We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matt Brenn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Stewards of Our Craft

Compared to other societies around the world, the craft of American furniture making is a very young one. Still growing, still figuring out its unique styles, and still very much learning its value systems. The furniture industry is one of the largest consumer markets in the United States at $244 billion, and is expected to skyrocket to $295 billion by 2028. But with everything that’s out there–from ‘fast furniture’ stores like IKEA and Rooms-to-Go, to DIY Youtube channels and HGTV shows, navigating one of America’s fastest growing cultural trends can be a daunting task at times. This is especially true in a post-Covid era, where the image of home is nearer and dearer to most of us than ever before.

At Brenelli, we take our role as stewards of American furniture making very seriously, considering ourselves first and foremost stewards of a young and blossoming craft. We don’t only offer fully custom design + build services–we go beyond that to provide a uniquely intellectual approach to the products we fabricate. Brenelli makes sure to foster a deep understanding of the materials we work with and the styles we build in: where they come from, what makes them important, and ultimately, how they’ll function and hold up within the test of time. We want each of our clients to take part in the histories that go into their product, and we make sure to provide this background during each stage of our process: from concept design, to fabrication, to delivery and installation.

When our customers buy a Brenelli, they’re not just buying a custom made, high end piece of furniture–they’re buying a piece of history and likewise a piece of the future. We’re not just furniture makers; we’re storytellers.

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

Brenelli isn’t just the fusion of two last names–it’s the blending of hard work, art, and love to create sustainable and thoughtfully designed furniture. Located in Wake Forest, NC, Brenelli combines more than a decade of woodworking and teaching experience to uphold the traditions and knowledge needed to produce fine furniture that families will hand down through generations.

Matt Brenn got his start in woodworking from a very young age, spending time in the shop with his grandfather and father, both seasoned woodworkers. After studying for his doctorate in philosophy, he has spent the last decade sharpening and expanding his career as a professional woodworker.

Matt’s proudest moment as a furniture maker, before founding Brenelli Furniture & Design, was working as the Lead Designer and General Manager of a well-known furniture studio in the Raleigh-Durham area. During this time, he was able to design and engineer a custom furniture collection for the globally-recognized High Point Furniture Market, while also designing award-winning furniture pieces for some of the best-known interior design firms in North Carolina.

Prior to that experience, Matt worked for several high-level woodworking companies in heavy metropolitan areas, including Chicago and Cleveland. When he’s not working as the lead designer and maker at Brenelli, he teaches woodworking and furniture design part-time at North Carolina State University.

Amanda Finelli uses her skills as a Public Affairs strategist to keep Brenelli innovative, dynamic, and on track. Being married to Matt has taught her very well that the creative processes of fine furniture making need to be as disciplined and concentrated as they are organic and free-flowing. This is where Amanda comes in, finding creative ways to make Brenelli an industry-forward and client-focused company.

One of Brenelli’s defining characteristics is our engineering tenacity–we take great pride in being able to find solutions for customers’ specific and at times very unique furniture needs and wants. From hybrid coffee/dining tables with hidden electronic lift mechanisms, to cocktail bars with hidden safes, to customizable game tables, we view complex or otherwise impossible furniture ideas as an opportunity to turn abstract ideas into reality.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The story of Brenelli begins with a massive pivot. Co-founders Matt and Amanda found themselves in a seemingly perfect position to buy the furniture business that Matt was already General Manager of. Everything seemed picture perfect–their house was a five minute walk from the shop, with their favorite restaurant next door, and they had a growing list of return clients Matt had worked hard to earn trust and business from. Numerous dinner meetings had been had, handshakes made, and plans drawn up. On signing day, the owners decided to drastically augment the terms and figures of the purchase (as often occurs in the business world), leaving Matt and Amanda feeling shocked and at a loss.

After numerous late night discussions, we decided to cut our ties with that company as gracefully as possible and start our own furniture studio in the same town. It’s been wonderful to have many of Matt’s previous clients follow him to Brenelli, putting their trust in a relatively young company to continue designing and building furniture for them and their friends.

As we continue forward with our dream as furniture makers and business owners, we are extremely proud of the risk we took in going out on our own, and grateful to our growing list of clients for putting their trust in us.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

SBA’s, venture capitalists, quiet investors–these are all avenues of initial capital Brenelli did not receive to get started.
Starting a furniture making company is really tough because it requires a massive amount of capital that needs to get equally spread across a wide range of areas, all of which are equally crucial: from tools, to graphic design, to marketing, and of course, a brick and mortar space. This complex math is compounded by the fact that banks and investment firms often view furniture making in America through a certain DIY, “Youtubey” lens, making it difficult to provide a salient pitch for why your woodworking business is different from the countless weekend warrior hobbyists we all see on the internet.

We took a risk on ourselves and dipped into our savings to get Brenelli started, supplementing that with smaller investments from friendly business acquaintances. We’ve gotten very lucky to experience a noteworthy return on our investments as a young company.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brenellidesign.com/
• Instagram: @brenelli_design
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551379963515
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-brenn-7b78602a7/