We were lucky to catch up with Simon Barrie recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Simon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Colwell is my middle name and the maiden name of my grandmother on my father’s side. She was a wonderful artist who painted watercolors and pastels throughout her life. I remember going on painting trips with my father, my brother and her and looking over her shoulder at the canvas to see if I could see what she was seeing. It instilled a creative side in me from an early age and taught me to have a discerning eye for form and a patience for the process.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Simon Barrie, I am woodworker / furniture maker based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn that builds furniture out of wood with an adherence to traditional joinery methods.
I grew up in North Carolina and was raised with a hammer in my hand, always curious about how things were made and fit together. After graduating from UNC-Asheville with a degree in Environmental Studies, I moved to New York City and started working for Future Green Studio, a landscape architecture firm building rooftop terraces, garden spaces and art installations for clients including Rockefeller Center, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Amant Foundation. After four years at the company and growing into the position of project manager, I knew it was time for a change. I wanted to be more engaged in the design and construction of the projects I built, down to the very last detail.
I fell in love with traditional joinery because of the functional beauty it imparts and the skill and patience it requires to get two pieces of wood to fit seamlessly together. Colwell Studios was created to highlight the ingenuity of old carpentry techniques on custom furniture to bring warmth and permanence to our daily lives.
I am most proud of the process that I use in designing and building my pieces that brings the customer into the discussion. I have a general idea of the shape and form of the piece when I begin work but almost none of the finish details. Those always emerge as I begin work and check in with the customer on options to pursue. Some of the details that I am most proud of have come through discussions with the customer. This not only makes the process much more collaborative but give them another level of ownership of the piece that they will live with for hopefully the rest of their life.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients for me has been instagram. I find it is an invaluable tool for marketing and connecting with new clients. Most of my clients either find me through instagram or they hear about through word of mouth and can easily look up my page and from there get an accurate picture of the things that I make, the care I put into each of my pieces and a little of my story.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Before I had a studio, I began making furniture in my apartment in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. I used to build my pieces on my kitchen table and when I needed to saw or sand something I would have to haul the lumber and the tools up a ladder to my rooftop. Building things with minimal tools and minimal space to work really honed my skills and when I think back on it makes me appreciate how far I have come!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Colwellstudios.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colwell_studios/profilecard/?igsh=MWtkM2kyM3ZobHltMA==

Image Credits

Jack DeMarzo