Bryan Ferris builds every piece himself.

Bryan trained at Palomar College, in what is generally reckoned the most comprehensive woodworking program in the country, and has spent more than twenty years since then building custom furniture professionally. He works in mid-century modern and craftsman styles, and he is direct about why: both traditions treat construction as the thing worth looking at, and both produce furniture meant to be repaired rather than replaced.

The work is commissioned one piece at a time by homeowners, businesses and interior designers across San Diego County. There is no production line and no assistant bench. The person who takes the first phone call is the person who cuts the joints and, wherever the distance allows, the person who delivers the finished piece and sets it down in your room.

How he works

Every commission starts with a conversation about a space rather than about furniture. What goes on the surface, who sits at it, what is already in the room, what has to be reached and what can be sealed. Only then does anything get drawn, and what gets drawn first is a hand-drawn perspective sketch rather than a rendering, because a sketch is quicker to argue with.

Materials are chosen with the same bias toward longevity. Solid hardwood where hands and edges land, stable panels across broad faces, sustainable veneer where it lets a single log run across a surface that solid boards could never cover. Joinery is cut so that it can be taken apart and mended in fifty years by somebody who is not Bryan.

The shop

The shop is at 1878 Main St in Barrio Logan, San Diego. Clients are welcome to come and see work in progress, which is usually more useful than another round of photographs. Wood samples can be sent out, and finished work is crated and shipped at cost when it is going too far to drive.