Amish Impressions by Fusion Designs Furniture

[Pat Germain]

Mrs. Pat and I just moved into a new house. (Not brand new. It's about 2-1/2 years old.) Unlike our previous house, it has a dining room. Of course, Mrs. Pat wanted a dining set. I'm getting my wood shop up and running after a 10 year hiatus. Sure, it would be nice to build a dining table, but who know how long that will take?

So, we schlepped down to the Furniture Row store. We saw a couple of things online that piqued our interest. Once we saw them up close, we weren't so interested.

I was ready to head out when Mrs. Pat said she found something she liked. I was surprised at the quality of the table she showed me. It had two leaf inserts and everything was solid wood. All 8 chairs were also solid wood. It had no signs or prices anywhere. When I asked a sales rep, she said it was returned because it had suffered some damage during shipping. There were a few scratches here and there and one of the chair rails was cracked. Turns out it was part of their "Amish Furniture". I did the virtual eye roll, but as I looked into it, no kidding, that stuff really is made by Amish woodworkers in Indiana.

Of course, that furniture is crazy expensive since, unlike everything else in the store, it isn't made from particle board in China. Interestingly, the store offered me a $2,300 discount due to the damage. I asked them to knock off an additional $200 for the cracked chair and they agreed. Yeah, it still wasn't cheap, but by golly, it's actually made of solid maple. And the chairs have a bent back that works like a lumbar support. No kidding, we all agreed they were most comfortable dining chairs we ever sat in. Our grandkids will be using that dining set. (Or they won't like the color and will replace it with something from IKEA.)

So, I wanted to share that this furniture does exist if someone wants to buy some furniture to make a certain significant other happy. You can also get some inspiration from their designs for furniture you want to build yourself. I'm no interior designer, but I find it all quite tasteful.

I often hear nobody makes quality furniture anymore because nobody is willing to pay for it. This stuff suggests otherwise. Yeah, it's expensive, but many furniture stores carry it and it does sell. Good for those Amish folks.

Here's the web site:

https://fusiondesign.us/

[johnny means]

I'm in the Philadephia, PA area. "Amish" shops are pretty much our direct competition. Most aren't making garbage, but I wouldn't say that any are making heirloom quality furniture. It's all better mass production work. Lots of dowel construction and heavy use of stains.

[Pat Germain]

I'm in the Philadephia, PA area. "Amish" shops are pretty much our direct competition. Most aren't making garbage, but I wouldn't say that any are making heirloom quality furniture. It's all better mass production work. Lots of dowel construction and heavy use of stains.

I'm well aware "Amish" doesn't really mean much. (I'm recalling the "Amish" space heater commercials I used to see on TV.) Believe me, my dining set is heirloom quality. I'm not the most advanced woodworker, but I know quality when I see it. No dowels. The top is made from full-length maple boards glued up; no end-to-end grafting like I've seen on other tables. The maple is stained, but that's an option. You can see natural maple color tables on the web site. I'd be hard pressed to make those chairs myself. I'm not saying it's the greatest table and chairs ever made, but it sure is much better than anything else I've seen in furniture stores. It's also much better than a lot of home-built tables I've seen.

[Jim Becker]

Sounds like a nice find. And honestly, I see zero issue with buying something when it's just not practical to make it. When you can do that and actually get quality, so much the better. The long (very long...like 10-12' or so) dining table that a close friend has in their home was made by an Amish shop, although I don't know the details. I find the workmanship to be very good and that table isn't going to break anytime soon. They entertain a lot, especially on holidays and a lot of folks can sit and eat together as a result.

[Pat Germain]

Sounds like a nice find. And honestly, I see zero issue with buying something when it's just not practical to make it. When you can do that and actually get quality, so much the better. The long (very long...like 10-12' or so) dining table that a close friend has in their home was made by an Amish shop, although I don't know the details. I find the workmanship to be very good and that table isn't going to break anytime soon. They entertain a lot, especially on holidays and a lot of folks can sit and eat together as a result.

We will be hosting family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'd be in the dog house if the holidays rolled around and we still didn't have a dining set. Another advantage to this particular dining set was it was available right now. Anything else takes three to six months these days. We ordered some living room furniture and we'll be lucky if we get that by Christmas.

[Dave Lehnert]

I live near Cincinnati and we have Amish shops close by. They make some beautiful stuff.
They may be old fashioned but are up to date on modern prices.

https://www.yodersbakeryandfurniture...oor-furniture/

[Jason Lester]

We moved to a much larger house in 2006 and needed a lot more furniture. We bought several items from Broyhill's Attic Heirlooms collection. It's actually impressively built. It's all solid oak with nice hardware. Some have breadboards that are actually floating, not just cosmetic. The only strike is a little faux distressing. They still look great 16 years later.

[Richard Coers]

When I ran my custom woodworking business, occasionally I would get a phone call on an estimate for something. We would talk a bit and sometimes they would tell me they got a price from an Amish Shop. I stopped the conversation right there and would tell them to go buy it from the Amish. No way to compete with a shop that buys lumber from an uncle, has their teenagers working in the shop, and another family member does the finishing. I admire the closeness of those families and their farms are just immaculate. Farms like I grew up on in the 50s with painted barns and corn cribs. No steel buildings within eye shot.

