When I was at High Point Market (my own personal mecca!), I got to meet some incredibly talented furniture designers, artists & manufacturers...all trying to attract your attention with their product & style. So when I was at a lunch on sustainability for construction, design & manufacturing, it was the soft-spoken owner of Gat Creek, Gat Caperton, who really caught my attention with his passion & commitment to creating a quality, sustainable product for his clients.
Gat is the owner/CEO of Gat Creek, a furniture manufacturing firm in Berkeley Springs, WV. What makes Gat & his company, a leader in the furniture industry is their commitment to sustainability in their design & production process. From choosing materials that are reclaimed, sustainable & healthy to keeping the human impact of the manufacturing process in mind, Gat truly walks his talk!
Following is an interview I did with him after the High Point Market:
Tell us a bit about yourself & how you became involved in design (or started your company).
I’m really a manufacturing guy. I purchased a small furniture manufacturing company from its founder 15 years ago. I hit four of the top five stress creators in that year: took a new job, moved, married, and went into debt. I’m still married and I’m still in debt…So, success! The company I purchased, Tom Seely Furniture, made antique reproductions. I had assumed that the company had little design risk. “People have bought Queen Anne chairs for 100’s of years…We just have to make them efficiently,” I thought. After a few years, I realized that was wrong and started learning design “on the job”. I’m not a great designer but know how important design is and have a great appreciation for those with true design talent.
What inspires you & keeps you passionate about design?
I see design in both objects and processes. The opportunity to engaging in the creative process brings to work every day. “How to manufacturing in the USA” is in many ways a design question. As such, production efficiencies result more from process design than from efforts. Design goes well beyond aesthetics for me.
What trends are you seeing for 2011-12? (color, lighting, materials, manufacturing trends...).
My favorite trend is storage beds. Instead of buying a bed along with a mattress and box spring, many people are buying storage beds. They essentially cost same because you don’t have to buy a box spring. A well designed storage bed gives you the equivalent of an extra dresser without taking up any additional floor space. This fits follows the on-going downsizing of American homes as well as with the trend to having more architectural answers to home design.
What is your "process" for working with a client? Do you oversee the entire project from beginning to end...or only parts?
We designed our manufacturing process in a non-linear form that allows us to build a wide breath of products one-at-a-time to order. Typical manufacturing tries to build a small combination of products in mass quantities…what the wood side of the industry calls “cuttings”. Like many of the upholstery manufacturers in the USA, we build exactly and only what the customer wants.
What benefits do your clients derive from working with you? (experience, background, unique niche...)
We take a very holistic and personal approach to manufacturing. We care not only about what we make but how we make it as well. After safety, sustainability is the forefront of our operations. Sustainable initiatives not only reduce our environmental impact, it reduces our costs. The personal side of our operations comes from the fact that our people actually sign and date the furniture they build. Instead of making something for a warehouse or container, our folks are making furniture to order for actual people. In most cases, they even know the names of the people for whom they are building items.
Share with us your most personally satisfying project, (ex: coming in under budget/on time? Overcoming a great obstacle?
We don’t have any small projects or unimportant products. Every piece we build is important. I can’t tell you that one was ever more satisfying that another. I’m happy simply when we get things right.
Has anything ever gone horribly wrong? What was it & how did you solve it...or not?
We realize that quality is ultimately defined by the customer. We have built a number of pieces that looked awesome to us to only be rejected by the customer. When this happens or when we make a true mistake, we fix it in the way the customer wants.
What song describes your design philosophy?
“Hell I’d Go” by Dan Hicks and the Acoustic Warriors
What quote/motto do you live your life by?
“Always try to add logs to the wood pile.”
What are the biggest mistakes you see people make in their homes?
Too Big…Too Much. I know this because I’m guilty of this mistake myself.
Give us your contact info, website, social media, blog so people can connect w/you.
Gat Caperton: gat@gatcreek.com
www.gatcreek.com & on Facebook here.
More on Gat Creek & their commitment to the environment:
Local Production-100% of their furniture is made in the USA & 95% of their raw materials are sourced w/in a 350 mile radius from their WV factory (award-winning!). By buying local, transportation costs (money & pollution) are decreased.
Renewable Raw Materials- As a silver member of the Sustainable Furnishing Council, supporting responsible forest management & sustainable biodiversity in the forests is crucial. Gat Creek exclusively uses domestic hardwoods from Appalachia forests using “best management practices” that have led to the Appalachian mountain region consistently raise the hardwood population for the past 40 years.
Minimizing Impact-Sustainability not only applies to the product & manufacturing, but in the workplace environment. Over 10 years ago, Gat Creek has worked to reduce their energy usages & monitors 100% of everything coming into & going out of the facility (i.e. waste & wood) to assure all materials are disposed of properly. By being vigilant, Gat Creek has reduced their emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) by 90+% & overall VOC emissions by 40% to date.
My favorite thing about Gat Creek furniture? Gat Creek furniture doesn’t come from a container, warehouse or an assembly line. Instead, each piece is built specifically for you by an artisan that signs and dates their work. Their reasoning for adding this person touch is that it gives them “the time to do things right and a reason to do it right. We're not building furniture to fill a box in a warehouse; we're building furniture to help fill your home.”
***Find Gat Creekfurniture locally (Milwaukee) at Ashley Furniture Bilt-Rite Furniture to name a few. For more retailers, click here& enter your zip code to find the closest retailer.***
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