This is the first post in a campaign promoting MIB members’ custom fabrication capabilities. Every business is different, and Baltimore City is full of talented makers and designers ready to craft unique, custom products for your brand. Read on to learn about Baltimore-based companies that can provide your business with exactly what it needs.

If you’re looking for well-crafted, unique furniture that’s authentic to your style and brand, there’s no better place to be than Charm City. Below are a few local businesses that can help take your office, studio, or retail space to the next level.

–  Bliss Woodworks  –

Bliss Woodworks is a Baltimore-based woodworking company. We make custom furniture and unique home goods using reclaimed materials and local hardwoods.

Meet the Founder: Kate Christian has been running Bliss Woodworks for 5 years. Less than 6 months after her first time getting behind a table saw at the Station North Tool Library, she began a full-time career in woodworking. Kate had spent the years before working professionally as a boat captain and a scientist. Kate’s work at Bliss is modern and unconventional, which is unsurprising given her path to get here!

Description of Services:

• Tables – dining, coffee, entry way, etc.
• Desks
• Wood countertops and kitchen islands
• Custom cabinetry (such as bathroom vanities) 
• Media consoles, record storage and display
• Cutting boards, serving boards and other homegoods
• Bookcases, shelves and storage

Ideal client: An ideal client would be one who likes the style of the pieces we make but doesn’t see exactly what they’re looking for.

Learn more about Bliss Woodworks:  https://www.blisswoodworks.com

–  Monkey in the Metal  –

Monkey in the Metal is a furniture fabrication company that provides artistic design solutions by creating striking pieces imagined from our surroundings. We strive to build items that are unique and reflect a design that is modern, industrial, and functional. We are creators of all things metal, wood, and reclaimed objects.

Meet the Founder: Monkey in the Metal was founded by Nick Modha in 2012. A lifelong builder and tinkerer, Nick took night classes and became a certified welder so he could modify a 1973 Toyota Landcruiser he bought as a project. In 2012, he combined his professional experience in business and finance with his personal interests, launching a furniture fabrication company where he could build creatively, source locally, and produce beautiful custom furniture. Nick has lived in Locust Point, Baltimore for the last 15 years with his wife and 3 daughters: “Proud to call Baltimore ‘Home,’ not just to our family, but also our business”

Description of Services:

• Residential to Commercial (Hospitality, Restaurant, Retail)
• Single Pieces to Full Area Build outs
• Tables – End Tables, Dining Tables, Conference Tables
• Tops – Solid Woods, Butcher Block, Reclaimed, Store, and Steel
• Seating – Chairs to Benches
• Shelving – Bookcases, Retail Display, Rolling Ladders
• Cabinetry and associated millwork
• Business to Business Services – CNC Cutting of parts, Bulk Items, Repairs
• Custom Stain Matching and Metal Finishing
• Build from Specs to Custom Design
• Computer Designed and 3D Rendered prior to fabrication
• Unique Artwork and Indoor/Outdoor Signage

Ideal client: Customers of Monkey in the Metal likely share our DNA: they buy local, they’re detail orientated, and they love solving problems. Beyond that, most of our clients are commercial architects and designers that specify a particular design, and we assist in figuring out how to build it as well as creating the final product. Our residential clients usually have a specific project in mind, and we can either help flesh out the details or build exactly to the requirements. Last but not least, we have business to business clients for whom we supply raw or finished parts. We even white label our fabrications for resale under another brand.

Learn more about Monkey in the Metal: https://monkeyinthemetal.com

–  Nicole De Sharron  –

We are a Baltimore-based women-owned custom furniture company committed to bringing your personal ideas to life. Our woodworking and design services cover a wide and almost unlimited range of products. Whether you shop from our pre-design collection or have a custom creation, all lumber is individually hand selected to ensure that you will have the best in quality.

Meet the Founders: Nicole De Sharron was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 2014 by Robin Nicole and Kemberly De Sharron. Two long time best friends of 20 years joined forces to share their love of design, creativity, and people. After a devastating loss of furniture from a move in 2016, Nicole De Sharron branched out into a different area of design, focusing on woodworking and building furniture.

Description of Services:

• Side, coffee, dining, foyer, and concealment tables, desks
• Bar build outs and countertops (all wood or wood and epoxy)
• Wooden lawn and patio furniture
• Bookcases, shelves, and storage units
• Charcuterie boards, knife blocks, various other kitchen/ homegoods
• Wooden furniture restoration and repair
• Custom design and build of most items
• Custom staining and color matching
• Custom epoxy pigment blending and matching
• Custom hand engraving

Ideal client: We do not have an “ideal” client. We’ve had some clients that have come to us full of ideas and others who did not know where to start. For those who are not sure exactly what they are looking for, but know they want something unique or customized just for them, our right side of the brain kicks in on your behalf!

Learn more about Nicole De Sharron: https://www.nicoledesharron.com

–  Goodwood Design  –

Goodwood Design has been designing and manufacturing high-quality wood products, furniture pieces, and installations since its founding in 2012. We regularly collaborate with local artists, designers, developers, and makers both in the city and up and down the East Coast.

Meet the Founder: Goodwood Design was founded in 2012 by Garret Brooks. After graduating RISD with a degree in furniture design, Garrett lived and worked in a Buddhist monastery doing sculptural welding. He then moved to Grand Rapids, MI to work as the chief preparator at the Grand Rapids Art Museum where he designed and installed changing exhibitions. After moving to Baltimore in 2012, he started Goodwood Design with the intention of bringing to life his furniture designs.

Description of Services:

• Individual furniture units: tables of all sorts, benches, shelves, chairs, cabinets, armoires, dressers, vanities, countertops.
• Commercial build-outs (including all furniture and built-in units) for bars, restaurants, offices, theatres, schools, museums, etc.
• Custom fabrication services to designers, architects, and individuals. If you have a design, we can build it out of wood, plywood, metal, concrete, various acrylic materials, stone, glass, etc.
• Design service, from creating renderings of designs based on conversations with clients about their needs to finalizing design details of a concept or consulting on the realisticness/ practicality of designs.

Ideal client: Goodwood’s ideal clients come in three different categories: 

• Individuals or businesses who have specific needs they want to be met (dining room storage, a surface in their bedroom, take out window countertop, etc) and some concept of the style and dimensions they are looking for
• Individuals or businesses who have seen Goodwood’s work and would like to purchase exact or modified versions of that work
• Designers/ architects who have fully realized design drawings and specifications they would like fabricated

However, Goodwood is prepared to meet clients wherever they are in the design or ideation process. We offer SketchUp drawings and consultations to help people figure out exactly what they are looking for.

Learn more about Goodwood Design: https://www.goodwooddesign.com