"Just follow the grain," artisan Brent Lewis says.
The owner/operator of Prairie Bench is not speaking in the sense of conformity - the bohemian furniture pieces he constructs prove that's not the case. He means it very literally when it comes to cutting the wood he uses to build chairs, benches and tables on his rural Port Coquitlam property.
Chuckling, Lewis recalls following some especially wild grain while cutting one chair. He says the end result looked like a seat from a Dr. Seuss book.
"We've been getting some notoriety from different stores, different customers that thought our pieces were good enough to take off the patio and bring into the house," he says.
It's not just the Dr. Seuss esthetics that give Lewis's furniture some notoriety. The wood he uses is often salvaged from the Fraser River or scavenged from old barns.
"We try to get the reclaimed (wood) that's untreated, so that's a lot of spruce, a lot of fir," he says. Depending on the wood used, the pieces can weigh anywhere from 150-200 pounds.
Lewis stockpiles the salvaged wood, waiting years for it to dry before putting it to use. From there, he and son Sam spend a few days designing and cutting the pieces.
Lewis explains he's the one that comes up with the crazy ideas, but 16-year-old Sam brings it together and makes the furniture practical.
The longest process comes next, according to Lewis, since curing the wood with stains and oils can take two to three weeks depending on the weather.
Although he's been building the furniture for over a decade, it wasn't until last July when Lewis stopped giving away the pieces and started selling them commercially.
The furniture-maker says he approached the owners of Port Coquitlam's Under the Moon giftware shop about showcasing his creations.
Now significant expansion plans for Prairie Bench are in the works following six months of positive responses he received from the community.
The Garden Centre Group Co-Op recently asked Lewis to submit a business proposal.
If the proposal is accepted within the next two months, Lewis says he's going to have to move the furniture operations from his rural property and set up a factory in Port Coquitlam.
"(This means) going into production on several designs and expanding from there and, hopefully, I guess the goal would be to create some jobs for people," he says, adding he's still somewhat wary about building furniture in large volumes.
"I'm a little scared of losing that personal connection with every project we work on."
It's not only the personal connection Lewis is afraid of losing. He describes the property where he builds his furniture as mystic and admits the move that came with any expansion would be difficult.
"(On the property) there's maybe half a dozen squirrels, crows, there's beaver out there, there's a couple of deer in the meadow and it's really hard to leave that behind and go into an industrial facility."
