Design
Maker’s Spotlight – New York Heartwoods
Team NYH – L-R: Megan Offner, Ashira Israel, Lindsay Black.
Photo by Stephan Schacher
All photos courtesy of New York Heartwoods
Megan Offner’s love for wood began during her childhood, growing up in Missoula, Montana. Her surroundings, as well as her parents’ pastimes (mother as a part-time jewelry artist and father as a part-time woodworker), inspired Offner to forge her own path in fabricating wood furniture.
Oak and hickory logs from dying trees removed from a client’s yard, on the way to the mill.
Photo by Megan Offner
Offner graduated with a double degree in art history and French from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Following graduation, she worked in architectural salvage; learning about carpentry through a lot of practice while also working on a house she had just purchased. Two years later, Offner moved to New York City and worked on building sets and props for photo shoots; she was horrified at the amount of waste around these single-use materials. In addition, Offner became physically sick after working on city row houses using toxic building materials. These two unfortunate experiences led to her interest in learning about sustainable building and design as a way to create a healthier products for consumers.
Client’s oak on the mill…the family came to see their trees being processed into the lumber that their furniture was made with. Their daughter watches the process in the background.
Photo Stacey Estrella
In 2010, Offner met Dave Washburn, a future mentor who invited her to a class on repurposing dying trees into wood products and burning the scraps for zero waste. She says (courtesy of an article for Woodcraft), “It was the moment I knew what all I had learned up to that point was meant for.” Meeting Jed Bark was the next pivotal point; Bark owned a portable sawmill in upstate New York and he soon taught Offner and Washburn to use the machine. Hence…New York Heartwoods (NYH) was formed; initially, the small company sold lumber and slabs constructed from fallen trees to New York designers. Before too long, requests started arriving from landowners and tree service companies asking NYH to turn their fallen trees into one-of-a-kind furniture pieces.
Ebonized Crane Cabinets, from NYH collection, made from their client’s oak, with Megan and her dog Juniper.
Photo Karen Pearson
A studio in Kingston, New York followed; as well as a collaboration with veteran furniture-maker Marcus Soto to design a NYH collection that debuted in 2017. Over the next few years, the company’s purpose changed as small scrap wood projects were phased out and furniture making evolved into a business that now employs a small all-female team. With the addition of this wonderful support team, NYH now has the capacity to grow the “full circle furniture” line of their company. In other words, Offner is able to work with clients to transform their onsite trees into finished pieces… a favorite among NYH’s crew. In the past, these projects were solely residential; although now, the team is able to work on both hospitality and commercial projects. All of these changes caused the company to outgrow its current digs; probably a good thing because the larger studio runs on solar, is heated with their residual wood scraps, and is surrounded by the beautiful outdoors.
NYH hard at work in the studio.
The pandemic kept Offner busy with work; similar to most craftspeople, NYH had a constant stream of requests. Offner said, “Since the pandemic, our production team has evolved into a collective of makers. I help with the fabrication, though that is getting harder as the company grows. Much of my time is spent consulting, managing the log-to-lumber process, working with clients and growing the business.” Custom work requests have increased substantially; currently they are working on an exciting full circle hospitality project, as well as a monumental piece for an installation in Washington DC that will be an interesting technical challenge.
Detail of the Highland Coffee Table in black walnut from a salvaged tree in Warwick, NY. Custom sizes available, as well as other wood species.
We recently asked Offner if there’s anything specific she’d like to share with us about what inspired her and we loved her answer! “We’re deeply rooted in place-based and circular design, and are all big fans of Robin Wall Kimmerer who, in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, talks of the Native American tradition of the “honorable harvest”, where one takes only what one will use and uses all that one takes. What’s great about working with wood is we can create in a way that does that, and produce very little waste. We emphasize quality so our pieces can be enjoyed for generations, then any wood scraps provide heat for us or are given to a wood-fired bread maker, and our sawdust goes to a local farm that rescues horses or pit firing ceramicists. We plant trees to continue the cycle of life that allows us our livelihoods. It’s a very fulfilling way to work.”
