest on the other side of the globe, or made into a beloved object in our living room, is an emotional one. The concept of "green" furniture is gaining ground rapidly.
We like some of the traditional North American woods that are in good supply and sustainably harvested. Quarter sawn white oak is has excellent structural properties, with a grain that is beautiful in a non-subtle way. Maple is also very strong, with a muted cream coloured grain that can contain many interesting figured patterns, from tiger striped to bird's eye. Cherry has an attractive reddish patina that deepens with age. Black Walnut has colour ranging from cream to chocolate to jet black. These are our current favourites, but we do use many other woods when the occasion calls for it. For example, we are always on the lookout for local trees that come down in storms or for land development.
What is the Relationship between De Granna and IKEA?
The letters IKEA stand for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd - the initials of the IKEA company founder followed by the initials of the farm and parish in Sweden where he was born. Ingvar Kamprad built an innovative furniture design and mass production company that is well known and respected around the world.
By coincidence, the founder of De Granna Furniture Studios is a descendant of another family from Agunnaryd. Agunnaryd is a very small place, with its recent population listed as 212 people. De Granna Furniture Studios has channeled its own share of the energy and ingenuity of Agunnaryd into the design of one of a kind and limited production furnishings.
To be sure, De Granna and IKEA have no relationship at all other than having family roots in the same small parish.
Karl and the house his great-grandfather built at Agunnaryd.
