January 25, 2018

Meet Ryan Walsh of LumberLust Designs in Arcadia

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Walsh.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
LumberLust Designs creates one-of-a-kind furniture and decor using reclaimed urban hardwoods. Our mission is to create bold statement, heirloom quality furniture that celebrates what nature has to offer by re-using valuable natural resources and turning them into rustic modern practical art. As cities expand and concrete goes vertical and population rises, trees tend to disappear to make room. We work together with local saw mills to try and rescue these trees and carefully process them into beautiful slabs that we turn into furniture. The combination of rustic wood slabs supported by clean mod metal elements can re-introduce a sense of uninterrupted nature into a space.

We first started LumberLust when my wife and I bought our first house and we began preparing for the arrival of our son, it was one of our goals to replace all of our cheaply made “starter” furniture items with pieces that were built to last and that we felt reflected our personal styles and that we could be proud of. We were also struggling to find work/life balance with the changing family dynamic, new scheduling demands and all the new expenses. Many “make it work” moments later… our modest home shop has paid off in having more hands on moments for us to share with our son.

It’s taken a lot of push to grow the business quickly and trying to compete with a slow product in a “Amazon” world has certainly had its challenges but the opportunities that have come our way just in the first couple years make us look forward to the years to come.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Our number one struggle has been balancing inventory pieces versus custom orders. We build pieces to stage in designer homes, bring to shows, sell online, include in our portfolio, etc, it also gives people ideas for their custom orders. However, more times than not some pieces will take over a year to sell. It’s not cheap stuff to build even at cost so waiting that long to pay yourself back is not fun.

One second biggest obstacles has been trying to reach the right customers. We’ve found that a lot of them are out of state but that introduces shipping costs.

The third biggest struggle is that the consultation and design process takes time and people today don’t have any to spare, and there are a lot of distractions so that can pass a lot of time between first contact and sale.

Finally, the popularity of live edge furniture has been both a godsend and a curse. It’s great in that it brings awareness back to handmade furniture to be cherished and passed on but the price point is usually outside of the average person’s spending. There are a lot of importers that are knocking off handmade styles with wood out of the rainforests for a fraction of the cost but it’s hardly sustainable.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
One of our repeat customers told us “I buy your pieces so I can stare at them and get lost in the wood grain”.

Our goal is to get all the wows. Why spend money on custom furniture to blend in?

We are well known for our Ebonized Maple pieces and more recently the Emerald Green and Electric Blue Maple.

Don’t ask us to build you a hairpin table please. Give the other guys those orders. We like to be original.

What were you like growing up?
I was an adventurous kid. I spent a lot of time with my Grandpa outdoors, working on cars or motorcycles. I enjoyed carving but other than that I hadn’t spent much time woodworking. I play saxophone and was a total band geek through high school and if I wasn’t playing saxophone I was in the dark room processing film or prints. My first profession and still ongoing business as a commercial photographer has provided a lot of valuable resources for this business in producing quality photos and videos. Although I admit, at least half our content has come out of a phone for convenience sake.

Pricing:

We provide free consultation and quotes on custom orders.
We have pieces ranging from $25 up to $3000+

Contact Info:

Website: https://www.lumberlust-designs.com
Phone: 4806279594
Email: info@lumberlust-designs.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lumberlust_designs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lumberlust
Other: https://www.pinterest.com/lumberlustAZ/

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.