Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Dobbs.
Hi Adam, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I had always been interested in building and the process of turning a heap of materials into something useful. I would help my dad occasionally with random jobs around our house growing up, then got my degree in Civil Engineering and afterward started working as an engineer for a construction management company specializing in commercial construction.
I decided to leave that behind though and move to LA to focus on a different endeavor and so lived in apartments for about a decade and therefore did not have room for any tools or shop space. Shortly after my wife and I got married, we moved to a little beach bungalow in Venice, CA which had a pretty decent one-car garage.
Anna needed a workbench for her growing floral design business so I bought some construction lumber and pieced one together. From there, I was hooked and all my free time seemed to go towards learning about woodworking. There was so much more to it than I ever thought as far as the design, joinery, types of wood, different finishes, etc. and I started building my knowledge and tool arsenal.
There was something about furniture that I always loved. Even as a young kid who was more into sports and video games, I always really enjoyed going to furniture stores whenever my parents would be shopping for a piece, an interest I didn’t realize until I started creating.
I immediately started building furniture after that workbench, the first piece being a desk for myself, which was quite an intricate design for someone who had never even made a birdhouse or jewelry box before.
It had through mortise and tenons and a somewhat floating top and ended up being pretty rough compared to what I make now, but at the time I was very impressed with what I had created lol. I took my newfound confidence in myself, started looking at the furniture we own and how mostly cheaply made it was, and thought to myself “I could do better”.
Anna, being immersed in all things design, was fully on board for us designing and making our own furniture. I made a few more pieces, and then COVID hit and we decided it was time to make the move back East we had been planning.
Anna and I moved to Nashville at the start of the pandemic and were able to rent a house that had a full basement that included a big workbench, so it was perfect for a home shop. I built a lot that the first year in Nashville, making pieces for our new home, as well as smaller gifts for others like cutting boards, whiskey flights, and matchbooks.
By that time I knew I wanted to have a furniture business on the side of whatever job I was doing once the nation opened back up. Anna started working as a designer for Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams and had a client who wanted/needed some custom pieces of furniture for her new house and said “I know a guy”.
Her order was big enough and so many things aligned for me to be able to handle this order that I knew I had to make this a full-time gig. I felt so passionately that this is what I was meant to be doing.
I had been searching so long for a career that I might be interested in or that seemed like a good idea on paper and then never felt right, and it wasn’t until I booked that first job that it all just seemed to make sense fit. And here I am, it’s been a struggle at times, but I am doing it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been smoother than I would expect it to have been, I guess you could say, but yes, definite challenges along the way. The most difficult part for me has been the business side of it, just figuring out how to properly run a small business, all of the taxes, licenses, advertising, social media (at which I am horrible), and constant outreach for new business, purchasing.
I am much better suited locked away in my shop just creating and building, but since I am a one-man show right now, so much of my time has to be allocated to the non-woodworking aspects. It’s very easy for me not to do those tasks, luckily my wife helps keep me on track.
Other than that, since all of my work so far is custom and based on clients’ inspirations and needs, most of what I build is the first time ever building that particular item, so there are always nuances within each project. Sometimes they are hard to conceptualize in the design process, so I have to just start working, let them arise, and figure them out along the way.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a furniture maker who specializes in upscale custom wood furniture that is handmade using mostly traditional joinery methods.
I am proud of my patience and attention to detail in each piece that I make, as well as my ability to juxtapose art and structure. I can’t really say what sets me apart from others, there are so many talented craftspeople I look up to who make some amazing pieces of furniture.
That’s one thing I really love about Nashville, everyone is so supportive within the same industries. There’s competition sure, but other cabinet makers and woodworkers I have met have been so generous in sharing information and processes it’s really very inspiring.
So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why?
Integrity.
That may be broad, but integrity can have such a positive effect in so many facets of life, from business and school to friends and family.
I always used to tell my wife I like to run uphill, meaning let’s take the more difficult path if it’s the right path.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hamiltonrosewood.com
- Email: adam@hamiltonrosewood.com
- Instagram: @hamiltonrosewood
