Enough is enough, its time to go skiing and traveling. I'm not getting any younger and the long many days have cornered me into taking a break. My commitment to the business is the same as it has been for the past forty years, but as a well known person said "the mountains are calling". Thus its hut to hut skiing in Norway for a few weeks on a few different trips.

That means no cell or data service, except when I return to marginally populated area between trips, so leave your Emails. Texts will be a mess due to the quantities and organization. Please, just emails!

Upon return: Heckofatrip. It is heartwarming to rediscover that even after 60 the corporeal body still kicks in to meet the world with enough stimulus. In other words as the days progressed I did see increasing strength, fitness and comfort with the cold. It is amazing to find content comfort in skiing in brutal weather conditions. Its probably good they denote the wind speed in meters per second. 26 M/S wasn't intimidating when I didn't know what it was. I found it interesting to be surrounded by our group of twelve and their chattiness but not knowing what was being said save for a few words. Somehow that wasn't frustrating. 
​Sop a few of the hundreds of pictures are below.

​   Jotunheim 2000

I just received another brief message through Facebook. All it said was "Are you hiring?"

So as I sent off my standard reply, I thought why not post it here also. I'm beginning to think people believe they are doing the best thing by sending out these three word inquiries. That it is nice and efficient of everyone's time. That with enough three word inquiries something will come back.

Time to get this policy out in print. Once you have made a purchase I hold the pricing on any further of our items to that purchase date for ten years. Bought a Cherry Wood Seat Brendan Rocker in 2009 for $2100?  You can buy another one now in 2018 for the same price. I do have to cap the savings at 16% from the original price to today's price to account for massive wood cost increases or increased design complexity (we continually improve everything we make).

Sure it seems crazy to my former marketing/ business consultant, however now that I'm approaching the sunset years of my career with no visible successor I have the freedom to treat people just as I want to be treated.



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Recently I had an inquiry from a marketer with suggestions of what they could do for us. It made some assumptions that we were just another furniture manufacturer, so My reply gave a basic framework which also seems to reply to many of your questions.

" I am not looking for more dealers. We are buried with direct retail customers coming to me. Having gone down the wholesale route for 38 years I can say with absolute clarity I'm not interested in additional retailers when I can sell direct and have a relationship with the customers directly.


I do not stock my dealers with inventory- they pay for their floor models. Last year I lost money when two retailers closed. They were limited to prepaid terms (because of their history of not meeting N30 credit terms) and managed to pay for a few loads with bad checks. Retailers have been nothing but razor thin cash flow punctuated with non-payment so at this point in my life I'm not pursuing that avenue. I am only staying with the few that have proven themselves to be stellar both in paying their obligations and rewarding to work with.  I prefer to stay with the Dealers who pay their bills and do not  constantly try to dicker me down on every little detail. This business of making such high quality furniture is a touchy business to make work, and the reason we are still here through thick and thin is by not borrowing money, demanding that every action we take creates a useful and proper outcome, and making conservative business decisions.

We are very Lean and only build to order. We do not have finished inventory outside of a few showroom items. I discovered the sensible concept of Lean decades ago before it became a buzzword in North America; that inventory is a killer, both in payroll and materials cost as well as the floor space to store it. When exclusively a manufacturer (of my own designs and products) one of our crucial attributes was keeping to a strict a six week lead time. However now that our product mix is huge and we are recognized as the unique craftsman we have always been, a strict lead time is often viewed suspiciously. As if we really aren't craftsman but instead pulling from a container, which couldn't be farther from reality. We simply have such a well organized operation from those decades that we know how to do it. I speak daily with people who are dubious that we are as "real" as those defunct retailers and wonder if our quality is as good as what was in the stores.  Amusing, because the furniture they sold was my design, made by my shop, and the retailers were sometimes asking me to dumb down the product so as to result in a lower price to them.

Many people think our customers have tons of money and don't care about price. I am always amazed and impressed at the houses we put furniture into. Sure, some are palaces, but most often they are quite ordinary looking where warmth and taste is more important than size or opulence. They are people with values of quality and craftsmanship, and almost always pay close attention to the prices whether they need to or not. They are a pretty great bunch, endlessly interesting. 
 
What does the future hold? Difficult to say. I'm 63 with no inclination to stop running this operation I love.  Nonetheless at some point someone will need to appear on the scene  to continue the legacy.  My peers all have the  same problem with finding new blood. There need be someone with the desire to become a working component of all this, who will focus on the years required to learn the craft, focus on the work and sacrifice to keep things humming, and focus on our relationship with customers and their diverse desires to participate in this creative endeavor.  What is needed is excitement at what can be created, the discipline  to learn what is needed, and letting go of the perceived unfairness of expending more time and energy than other people get away with in their lives.  In short participation, excited creativity and relationship which asks for more than mere attendance.

That's all for today. I need to go attend to the shop now, Greg"

Sorry, no juicy news here.  After nearly forty years of this business and struggling to spell my name both verbally and with fat fingers the name NWchairs seemed perfect; our core product and easy to spell. 

Additional hours November 4 and December 2 from 10-2 pm. I don't plan to stay open later because it seems Bellingham are off to their Saturday doings. But if people do show up at 2, its an opportunity to stay and talk.

Do I give shop tours? As long as I don't have to abandon people in the showroom, yes!
If we do a tour, tell me if I am too detailed about what we do. Its easy to get on a roll.

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First our largest wholesale customer was locked up by the court for in June. Then our second largest wholesale customer (of twenty years) closed their last showroom in August.  I fought down the panicked feelings as they surged to the surface, or more accurately did a lot of deep breathing and refocusing in an attempt to dissolve them and get clear on what the options are and how to pursue them. Only at this advanced age and wisdom could I have had any equanimity this summer.

The floodgates opened, probably a good thing because it forced me out of my rut. Completing our Ecommerce site NWchairs.com (its never really completed) and striking up new conversations mostly with old customers became the focal point of all my actions. The orders ramped up to a steady stream as if by magic, but isn't magic a catch all word for what we simply don't understand. Upon closer examination almost everything was making sense. Its still nip and tuck making payroll every two weeks, but we're doing it: operating off mainly direct Retail customers and stimulating increased business from existing and smaller dealers. The good news is those smaller dealers are a lot nicer to deal with. They pay their bills and surprise! on time! in Our team in the shop has suffered  no layoffs- just a little bit of natural attrition and not refilling the positions. Our current crew of six is absolutely the best ever and it would be like Sophies Choice to decide who to let go.

So currently its looking like my lifetime goal of a fully rounded and mature furniture business is suddenly presenting itself, almost close enough to touch. I have advised other people to engineer their beliefs such that the world is your oyster, the only thing you have to do is remain observant enough and energetic enough to see it and act on it. Now its time to put my money and wood where my mouth is...