My dad and I began working together in 1986. We owned a rustic furniture workshop in the town of Rinconada, New Mexico. He taught me methods of building furniture that have definitely contributed to the beautiful wood fences that we create here in Los Angeles.
The building techniques that I practiced were definitely unique and also very artistic. My father Jake Harwell, has been a wood craftsman, wood sign maker and outsider artist for over 40 years.
These signs are a couple of nice examples of his work.
After the many influences over the years, we developed a rustic style of our own. One of the techniques that we were well known for was bending Willow.This was a nice way to make rounded backs and seats that were more comfortable without the use of cushions. Living close to Taos, NM and many other mountain ranges, we are able to harvest our own organic materials, such as Aspen and Alder. We used these trees for our framework on our chairs, tables and benches.
We would grab the chainsaw and go out on monthly, off road excursions where we would gather trees by the truck load. Besides the framing materials from the mountains, we also went on weekly trips to the local rivers such as the Rio Grande. This is where we would find the willow that was the base of all our designs.
When building with these materials we changed "rustic willow furniture" into a finer detailed product. A complete line of interior and exterior rustic furniture was created. Southwest Adirondack Furniture was a name that was used for the business and to describe the style that we built.
The use of recycled barn wood or reclaimed wood was also introduced later to add nicer finishing details to table tops, sofa seats and trimming out many custom details. When we built our table bases using round, organic material and then used a square cut table top out of barn wood, we quickly had a great combo for any type of furniture. This introduction to the reclaimed wood over 24 yrs ago was when we started perfecting the finishing techniques that we use on our fences today in Los Angeles.
The Furniture then progressed into outdoor pieces such as Wood Fences, Trellises and Arbors. These have all developed into the modern style that is apparent in all of our designs with Harwell Fencing and Gates.
