Danny came to me one day a few months ago all excited about some desk being made in New Zealand or something.  It was a little pricey and on the other side of the world.  He said “Miguel I would like to commission you to build this table for me.”  That is just how Danny talks when he is excited about something.  I said “no, but what I will do is teach you how to build it”  And that’s how we started on the first table.

Over beers at PRL we discussed how we could change the design it something more repeatable and unique.  One of the challenges we saw with the inspirational piece was its weight.  Danny lives on the 11th floor of a condo and lugging that original desk up a flight of stairs was just not appealing to me.  We settled in the hexagonal legs you see in this first table.  

From there we talked about the wood to use for the table top.  I happen to work at a lumber yard and we had some distress Western Red Ceder that has been around since well my dad was my age.  My thought was why distress good material when we have distressed material to work with.  Ultimately we un-distressed the ceder just to re-distress it.  It was a confusing time in our lives.

When we finished applying the finish to the first desk top I stepped back and comment to Danny “We have a product on our hands.”  Up to that point we were just making a desk for Danny.  It was only after we finished did we realize we had something that was worthy of marketing.

If you have found this corner of the web your either interested in industrial furniture or see the world a little skewed.  Hopefully both.

Danny and I, Miguel, started Philosopher’s Anvil out of a desire to wrestle with steel, wood, glass, and ideas.  Our first project was to build Danny a desk.  Unfortunately for Danny it turned out so nice we sold it!  And received orders for three more.

Follow along with us on this adventure to wrestle with the raw materials of life.

-Miguel