Hey guys, Say hello to a fellow indie business owners, Martin Harris & Taylor Smith from Harris & Smith Co! They are a small independent business from Arizona who restores and restyles antique and well loved furniture!
I love interviewing other fellow artists and getting to know them so I’m super happy to have them here today. Taylor and Martin are sharing a few pictures of one of their projects with us today, a custom hutch!
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These were the two inspiring pieces, recovered at different times. Once we decided we could remake a hutch from this, we waited to find the right table to match. |
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| For the dresser, we removed the drawer frames we didn’t want. |
Katie Smith “Who are you?”
Harris & Smith Co. “Harris & Smith Co. is a husband and wife operation, curating quality furniture, 19th-20th century antiques and other pieces, bringing a classic and timeless look to everyday life in Arizona.”
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| Then we built up the rear framework for the backing. |
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| Feet from one of our suppliers were fitted to the bottom of the dresser to boost up its height. |
Katie Smith “Where are you from?”
Harris & Smith Co. “The operation started in Tempe Arizona, but now we are in Coolidge Arizona.”
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| Once we were done building up the converted dresser, the dresser, hutch and shelf pieces were painted black. |
Katie Smith “When and why did you decide to sell your work?”
Harris & Smith Co. “Taylor and I both struggled with employment. She had a great job as a professor, but was only employed about ten months out of the year with the breaks between semesters. I go to school on my Post 9-11 GI Bill, and although it is certainly a nice benefit from my time in service, there were still gaps in income between semesters. Furthermore, I had a lot of difficulty finding employment as an infantry veteran: not a big need for that kind of experience, hahaha (This operation doubles as a “self employment” opportunity for me). We both have an affinity for furniture and decided that selling and trading it would be a great hobby to pass the time between semesters that wouldn’t keep taking money out of our pockets. Our very first month was a success.”
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| This project went on hold for a short while. When Taylor finally found the table, she pointed it out and said simply, “Hutch.” We laughed in unanimous agreement. We brought it home and immediately began painting everything to match. We were excited to find the table came with two leaves! |
Katie Smith “What is your favorite type of furniture to restyle?”
Harris & Smith Co. “For restyling, we love anything that has been discarded due to disrepair. We brainstorm a new and practical purpose for it and then get to rebuilding. This hutch and table set was built from such a collection of discarded furniture.”
Katie Smith “Can you give us a small description of your process?”
Harris & Smith Co. “If Martha Stewart were to do an episode of Monster Garage, that’s basically the process. It’s an on the fly, off the wall kind of madhouse turning one thing into something completely different, but its cute stuff for the home instead of race trucks that collect produce, hahaha.”
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| All the finished pieces were mated together and staged to be sold. We had a delightful rice and yogurt breakfast; a healthy change from the usual bacon and french toast! |
Katie Smith “Where can we find you on the web?”
Harris & Smith Co. “We can be found: facebook.com/harrisandsmithco; instagram/harrisandsmithco; pinterest.com/harrisandsmith;
Thank you Katie and Indie Crafts for doing this interview with us! We appreciate you showcasing what we do!
If you live in the Phoenix, Arizone area, I would definitely stop by their facebook or instagram to see what amazing furniture they have available!
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