Keeping tradition alive means looking to the future, too

When Erin Smith’s father-in-law, Dave Sawyer, started building Windsor chairs in 1982, he was focused on staying true to the historic form. He also taught others to create the refined, delicate furniture. Many of the most prominent Windsor chairmakers today learned directly from him, Smith said.

When Dave began thinking about retirement, his son George — Smith’s husband — realized the end of an era could be near. George came home to Woodbury to learn from his father, eventually taking over and naming the outfit Sawyer Made.

Smith saw the venture as something that could be bigger than a one-person shop and the duo wanted to grow it while preserving a traditional craft and promoting the skills through a teaching arm.

“One of the things that is really fundamental to our chairs, both the way that George builds them and the way his father built them, is that the practice is done with something called green woodworking,” Smith said. This means following the natural grain of the wood via splitting rather than sawing logs. This makes for a strong and flexible end product with unbroken grain.

“This is important because you know our chairs can then look really, really delicate but can have all of their natural strength and flexibility, so they last for hundreds of years,” she said.

This artisan trade prioritizing long-lasting quality and comfort is incredible — but didn’t necessarily make the process production-friendly. So, the question was:

“How can we take those techniques and practices and also bring in elements of a more modern design aesthetic?”

The answer was to offer Dave’s original Windsor chair designs plus a number of modernized forms, too — barstools, incorporating shaker styling and more.

Things were going well. The business was set to work with a New York restaurant, run by two prominent chefs, to create a custom seating concept, including a wraparound bench, about four dozen chairs and more.

“We really thought that this was going to be a show piece that was going to get a lot of press, that then would help us pivot more into hospitality and public-facing spaces,” Smith said.

This boost would have been huge, and to prepare it meant a larger workspace and a growing team.

The restaurant was slated to open in March of 2020.

“We were able to manage this, but it was a real challenge,” Smith said of the initial disappointment followed by unprecedented uncertainty in the world. Like so many others, Sawyer Made fell behind the ball.

At first, Smith wasn’t sure that VEDA financing  was even applicable, but, she said, after repeatedly hearing about it she thought it was worth a try. The company was eligible for the program and the funding received was a welcome cushion.

“It has meant that we could take a breath and really be able to focus on our goals, our changes that had otherwise been at any given time like, ‘Oh my gosh, can we do that? Are we going to be able to generate the cash flow to meet our needs’?”

With VEDA’s help, Sawyer Made’s owners could experience less anxiety, continue to develop the team and feel really supported.

“It’s been huge, kind of emotional — just like a weight has been taken off with the VEDA assistance,” she said.

With a family business being carried forth, there is inherently an added sense of responsibility and duty, and for Smith that comes in the business’ teaching branch. Additionally the couple uses local lumber, employs local workers and is committed to promoting Vermont’s working landscape.

In short, Sawyer Made helps Vermont and, thanks to VEDA’s help, they can keep it up.

VEDA’s pandemic-era Short Term Forgivable Loan Program was made possible in part by a grant from the State of Vermont through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Department of Economic Development.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Keeping tradition alive means looking to the future, too .