Welcome to haroldwyman.com.  Our site is very much a work in progress, and we invite you to visit occassionally to see what's new.

All our pieces are made individually by Harold Wyman himself.  He works alone in his basement, as he has for the last thirty years.  As you can see from the selection of pictures, his work runs the gamut from traditional to contemporary.  In a perfect world, he'd probably just make his own designs in the contemporary idiom, as the artists say.  But reality intrudes and he's found that the majority of customers are looking for something traditional -- usually an adaptation of an antique design.  This isn't to say that he often works out of the book; there are only a couple of exact reproductions posted here.  The personality of the maker always informs the finished piece, which is a nice thing about buying custom from a guy who works alone in his basement.

Our Techniques

Our jointery is traditional: mortise and tenons on table legs and doors; dovetailed drawers and case corners; that sort of thing.  Sure, we also use screws and nails, just as the old guys did.  Let's say we use the appropriate technique: a mix of the old and new, and believe me, the old isn't always better.  That's why antiques sometimes fall apart.

More on this under the FAQ tab.

A Brief Patriotic Note

Our stuff is obviously made in the US, which is where Harold's basement is located.  We also use local woods and try to use domestically produced hardware.  This isn't due to any jingoistic mentality, we simply like to support our community.

A Biographical Sketch, Replete with Self Deprication

On December 21, 1980, Harold Wyman was roofing in subzero weather, watching the hammer in his freezing hands smash divots into the asphalt shingles. When he awoke on the morning of the twenty-second, he somehow knew that his vocation was that of an artist.  Or of an accountant or an insurance adjuster... any damn thing except a poor carpenter who had to leave home in the predawn hours to work in the bitter cold.

He built a fire in his workshop stove and declared himself a maker of fine furniture.

Harold Wyman learned his craft the hard way, by watching his work self- destruct due to improper methodology. True Story: he once made a chess table that literally exploded due to the stresses caused by cross grain gluing.  Very embarrassing.  Pieces of wood strewn around the show room ... customers moving toward the door ....

Lessons hard-learned are lessons learned well. Harold no longer cross grain glues, nor does he make many mistakes that distinguish the craftsman from the roofer turned cabinetmaker. And there are other advantages to autodidacticism (I think that's a word): one is spared the orthodoxy of the schools, which typically requires perfection beyond anything normal people can perceive. That is, one doesn't learn that certain techniques are sacred, one learns that what matters is that the finished piece looks great. The piece should have a -- what? -- personality that no manufactured furniture can ever attain.

But probably the most important lesson learned during those early years is that the artisan, if he is to thrive, has to please the customer.  That seems too obvious to require learning, but ask any customer: dealing with an artisan isn't always a pleasant experience.  Pleasing customers requires getting to know them well enough to understand exactly what they want, and then making them the best possible piece within their budget. 

So through the rigors of the school of hard knocks, Harold Wyman feels that he has learned to make heirloom quality furniture at sensible prices.  Hope you agree.