02/13/2024
Welcome to S**o Design Co!
Southern Door Design Company grew out of my lifelong interest in woodworking and design. As a boy, I loved to imagine how to make the toys I wanted to play with, or costumes I wanted to wear (I very much wanted to be Davy Crocket!). I started woodworking when I was 10 years old, building boxes and toys, and one ill-fated attempt to build a banjo from a young tree trunk.
In college, I was able to take a number of arts classes that furthered my ability to conceptualize a design, and successfully marry it with sound engineering and craftsmanship. As newlyweds, our limited budget didn't allow for furniture buying, so we either made what we needed from scratch, or refinished furniture. As my professional career developed, the necessity of buying furniture diminished, but not the desire. Along the way we built or remodeled a number of the homes we lived in, furthering design, engineering and construction abilities.
I founded S**o to give me a platform to share these passions of mine with others. It is a joy to design and build for friends and family, but there is a challenge and sense of accomplishment in taking these abilities to the market. It's been a great way to make friends and contribute to our clients' joy and appreciation for good design, quality craftsmanship, and the uniqueness of a custom piece.
A great piece of furniture begins with a need, of course: a function. I don't call myself an artist because I don't focus on furniture whose primary function is its looks...my pieces tend to be hard-working furniture, in daily use.
This functional aspect dictates much of the design, but certainly doesn't prevent good design. Grace and elegance, dynamic lines or proportions, creative use of materials, decorative finishes; all are methods we can deploy to make your piece unique to your home, while ensuring a piece that is sturdy and functional.
Our work embodies all these qualities, along with the rare opportunity for our clients to be involved in the design process, and experience through our work the effort that goes into building an heirloom piece of furniture. I do love wood, and use it with appreciation and respect. I am not generally a designer whose work is unique because of rare or exotic wood; rather, I am most interested in how the wood is used; its shape, texture, color, and finish. I am a stickler for function, including the longevity of a piece, and respect traditional joinery, but am practical about how I build, using what I believe to be the best modern or traditional means to achieve the design parameters. Locally sourced materials and related craftspeople are important to me, both for the sake of the environment as well as the health of the local economy.
- Dave
