The grain on a nice cut of lumber tells the timeless story of a tree’s life—its trials and tribulations through drought, fire or pestilence, or its days of health and glory under the sun. To run a hand along its surface is to read its obituary writ wordlessly in the fibers of its being. So, when a good woodworker sets out to make a piece of furniture, the beauty of the final product depends on the ability to read the grain and celebrate the tree’s story. Celeste Gruenstein knows how to read the grain.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN.
“If you listen,” she says, “wood will tell of its past and what it might become.” Her custom furniture outfit, Décor Direct, is as much in the business of listening for these stories as it is in selling beautiful wooden furniture, specializing in live-edge counter, bar and table tops. From two massive warehouses north of SRQ airport, her team of craftsmen mill, trim, sand, polish, stain and seal stunning pieces of salvaged and reclaimed wood that make their way into homes, office buildings and high-end restaurants, enhancing these spaces with their warmth and natural majesty. “We really try to capture the unique soul of the wood’s prior life,” she says. Sarasota locals have likely rested their elbows and eyes on one of these unique souls at Libby’s, Lemon Tree Kitchen or Circo. At Sage, Gruenstein and her team of wood wizards had a hand in many of the wood pieces inside the restaurant, including the hand-carved elephant-themed totem poles in the lobby, the polished cross-section of a lychee tree’s roots in the dining room, and the dark live-edge dining table in the mezzanine.
LIVE EDGE TABLES FOUND AT SARASOTA DECOR DIRECT. PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN.
“The owner of Sage really gets it,” she says, “and we’ve built a great relationship out of celebrating the wood.” Another recent commission from Moniomi Design, a high-end interior design firm out of Miami, involved the fabrication of a 12-foot long dining table that made its way into an 8000-square-foot home on Siesta Key. And the wood gets around, too, even being shipped to an estate in Mallorca, Spain just last month. But, it’s never about the bragging rights or the money, it’s always about the wood and the hands that coax its luster. “We hire people with passion,” she says, “and from all walks of life.” A walk through the showroom allows visitors to gaze upon pieces in all of their stained and sealed beauty, but a tour through the production warehouse feels more like a lovingly curated natural museum. Here, unfinished slabs rest vertically against the wall, sometimes wrapped in cardboard, other times exposed to the swirl of saw dust that settles on their surface and masks the potential of their polished future. Standing next to these behemoth cross-section slabs of tree trunks, the shape and scale of the tree manifests itself as a triumph of verticality.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN.
“The wood inspires us to create each day,” she says. Whether it’s old barn siding that evokes the passage of time or a live-edge dining table that elicits the deep magic of the forest, wood possesses the infinite variety and charm of the natural world, offering a window into the sublime. “Every piece we make has a touch of Zen,” she says, “and it’s not just an artistic experience, but a spiritual one.” SRQ
Décor Direct Wholesale Warehouse, 2333 Whitfield Park Loop, Sarasota, www.decordirect.com, 941-751-4180
