The Shop in the Shed

1986. The roof was falling in. I jacked it up, fixed the leaks, built some big doors, ran wire, ran pipes for dust collection, and moved in my machinery. Luckily, there was a concrete floor: soft, rough, and not flat or level...but not dirt.

This shop supported a design, building, and contracting business while I built some custom furniture and searched for a signature piece of furniture to anchor a line of production. When I found it, we refined the design and the making of the Weeks rocking chair and Wilson dining chair in this building.

An Early Chair Design

1990. For a patron whose house we added on to, I designed and built a set of dining chairs. Sanding until bedtime, I swore I'd never build another chair. One of these chairs and I were shown in the Wimberley View newspaper as a feature on the tour of artist studios.

The Weeks Rocker Design

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In spite of my rash vow, I returned to chair design, figuring that any other backyard or commercial shop could build a table or cabinet, but few could build a chair.

I built a fitting booth with adjustable elements and invited dozens of people to sit and suggest adjustments. We found a set of points to take to the drawing board as givens, and I drew a rocking chair. When I built that chair of pine, I only had to saw the rockers off and put them back on twice to have the chair I wanted, almost.

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the first rocking chair

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carving a chair seat

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front of first rocking chair brochure

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A Surprise Early Success

Pecan being the state tree, and our market Texas, we started out making only pecan rockers--and got someone's attention.

The Rocking Chair Making

Between contracting and carpentry jobs, we'd make a few rocking chairs and try to sell them. I figure they cost us $1500 to make. I priced them at $800. They were hard to sell, but enough did that we got better and faster at the making. Slowly the cost came down to equal the price.

Capital

After the chairmaking became worth doing, a friend asked how we capitalized this business. I hadn't realized that was what we had been doing--capitalizing the chairmaking business by nibbling at our savings and working at night--at the time, I just thought we were working hard and losing money.

Gary fairing rocking chair arm in the old shop

Gary signing a rocking chair, Ruby watches

Labor

The kids grew up with shopwork and chairmaking.

Gary and Zach assembling a rocking chair

The Rocking Chair Selling

We advertised in Texas Monthly Magazine, rented a booth at Whit Hanks Gallery in Austin, and hauled chairs to art shows.

1994. We had a Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting.

The Patrons Have Been a Great Pleasure

People who invested in our rocking chairs became ambassadors, fans even, so that we got a great deal of pleasure from the clientele and a confidence that this might be worth doing.

rocking chair with mother, baby, and child

The Internet Made Us Furnituremakers for a Global Clientele

At a show, a fellow said, "These are extraordinary rocking chairs. Something will happen to make this endeavor really work for you." He suggested it might be celebrity endorsement (still waiting), press that hits a vein (only capillaries so far), and other possibilities. Neither of us imagined the internet.

1998. We built a website. While the chatter for obtaining good ranking was "Get links" and try this or that trick, webmaster Jim Fish and I determined that we would try to be coherent in outline, clear in prose, well supported by images, and thorough in presentation--no tricks. We ranked. Our market became the world and our business worth doing.

Developing the Character of this Business

Tami, Noah, Randy, Jon, Jack, and Kitty worked in that shop at one time or another. It is hard to imagine our evolution in efficiency, workmanship, safety, fit, finish, focus, and success without them. They invested more than we could return. We are honored and grateful for what they have done for us.