Feel of Handwork

The furniture coming out of the doors at ShackletonThomas are made not produced. Their focus on hand-work, the process, and the material, separate their pieces from the mass produced monotony. We had the opportunity to talk with Charles Shackleton and Miranda Thomas and see their studios.Below is furniture maker, Chip's, work space. The organization and layout of the hand tools was beautiful...not to mention the side table he was working on.
All work done is hand crafted. There is minimal use of machinery to create the pieces or decorate: "We at ShackletonThomas believe a human being making something brings it to life in a way that a machine cannot. We express this belief in the way that we design and make our furniture and pottery"

They use the analogy of a Van Gogh painting to further illustrate their beliefs. An original painting by Van Gogh can be worth millions; a print of the same painting can be sold for a few dollars. The print never has the same feel and meaning as the true original.


As a celebration of the work and time working at ShackletonThomas, each furniture maker creates a spoon to hang on the wall when they reach their 4 year mark. While a small gesture, these spoons have become a right of passage.

Above: Miranda Thomas decorates one of their mugs, effortlessly. The studio here is open to the public and all are welcome. Miranda describes her experience with one customer who was astonished that pottery was hand painted and that it was possible to do by hand! This is a result of the separation between user and product production that we have been moving towards; somewhere we have lost the ability to understand how things are made.