Tell us a little about Harvest House.

Harvest House lovingly creates handcrafted, made-to-order, solid wood furniture for discerning residential and commercial clients. We are mainly known for our hand-crafted Arts and Crafts style furniture. We have chosen to use authentic methods of joinery in all our reproductions such as through tenons, keyed tenons, and dovetails. We use only quarter sawn white oak or black cherry to create our pieces.

Each piece of furniture is made by master craftsmen and their apprentices to the specifications of the client who selects the style, type of wood, stain, and decorative hardware. Each craftsman specializes in a particular selection of pieces within a collection.

Where did the basic idea of Harvest House originate?

Harvest House Furniture was started in 1978 by a cabinetmaker and his wife in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The business blossomed over the next ten years and our family grew to know the owners of the business from living beside the workshop. By 1988 my dad, Mo Coulter, was looking to leave the corporate world but wasn't ready to completely retire. He approached the owners of Harvest House and offered to purchase the business from them. Mo had always had an appreciation for the craftsmanship that Harvest House embodied and thought this would be an enjoyable business for him to run during his semi-retirement. Our family has owned the business since 1988 with all four members of our family involved.

What furniture did you design initially?

Initially, Harvest House designed classic solid pine and oak furniture that was popular in Canadian country homes. Although this is no longer the main focus of the business, we will still produce these pieces when we have requests from customers.

In building Arts & Crafts Movement furniture, what processes have you automated? What processes are performed by hand?

Our methods of building Arts and Crafts furniture very much parallel the turn-of-the- century manufacturers. The only processes that we have "automated" are the basic planing and jointing functions. All our construction and assembly techniques are performed by hand.

What percentage of your business is custom work?

Harvest House currently does 15% of our overall business as custom.

Who are your customers? What parts of the world do you service?

Mostly our customers appreciate value for money. We feel we offer the best quality of product and service at a cost that is reasonable to our customer. Most of our customers use our furniture in their homes but an ever-expanding number of customers are using it for corporate or commercial uses. We blanket wrap and deliver all over North America however we have shipped all over the world.

What has been your key to success?

I believe the key to success for Harvest House is the integrity of how we do business; we expect the best quality from our cabinetmakers, we honour our commitments to our customers, and we try to remain fair with our pricing.

Also contributing to our success is our long-serving staff members. They are knowledgeable and able to work with our customers to help them identify and meet their lifestyle needs.

What distinguishes you from the competition?

I believe the difference is that Harvest House has set the bar high by establishing uncompromising craftsmanship standards. We maintain the ability to produce a large selection of Arts and Crafts furniture designs while remaining focused on our commitments to build this high quality furniture exclusively from solid quarter sawn white oak or cherry.

How has the popularity of the Internet affected your company?

With only two showrooms both in Ontario, the internet has definitely been a valuable tool for us. We are reaching (and selling to) a much broader market than we could have with just two showroom locations alone. Customers have ordered pieces on-line, sight unseen and been ecstatic when the pieces were delivered twelve weeks later. For many customers, our website is the starting point, and they will either e-mail us or call us on our toll-free line to make inquires on furniture that they have seen and are interested in purchasing.

Your readers can find us at www.harvesthouse.ca.

Where do you see the company five years from now?

In five years, Harvest House will be a household name amongst the Arts and Crafts enthusiasts. We believe that we can play a big part in helping to keep the Arts and Crafts philosophy and principles alive. We are striving to help educate both residential and commercial designers/architects about the merits of Arts and Crafts design. With the progress of the internet, we will continue to build a strong customer base across North America.