Saydah chair
Tom and Margaret Saydah
Saydah Furniture Design
fine wood furniture
We are a custom furniture business located in Ashland, Oregon. Thomas Saydah started designing and building furniture in 1980 in the San Francisco area. He apprenticed there through the Baulines Craft Guild in 1979 with Arthur Espenet Carpenter and in 1980 started his own business by marketing one-of-a-kind art furniture at local craft shows. Margaret Saydah, became involved in the business in 1992 and apprenticed with him and learned the basics, sanding and finishing.
We moved the business to Ashland Oregon in 1997 from Emeryville California. We put up a 2600 square foot building. We use 1800 square feet as the shop and 800 square feet for a Gallery/Showroom. The Gallery has over 30 custom furniture pieces in it as well as many other works of art, custom doors, shelving, picture frames and a sample kitchen with free standing furniture. The Gallery is our main marketing tool. We have always sold directly to the public.
Saydah bench
We produce between 12-15 pieces of custom furniture a year that range in cost from $650.00 for a bar stool to $10,000.00 for a high-end dining table. We work directly with our clients to help create their furniture. They have as much involvement in the design as they want. It is a process that can take up to a year from design to completion of work. We have jobs that continue for years as clients add pieces.
Thomas started as a street artist and Margaret took his creation and turned it into a business, which supports our family. That is a major difference between us and many other artists that don't live by their art alone. Thomas took his creativity and decided to make it work for him not as a hobby, but as a full time job and a way of life. Our work is traditionally inspired functional hard wood furniture with an emphasis on aesthetically pleasing wood combinations and solid joinery techniques. We use the natural colors in the wood as part of the design. We do not use any stains or dye. It is made totally by us in our shop. The two of us collaborate on design with our clients if it is a custom order.
Saydah stools
We have spent the last 5 years designing, redesigning, building, rebuilding and creating an art house, the Arty Cottage. Thomas has expanded his work from custom furniture to custom metal work. Margaret has a background in textile arts and has incorporated handmade quilts, lampshades, window treatments and other design elements into the ArtYCottage.