Seriously Charleton

Very fond of Portland. Nice people! Great food~

 stay young, have a little fun!

The funny thing, I was sneezing while this photo was taken.

Happy Thanks Giving

Vinoture

Great View of Vinoture looking at Sunset on East Lake Union

2 weeks of Sun in Seattle in September

Sunny in Seattle

Ahhhhhhhhhhh La Buona Tavola

Pikes Place Market has Italian Wine and VINOTURE!

We made two installments into Canadian restaurants and lodges~
The Raging Elk in Fernie just installed 40 pieces of Vinoture in their hostel.
They have a great operation and a fun new Kodiak Lounge for this years ski/snowboard season!
Cheers to Creekbread in Whistler also for installing 12 pieces of Vinoture into their ORGANIC PIZZA house!
Photos of both coming soon!

International Commerce

What is no longer useful to regional vintners is an endless source of inspiration for longtime woodworkers like Jeremy Smith, a partner in the venture, who value the high-grade material and its unique history.

“You just can’t recreate a look of this wood,” said Smith, proving his point as he lifted the rusted metal hoops that held a barrel together.

Unconstrained, the barrel’s 50 staves fell away in unison, dropping to the floor like an opening flower and revealing a dark purple interior created by the wine it once held. Smith picked up the pieces, awed by the rich color and the simple barrel design centuries of winemakers have been unable to improve upon.

No nails, no glue are involved to keep the cylinder shape in place – just expert, flawless planning and execution by coopers, the professionals who make barrels.

“There isn’t a better design,” Smith said. “You just can’t improve this with technology.” In honor of both worlds this wood bridges – the crafts of wine and furniture making – Smith and his business partner, Ian Crawford, have appropriately named their enterprise. It’s called “Vinoture.”
For the past two and half years, the small company has been planning and designing its line of furniture to produce by hand on a large scale in Missoula.

Now, with several distinct products to market, the ability to make 100 stools a week, and its supply of 250 barrels in storage, Vinoture is ready to take their wares public, said Crawford, who handles the company’s marketing.

Three sales people have been hired, with one person marketing the furniture in New York City, another in Seattle and one in Missoula.

All total, seven people are employed by the business, and there is every intention the company will soon expand as orders start rolling in.

Already, sales have been rigorous at its only showplace – Missoula’s Saturday People’s Market.

This week, the company’s Web site will be up and running with Vinoture’s custom offerings at www.vinoture.net.

“This is a dream of mine come true,” said Crawford. “I grew up in Missoula – and so did Jeremy – and to be involved with something like this that is artisan work, grows jobs in my hometown and takes a material that would otherwise end up in the landfill and turn it into a gorgeous, useful thing is really rewarding.”

Although Crawford is not a woodworker, he’s responsible for hatching the unusual wine-barrel furniture concept.

He’s always admired the work and lifestyle of Montana’s artisans – craftsmen who live to create and live their passion – and he too wanted to be a part of that. So he put his energies in finding a niche he could thrive in, and his research led him to the untapped potential of recycling and repurposing wine barrel wood.

Not only did he love the story of the wood itself – grown specifically in oak groves to be harvested and crafted by coopers into barrels – he became enamored by the idea of continuing the life cycle of the wood so many hands had touched and cared for.

Vintners can no longer use the barrels after they have been used two times because the wine draws out the oak flavoring, which is a critical part of the winemaking process, Crawford explained.

Therefore, each year tens of thousands of barrels are no longer useful and most are hauled to landfills. Crawford approached Smith about the notion, and as a veteran woodworker, Smith saw the potential.

“It’s a sustainable Old World process,” Smith said. “The barrels are made of quarter-sawn premium white oak, which is Grade A lumber and the barrels lend themselves to doing a production line process because the materials – the staves – are already a uniform material.”

Aside from working with an interesting medium, Smith said he embraced the idea because the opportunity to design a new furniture line was both exciting and intriguing.
Guided by Smith’s knowledge and experience, and shaped by Crawford’s marketing and commercial skills, the would-be waste product now has another life as chairs, stools and tables.

The wood can be stained and polished for a variety of looks that reflect old world and modern times. Crawford’s personal favorite is the wood in its nearly natural sheen, polished some, with the look of the Italian countryside.

Despite the newness of the furniture’s fresh design, there is an undeniable element of history to each piece, made from wood originally grown, harvested, planned and assembled in a tradition from ages past.

“We are so moved by the story of these barrels, we shaped our business slogan around it,” Crawford said. “Out of Time and Into Place.”