Tim Hayes
Over thirty years ago, while working as a timber framer and carpenter, I was inspired by the rustic furniture of the Adirondacks. After a road trip to visit a number of makers, I was particularly enamored with the low energy, hand-tooled process, and intrigued with the challenge of designing furniture with the elegant shapes of untooled trees. For the next four years I made chairs, benches, tables and other objects, selling through galleries, shows, & commissions, and was featured in two books and a Vermont magazine article, all while my style evolved from that initial inspiration to a more refined construction and finish—heirloom furniture from sticks and branches that is comfortable to sit in and inviting to the touch: Fine Rustic.
During this time, I heard another calling, and went back to school to become a middle school teacher in Marlboro, VT, where I worked for 24 years, teaching among other subjects, rustic woodworking. Sometimes from the school property, or the slopes of nearby Hogback Mtn. — a short yellow bus ride away—they cut and peeled ash and maple saplings, and assembled stools, benches and tables in our shop below the gym. I learned certainly as much as they did!
Since retiring from teaching in 2019, we have built a new shop at our Lost Mile Road homestead and I’m back to work making furniture from local trees, now delightedly in concert with Pam’s fiber art. As always, the process and choice of materials is guided by the commitment to live and work mindfully and in a manner that respects the environment, leaving a light carbon footprint. We hope that seeing and sitting in one of our chairs is an experience one remembers with a smile.