About The Work

I once responded to a Craigslist Ad that read something along the lines of “ Want to make furniture together?”. Shortly after, I found myself deep in conversation with a man convinced he wanted to begin a new business where we took salvaged trees, sliced them like toast and juxtaposed them with hard materials such as glass or steel. I remember looking at him and thinking to myself “Yes, yes of course I want to make furniture with you”. That man was John Houshmand and as I became his Creative Director, he unknowingly became my mentor.

We worked out of his loft in West Soho at the same desk. It was at that desk that his eponymous company was named and we quickly took off on the adventure. We began designing, drawing, branding and organizing - whatever it took to make the dream go. There were people we needed to hire, thousands of napkin sketches to turn into real, living pieces of art. We needed a debut collection, a logo, catalogues and a website. We needed the press to know what we were doing. It was a period of exponential growth and excitement for the future.

Over the course of many years and many pieces of furniture together as a team, we developed a dance of design & communication - between farm & city - between good design & bad design and between art & functionality. There were meetings with the world’s most in-demand architects, designers and celebrities. There were press bites, award shows and international furniture fairs. There was an eternal feeling that anything was possible.

Today, John Houshmand is a brand that proudly continues to thrive with 60,000 square feet facility, 2,000-3,000 slabs of wood, kilns, sawmills, and now 15-20 employees.