Furniture Trends: The Rise of Live Edge Wood Furniture

For the longest time, wood furniture was made to look perfect with right angles and smooth edges. People wanted pieces that were symmetrical and in some sense, normal. Things have started to move in a new direction as live edge wood furniture starts to grow in popularity. A number of factors play into this phenomenon but like any other trend, things just change over time.

I started making live edge furniture in 1996, a few years after jumping into the custom furniture industry. I always loved the way the pieces of live edge wood furniture looked in people’s homes. They had a way of bringing the outdoors indoors. Nature just has its way of making things uniquely beautiful and to be able to showcase that in a core furniture piece within your home was really powerful. It brought a new vibe to rustic home design.

Live Edge Wood Furniture Sales On The Rise

This new live edge furniture trend has definitely brought wood slab furniture to a more main stream audience and has made it into many homes. Not only has this trend of live edge wood furniture become a favorite in many households, but sales have also begun to rise because of commercial establishments that are now beginning to make this unique furniture a main feature. Online sales are on the rise, and a large part of that is because business owners are now seeing how attractive this creative furniture is to their patrons

Furniture Today did a report in late 2015 where they interviewed one of the industry’s well-known Mexican manufacturers of live edge wood furniture, Taracea. The Chief Operating Officer there, Rodrigo Saurez, validates just how well-this furniture is doing in the market. “Every time we bring these out they become more popular,” said Suarez, specifically about the lovely live edge tables the company has been producing over the last 15 years. “A lot more people are doing them now, so we try to stay one step ahead with what we’re making.”

Restaurants Helping To Grow The Live Edge Furniture Industry

The restaurants and other establishments across the country who love those tables have contributed greatly to the live edge table market with their purchases. According to The Wood Database, the Southeastern United States is a main area where these types of tables are distributed, and one of those places happens to be Atlanta, Georgia. For example, What Now Atlanta reported that the city’s West End will be getting a brand new restaurant that will showcase the entire live edge wood concept. The name of the place is going to be Live Edge Restaurant and Bar, and reports say that they should be opening up by the end of 2016.

The owners of the place had a vision of live edge wood all throughout and decided that the organic theme within the establishment was one that their patrons would love, and they are right. The name of the restaurant/bar itself, Live Edge, is basically what the type of furniture is referred to as, but there are many folks who call it “natural edge” as well. They are going to use live edge wood tables all through the place, which will seat almost 200 people. The live edge theme itself is what will make this restaurant stand out on that side of town when compared to other places nearby.

But they aren’t the only restaurant owners who want the outdoors-to-indoors feel that live edge wood furniture brings to interior settings. If you go north to Cleveland, Ohio, Hansa Brewery (which was built from the ground up by its owner Boris Music) also decided to invest in live edge tables for his brewery/restaurant. Cleveland Scene Magazine spotlighted his lovely tables, describing them as follows:

“Attractive live-edge wood tables and bar tops are streaked with grain and shellacked to a high-gloss luster. The opposite of kitschy or contrived, the space looks and feels as authentic as its owners, a modern take on Old World traditions.”

Hansa’s patrons love the organic feel, and when people feel good in a space they come back again and again. Not only will this be true in restaurants, bars, and other commercial establishments when live edge wood furniture is added, but the same will be true in your home as well.

Your Woodworking Expert,

Paul Dumond

Phone: 406.777.3772
E-mail: sales@dumonds.com