marie

  Great Britain's Furniture Guilds have no equivalent in the United States. Created by the Statute of Apprentices in 1563 and continuing to this day, they are training grounds where skills are passed on, ensuring that age-old techniques are revered and not lost. To achieve the level of Master Craftsmen, Guilds require 7 years of dedicated learning - first as journeymen, then as apprentices.  This quality training is mirrored in the work that they do - including the selection of timber.  Fine, straight-grain is a criterion of mass-produced pieces (easier to match), but rarity and singularity are characteristics of state-of-the-art furnishings - like those crafted for Elijah [...]

The lowly side table. Always an afterthought – until you need one (or more).  Sofas have them at either end.  Easy chairs – at least on one side. Beds – a pair adjacent. Even in foyers, there is often a table on which to leave your keys/mittens/mail. They are a necessity, but when decorating, often left until last. Side tables are incredibly important. They are versatile, even ‘overworked’ - yet taken for granted at the same time. What would we do without them? And when a side table is needed, why do we compound the challenge by limiting our search [...]

Our new reality?  Cooking at home.  Right now it’s a necessity.  But, as they say, “necessity is the mother of…creativity.”  What a perfect time to create delicious meals. Preparing a roast used to be a weekend tradition. Now you can fill this roaster with chicken, potatoes and carrots on a Tuesday afternoon! The smell of anything roasting in the oven is mouth-watering! The same can be said of a veggie-loaded soup simmering in our stockpot. That aroma! M-m-m-m! With almost no extra effort, you can leave a jar of freshly made soup on your neighbor’s stoop. What could possibly offer reassurance and relieve stress [...]

Desirous of a server that would make an impressive statement, our client was inspired by this 19th Century English Aesthetic cupboard. Our task was to faithfully create all the details of the period design and construct a server using the same time-honored skills and materials as would have been used in the shop that crafted the original piece. The project would require cabinetmakers, carvers, polishing and gilding skills, custom mirrors and a foundry for the one-off hardware. To get underway, drawings were completed and submitted for approval.  Each aspect of the commission was detailed and the cabinet shop prepared samples [...]

For over 30 years, Elijah Slocum has scoured the English and French countrysides, searching for copper ware. Why England and France? Because in the 1860s, England accounted for 90% of the world’s copper output. With such easy access to this abundance of the malleable metal, local artisans picked up their hammers and started creating beautiful ware. Not that copper hadn't been used from the beginning of time. There are smelting sites dating from 5000 B.C.  But it was not until the Industrial Revolution that copper products were abundantly available. That was a game changer. Take the demand for copper cookware. Copper pots [...]

As year-end celebrations begin, we have three Emmy-winners to thank for the resurgence of champagne coupes... Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire and The Crown. The shallow wide-mouths and short stems of coupes, also called champagne saucers, were all the rage during the periods depicted in each of the series above. Coupes also were the first stemware designed specifically for drinking champagne. Prior to their introduction in 1830, bubbly was consumed from the same glasses as beer and cider. Another tradition – one distinctly not exhibited in The Crown, was that of imbibing in one big gulp – like slamming back a shot of tequila. Drinkers didn’t WANT [...]

Thoughtful - showing exceptional attention to the needs and desires of others. The most difficult part of gift giving – whether during the Holidays or any time of year, is to select an item that conveys your thoughts - emphasizing the importance of a favored person through a specially selected gift.For us, each relationship is unique.  And so, we want to give unique gifts.  Something made with care, perhaps made singly, perhaps hand crafted.  An item that says, ‘You mean something to me – something special.’ Here are a few items we suggest for your favorite people.  Our website has more to choose [...]

The love of cold drinks is almost as old as civilization. There are ruins of ancient Chinese ice houses and 20-foot high conical structures with deep interior pits where Persians stored ice. When Alexander the Great conquered India, 30 ice pits were dug to chill his drinks. And by the 1st century AD, iced beverages, chilled with snow and ice from Italian mountain tops, were all the rage for wealthy Romans. For millennia, cold beverages were only a dream for the lower classes. All that changed in 1873 when Carl von Linde, a worker at the Spaten Brewery in Munich, devised a system to mechanically [...]

In the 19th Century, the Industrial Revolution realized a drastic increase in the output of goods – and more supply than demand. Thus the SALE was born.  Called by many names...inventory clearance, overstock, etc., sales generally have been associated with large manufacturers having goods on hand that exceeded customer demand. Elijah Slocum's guild-trained master craftsmen create bespoke furniture one piece by piece, using traditional skills and the finest materials.  Our samples and display pieces are built to those same standards. Now, for a limited time, we are offering a small stock of such pieces --- at a slightly nicer price.   Click Here For [...]

"All creatures eat, it is only mankind who dines." Historically, the English have been known to place great emphasis on  good dining manners.  It all started when the religious persecution under Henry VIII made it unwise to speak freely. Meals previously enjoyed by crowds in the Great Halls of nobles were scaled down to include only those a single refectory table could accommodate. Coincidentally, those refectory tables once were housed in monasteries. By Victorian times, the meal was formalized – but not relaxing. Repression was the rule of the day. Not only was the sight of a female ankle considered scandalous, curved table legs were [...]