George Berry answers a phone call early in the morning. The distressed voice on the end of the line tells Berry that his rocking chair has a broken leg, and his grandchildren won't be able to climb on "Papa's chair" when they come over for the weekend. Berry spends several minutes talking with the man before inviting him to his furniture studio on the outskirts of Grant Park in Downtown Atlanta.
The Atlanta master craftsman, who has spent his life designing one-of-a-kind wood furniture, is adept with one of the most important challenges of running a successful business: he knows how to make time for people. "Got to be able to climb on Papa's chair," he said after hanging up the phone and before going back to work on his current project for an entertainment lawyer in Buckhead.
The lawyer is looking over a record contract for Berry's 16-year-old son who produced his first music album at age 15. Helping his son navigate the foreign world of production rights and sales royalties, Berry is building a letter desk out of cherry wood in exchange for legal advice. He finishes the top of the desk by smoothing the surface with a belt sander and pauses between passes to reflect on his life's work.
"Rather than saving to buy a cheap set, more and more people are buying custom-built furniture they can display proudly in their office or pass along to their children," Berry said. In support of his claim, and Inman Park restaurant owner is coming by later in the day to pick up tabletops he tried unsuccessfully to have matched before hiring Berry to do the job right. An assortment of burgundy five-pointed polygons lay wrapped in clear plastic by the door to the studio.
"My clients are restaurant owners and legal professionals, housewives and musicians, but every one of them has a distinct taste for the hand-built craft."
A Man in the Making
When the grandfather arrived with the broken chair, Berry brushed the sawdust off his leather shop apron and greeted him. After one quick look at the chair, he told the man he could fix it right away. Within an hour, the chair's broken leg had been mended, and Berry was telling the man his story.
"As a young man, I sailed through the Caribbean with a shoulder bag and a handsaw until I found a place of my own. Then I built a bed and a few chairs from what I could find locally." Berry described, with no lack of detail, that particular year he spent travelling --- a year he seems to draw upon for inspiration. The man shook hands with Berry and with the rocking chair at rest in the back of his pick-up truck, he rolled down the window to muse with the woodworker a final time. "Hey George, what's it take to build furniture for a living?" "Let me borrow a dollar and I'll tell you," Berry answered.
Berry, the consummate joker, is no stranger to hard work. The Atlanta native learned his craft as a young army recruit in the 1960s. Honored as "The Soldier of the Southeast," he's seen posing between two proud parents in a yellowed newspaper clipping that is usually hidden between the pages of a college textbook. It is his reminder that the army helped him to get where he is today by aiding in his college education.
Georgia Roots
After his service in the military, Berry enrolled at Auburn University as a math major, but at the last minute, he added an art course. He was the only one in the class to get and "A" and enjoyed the class so much that when he put pen to paper and made a list of all the probable professions --- enumerating pros and cons --- becoming a furniture designer won out.
He enrolled at Georgia State and studied under department head Tim Bookout, whom Berry says greatly influenced his design style. Berry received his undergraduate degree in interior design and a master's degree in woodworking and furniture design from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. He returned to Georgia to open the George Berry Furniture Studio and five years ago, relocated his shop to its current location on Gaskill Street. To complete his commissioned pieces, he keeps the doors of his studio open six days a week.
Berry reminisced about the challenges he's faced over the past 25 years as he secures the top surface of the desk to the part he calls the carcass. "I chose woodworking because it's a job from which I never want to retire," he said as he ran a hand through his faded gray hair. Emphasizing the sweet satisfaction he gets from producing distinct furniture, he added, "It's not always been easy, but it's always been worth it."
Designing the Details
