CAN DO Attitude
We label ourselves as “Landers’ Studio, fine custom furniture design and specialty millwork.” And sometimes it is the specialty millwork that brings us the most unusual projects. One time, a woman came to us with a broken wooden heel on a very expensive pair of Italian high heels. No common shoe repair shop had the capacity to recreate a new wooden heel to match her coveted shoes. So we restrained ourselves from saying, “Well, shoe repair is not really what we do……” and realized we were her only alternative. She walked away a very happy customer.
Similarly, we had a client with a Rolls Royce with the steering wheel on the right-hand side. The dashboard was a beautiful Carpathian Elm burl veneer. The client, of course, wanted the steering on the left-hand side for the States, but he did not want to lose the burl dashboard. We were able to locate a matching veneer and create a new dashboard, finishing it with the appropriate amount of sun-fade to match the rest of the car’s existing woodwork.
We like to think with Mark’s creativity, woodworking skills, and the tools at his disposal that there is very little he cannot do if he sets his mind to it. We will often tell a client with a challenging project, “We can do that!” When the client walks away, we may look at each other and say, “Now how are we going to do that??”
So we were unfazed when a client drove up in his 1928 Ford Traveler wanting to explore the possibility of making a whole new wooden box for the “Woody”. Mark and the client are now looking at various wood combinations to decide on the best visual effect and long-term resilience. We have never done this before….but WE CAN DO THAT!