Walk into William Stranger’s Pasadena woodworking studio and it becomes clear he’s conscious about world issues. Posters hang on the walls proclaiming “Peace in the World” and “U.S. Out of Iraq.” His T-shirt heralds Earth Day.

But it’s the wood piled around the studio that truly tells the story.

Most of the lumber Stranger uses to create his Stranger Furniture is not from trees cut down to make lumber. Instead, it is lumber salvaged from trees cut down to make way for construction, recycled from the demolition of old buildings or simply hauled away from someone’s back yard.

“I have enormous reverence for a tree as a living being. We can be callous and look at trees as resources. As a woodworker I have to guard against that,” said Stranger. “I prefer trees to tables, but I can’t make trees.”

While 70 percent of Stranger’s lumber is salvaged or recycled, the other 30 percent comes from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means they are managed under strict environmental guidelines. Stranger also uses non-toxic finishes such as linseed oil on the furniture he creates mostly tables, chairs, benches and cabinets. His work is minimalist in style, often asymmetrical in shape and shows the natural grain and intricacies of the wood.

“Stranger’s furniture uses gorgeous woods in non-traditional ways,” said Lois Lambert, owner of the Gallery of Functional Art in Santa Monica, which features several of Stranger’s pieces. “Sometimes there’s a reference to arts and crafts, the way he puts a leg on. The way he designs the edges of his work is very beautiful.”

Born in the United Kingdom, Stranger came to the United States in 1981 at age 19. After “hitchhiking around” he ended up in Baton Rouge, La., and spent two semesters studying landscape design at Louisiana State University.

“I wasn’t ready to be at college, but what I did take away from that was I learned to draw and I learned the root of design,” said Stranger.

After spending the next couple of years in the U.K. and South Africa, Stranger moved to Los Angeles. He took a job as a laborer with a home remodeling contractor where he quickly realized he was good with his hands. Within a year he was foreman of a crew. After the company went out of business in 1986, Stranger started a handyman business and married his American girlfriend.

“I didn’t have a car at the time and my wife would drive me around to job sites with wood sticking out of the back of her VW bug and drop me off. I’d take my little portable table saw and make things,” Stranger recalled. “It was pretty humble beginnings.”

When a client asked Stranger to make a set of cabinets, he didn’t exactly know how to do it, but accepted the job anyway. He sought advice from a cabinetmaker friend and pulled it off, so he continued to take similar jobs. Then someone asked him to build a piece of furniture out of cherry wood.

“I didn’t even know what cherry was, so I went to a friend’s workshop and he showed me a cherry board,” he said. “I was so blown away by this beautiful wood I knew I was completely hooked.”

Stranger learned much fine furniture was made from tropical hardwoods such as mahogany and rosewood. He was also aware of the destruction of the rainforests in Central and South America and made a commitment not to use tropical woods. But it was his realization that U.S. forests were equally vulnerable that got him interested in using salvaged wood.

“Those forests are going to go away and never come back. It’s not like we can replant them. There’s an intrinsic value to those forests being intact,” he said.

About 15 years ago, Stranger’s wife, Stinton, a teacher who also designs furniture, introduced him to the owner of a Redondo Beach home furnishings shop. The shop bought two tables (one of which Stinton designed) and then came back for more. Over the next several years Stranger found more L.A. area sales outlets and began participating in shows.

“It was a gradual process. There was no thought of this being a separate business, or writing a business plan or anything like that,” he added. “It just became less of one thing and more of another.”

Stranger now makes his living through direct sales of his work at shops, galleries and his Web site as well as through commissioned work and high-end custom cabinet jobs. He estimates his current revenues at about $150,000 annually. A full set of kitchen cabinets can run upwards or $30,000, while his dining tables retail for $6,000. Stools and end tables cost between $1,000 and $2,000.

Stranger only has one full-time employee and hires one or two others temporarily when he gets busy. Next year Stranger may add a permanent part-timer to his staff as demand for his work increases along with the growing segment of the population interested in green homes.

“Eventually it’s going to be the only way of doing things because we’re running out of fine art materials,” said Shellie Collier, of Homage Design. She specializes in “environmentally thoughtful” home projects, including kitchens and bathrooms, and enlists Stranger to make cabinetry out of sustainable woods such as bamboo. “We’re being forced to be more environmentally thoughtful. This trend is going to do nothing but grow by leaps and bounds from here out.”

Stranger Furniture



Year Founded:

1987


Core Business:

Furniture made from salvaged and recycled wood


2004 Employees:

2


2005 Employees:

2


Goal:

To increase the amount of furniture made


Driving Force:

Environmentally conscious furniture-buyers