[Rob Luter]

These guys are local to me. They, and others like them, are pretty far from the Colonial Williamsburg vision that many get when they think Amish Furniture. They are in Amish Country, but they have fully modern shops. Think state of the art with three phase power and top grade equipment. They source lumber regionally for the most part, but everything else comes from the same supply chain as the companies in the Carolinas use. Do they have an Amish workforce? A few. The ones not working in the trailer or manufactured housing factories. The whole "Amish Furniture" thing is as much marketing as anything.

That said, these places do a great job. We've purchased a couple bedroom sets from a local outlet that sources pieces from Amish areas in Northern Indiana and Ohio. They are 100% machine made. The joinery is solid and attention to detail is good. The value proposition is large. It beats the imported stuff hands down. That said, it's not Stickley. Lumber selection is not as exacting. That's one way they get better yield and can produce at a lower cost. Narrower boards are glued up to make wider ones. The grain matching is often less than ideal. Hardware largely comes from offshore through distribution chains. For the mass market it looks great.

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[Ron Selzer]

Live less than two hours from the "Amish" in northeast Ohio. Have bought custom-built furniture from them for second wife.
The third wife, who grew up in that area came with dining table, hutch and curio cabinet made in that area.
All kinds of quality from very well bult to low end solid furniture, up to you to figure out what you want and are willing to pay for.
Never counted haw many make furniture up there as it ranges from very small operations to full blown factories. From engine driven hydraulic and air powered to three phase power. Kerosene lights to led lights and so on.
noticed that most of the old school "Amish" moved out of the area in late 80's leaving it to the ones willing to deal with the tourist crowd.
Third, present, last wife (according to her) prefers that I build furniture for her in the basement shop as then she knows where I am at. I can't compete on finish and am the middle of the pack for quality of fit and build.

Highly recommend one place and others I will not step foot in again. Was a lot of fun going with second wife and exploring all the different stores and shops selling furniture when we bought her furniture.
Great area to visit with plenty of good places to eat all the way to tourist traps.

Ron

[Pat Germain]

I'm not an expert with Amish culture, but I am somewhat familiar with it. Consider it's not one, big Ordnung like the Catholic Church. Each Amish community is independent and they have different beliefs. Some shun all modern technology. Some use electricity. Obviously, whoever built my dining set had some major power tools. And while the Amish stress community, they are individuals like everyone else. (The individual who made my dining set signed his name on the bottom.) One builder might be amazing while another is downright lackluster.

I had not considered that Amish manufacturing would have an advantage using free labor from family. I suppose that could apply to any business. Anyway, Mrs. Pat is extremely happy with her Amish built dining set and that makes me happy.

[Pat Germain]

These guys are local to me. They, and others like them, are pretty far from the Colonial Williamsburg vision that many get when they think Amish Furniture. They are in Amish Country, but they have fully modern shops. Think state of the art with three phase power and top grade equipment. They source lumber regionally for the most part, but everything else comes from the same supply chain as the companies in the Carolinas use. Do they have an Amish workforce? A few. The ones not working in the trailer or manufactured housing factories. The whole "Amish Furniture" thing is as much marketing as anything.

That said, these places do a great job. We've purchased a couple bedroom sets from a local outlet that sources pieces from Amish areas in Northern Indiana and Ohio. They are 100% machine made. The joinery is solid and attention to detail is good. The value proposition is large. It beats the imported stuff hands down. That said, it's not Stickley. Lumber selection is not as exacting. That's one way they get better yield and can produce at a lower cost. Narrower boards are glued up to make wider ones. The grain matching is often less than ideal. Hardware largely comes from offshore through distribution chains. For the mass market it looks great.

Screen Shot 2022-07-11 at 5.29.21 AM.jpg

Funny, I used to live near Colonial Williamsburg. I visited multiple times, but I always found the place downright infuriating. Almost every single building a 20th century re-creation and almost nothing is original. They pretended to be a remote, historical village hidden in the woods. The reality is it's sandwiched between the College of William Mary and the modern city of Williamsburg. Anyone can walk right through it just like any other town. You just have to pay big bucks to go into the buildings where you can see a "Craftsman" standing around and looking bored. It's not like the violin maker is going to be making violins every day. There is simply not enough demand for him to do that.

Yeah, seems nothing is as it seems.

[Mel Fulks]

Nothing wrong with Colonial Williamsburg. Some fine work is done there. Wallace Gusler figured out how early rifles were made ,while some
other ‘attraction places’ had guys walking around with toy guns, and their “gun smiths “ assembling kits .

[Pat Germain]

Nothing wrong with Colonial Williamsburg. Some fine work is done there. Wallace Gusler figured out how early rifles were made ,while some
other ‘attraction places’ had guys walking around with toy guns, and their “gun smiths “ assembling kits .

I'm glad to hear that. But sorry, I was never very impressed.

[Stan Calow]

We have lots of Amish and Mennonites around here. I've seen many at the Woodworking Shows here, looking at power tools. My understanding is that they while Amish avoid electricity and actually owning modern equipment, they are well versed in using someone else's power tools to do their business. And while they have a good reputation for construction in the rural areas, they are just as into making money from their work as any other business owner.