Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Hanscom.
Thomas, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve traveled to 34 countries and all seven continents; and in each place, while others marveled at exotic wildlife or historical structures, I was always interested in the furniture.
Not just any furniture, mind you, but tables and chairs and cabinets and desks that were made from upcycled or repurposed materials, from objects or wood that might otherwise have been thrown in the fire or landfill. Stools in an Italian wine cellar made from old barrels; restaurant accommodations in Costa Rica made from pieces of an old DC-3 airplane; easy chairs covered in the bark of oak trees in Portugal.
In a research station in Antarctica, I sat in a lounge made of old whale bones; in Mexico, I dined at a table made from a fantastic door salvaged from a monastery destroyed in the 1985 earthquake.
I honestly believe that we honor the past by giving new life to old materials, be they collapsed barns or dead trees, or discarded appliances. All the more honor if we turn them into something unique, unlike any other thing, not a victim of mass production and the “sameness” of an object sold by IKEA or Ashley HomeStores.
Not to mention the sustainability – conservation of raw resources – inherent in reusing components that are otherwise tossed or burned. Buried wood gives off methane; burned wood gives off carbon dioxide; repurposed wood just gives joy.
After decades of hobbyist woodworking, in 2018 I left a corporate PR management job and started Meubles Desiderio’s (Spanish for “desired furniture”). All of my pieces are unique, and all are what I like to refer to as “rescues.” I created a door for a wine cellar from a 70-year-old Frigidaire refrigerator (they’re insulated). From a dead Stone pine tree, dining, and coffee tables. From red eucalyptus trees (which are removed in California because they are an invasive species that crowds out native plants), mantelpieces and desks. Stools and game tables from fallen oaks, canes from blue gum eucalyptus… even birdhouses from old wine corks. I am currently making a Nakashima-inspired live-edge table for a client, and working with another creator on a 24-foot conference table made from an endangered Torrey pine, which lived 115 years before succumbing to the triple-punch of drought, beetle infestation, and lightning strike.
I worked for 20 years for the San Diego Zoo, mostly promoting their conservation projects around the world. That experience informed my appreciation for the preservation of species and their environments and that includes the human species. We humans all have basic needs, including the furnishing of our homes and businesses. If we can provide for those needs through responsible salvage, we’re playing a small but important role in the protection of our future.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest challenge was taking a leap from corporate marketing to physical trade. There’s a vast difference between supervising a team of writers, videographers, and editors and designing, cutting, assembling, and finishing furniture. Not to mention: there’s a pretty sizable pay cut involved!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Before embarking on Meubles Desiderio’s, I spent many years in nonprofit corporate marketing for some of San Diego’s premier entities: San Diego State University, Rady Children’s Hospital, Sharp HealthCare, and the San Diego Zoo. There’s a certain reward in creating and distributing ads, articles, videos, and other communications to gather support for the good work of your employer; but there’s nothing that feeds the soul like producing an item to be treasured and used in someone’s home.
My pieces take as long to design as they do to fabricate. Oftentimes a piece of wood “speaks” to me, telling me in no uncertain terms it wants to be a desk or a side table; but more often there are conversations with the client about their personal needs and esthetics. A funky wine cellar? A live-edged mantelpiece? An oak game table to match other furniture? No problem.
Of the many, many items I have fashioned, no two are alike… because no two clients, nor raw materials, nor circumstances of use are alike. Nobody can ever look at anything from Meubles Desiderio’s and say “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen that before.”
What are your plans for the future?
One-piece at a time.
Contact Info:
- Email: tfhanscom@gmail.com
