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POSTED ON: 02-26-2013
Alpha Brewing CoMPANY / we delivered all of
the various tables today. the space looks fantastic!
pictured with me is ABC owner/brewer Derrick
Langeneckert. thanks for the beer and lunch
guys. see you on opening day! to
view play-by-play photos of this project visit our Facebook
photo gallery page
here
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POSTED ON: 02-26-2013
THE FOUR CORNERS
PROJECT CONTINUED
: THE J&R CHAIR : repurposed steel chair
frame found in basement of J&R Tavern with 2"
thick repurposed original joists from J&R Tavern for
seat and back rest. finished with a zero-VOC clear
satin top coat.
follow us here on our blog and on our Facebook photo
gallery page for play-by-play fabrication photos of
the entire process at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/XgAeni
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POSTED ON: 02-16-2013
THE FOUR CORNERS
PROJECT
: the building across the street from our showroom
in Benton Park West is being rehabbed into
residential units and crews are now working on it.
the building once housed J&R TAVERN, owned by
James L. Henderson, was very popular in the 70's and
80's. in fact, our showroom — and the other two
buildings that once occupied the corners of
WYOMING STREET & CALIFORNIA AVENUE, we're all
taverns during this time period. the bar on the
south-west corner was destroyed in a fire and is now
a neighborhood garden. in fact, this intersection
was once known as "THE FOUR CORNERS". it was
the only place in the city that had a tavern on all
four corners. the four corners apparently, had some
racial tension, and very few — if any, people of
color were at any of these taverns. in 1986, after
numerous complaints signed by over 175 people in the
neighborhood, J&R was raided by police. according to
STL police, a pinball machine and a slot machine was
seized because J&R did not have vending licenses for
the machines. furthermore, Mary Flamm, chairman of
the Cherokee chapter of ACORN, said the residents
wanted the tavern closed because of frequent fights
and violations of liquor-control laws, she said in a
police report. ''the owner has been unwilling to
discuss the problems with us,'' Flamm said in a
police report. ''the neighborhood is just fed up
with the place.'' eventually all four taverns closed
down.
perhaps the most notorious story about "The Four
Corners" was the story about a chainsaw fight that
happened in the street, in the middle of the
intersection circa 1970 between two contractors that
got into a dispute and ran to their pickup trucks
and grabbed chainsaws. apparently nobody was hurt,
but boy does it hearken to a scene from the
blockbuster movie Gangs Of New York, set in the
mid-19th century in the five points district of
lower manhattan. NY had the Five Points, STL had the
Four Corners. and here we are, Mwanzi CO.,
with our showroom at the north-east corner of that
intersection, which by-the-way was originally built
in 1893 to house The Rauner Sisters Millinery,
and rehabbed in 2008 by Blue Brick Construction.
today, J&R TAVERN is being gutted and rehabbed and
we thought it would be really cool to make furniture
for our showroom out of the wood used to build this
storied J&R TAVERN, originally built in the late
1800's. the contractors working on the rehab have
removed lots of old, burnt and rotted joists and
two-by-fours. we approached them about salvaging the
wood to divert it from the countless amount of
dumpsters that have pulled up to the site and they
were happy to oblige.
we're going to take this wood to make a new
conference table and a bench for our showroom. any
wood left over we will keep for a client(s) that
lives in Benton Park West and would like us to make
a piece of furniture for their space with the wood
we have left over. we've also salvaged some old
chairs found in the basement of the building that we
will clean up and remake with the salvaged wood for
new a seat and back rest for the chairs. the chair
will be placed at the new showroom conference table.
follow us here on our blog and on our Facebook photo
gallery page for play-by-play fabrication photos of
the entire process at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/XgAeni
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POSTED ON: 02-12-2013
LA PATISSERIE CHOUQUETTE : recently completed
custom furniture and fixture fabrication, and
build-out project for La Patisserie Chouquette, a
sweet boutique specializing in french pastry,
couture wedding cakes, and desserts opening at 1626
Tower Grove Avenue by pastry chef
Simone
Faure.
the project included fabricating a feature, custom
80"
side/window table out of FSC-certified
maple that we designed, with traditional french
inspired cabriole legs. the side/window table was
finished with what is now known as "chouquette bleu"
stain made on the fly in the moment. in other words:
can't make it again. just look at the legs folks. it
took twenty (20) legs for me to get it right. bar
far, the hardest leg i've ever made. i had plans, a
similar leg to guide me, but the amount of scoping
by hand with a little lathe work was ... a challenge
we also designed and fabricated four 12-foot-long x
4" high floating shelves made out of
Missouri-harvested pine and white washed. the entire
façade of both bars were also wrapped with
Missouri-harvested pine that we also applied the
white wash to. finally, we hand-sanded old church
pews to remove obtrusive paint chips while keeping
the aged character and charm of the pews, and
finished it with a clear, semi-gloss, zero-VOC
topcoat finish to provide large seating areas for
the boutique.
to
view play-by-play photos of this project visit our Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/XDj4TG
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POSTED ON: 01-31-2013
TASTEMAKER VIDEO II : well wow! HANNA
RADCLIFF you have really outdone yourself this
time. i thought the first video you shot of me and
my company for FEAST MAGAZINE (
www.feaststl.com )
was awesome. well, i think this one is even better!
#talent. your shot anticipation is most impressive.
cheers, and thanks to you, CATHERINE NEVILLE
and the folks behind the scenes at FEAST MAGAZINE
for appreciating what i and my small crew do.
website:
www.hannahradcliff.com
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 01-31-2013
MIKE SHANNON'S
GRILL / early look
at the rustik 48"x48" bar height feature table we
made out of solid STL-raised, harvested, milled and
kilned white oak. for play-by-play fabrication
photos of this projects click on the following link
to our gallery on our facebook page:
http://on.fb.me/Y5uzjc
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POSTED ON: 01-24-2013
TASTEMAKER CONTINUED : as mentioned a few weeks
ago, FEAST MAGAZINE (
www.feaststl.com )
named me a "Tastemaker" in their annual Tastemakers
Issue (
read
below )
which came out this month (January 2013). well, a
few weeks later they produced a special video about
what we do with various shots in the showroom and
woodshop, interviewed by the magazine's publisher
Catherine Neville. videographer Hanna
Radcliff shot the video for Feast and
congratulations to her for winning an RFT
(Riverfront Times) "Web Award" a few days ago for
her work. once you see the video below you'll see
why she won. big ups to her!
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 01-22-2013
ANOTHER
RESTAURANT PROJECT IN CLAYTON: we're pleased to
announce we have been commissioned to design and
fabricate the interior space for THE LIBERTINE,
the highly anticipated "reimagined neighborhood
eatery" opening this spring at 7927 Forsyth in
downtown Clayton by restaurateurs and sommeliers
Nick and Audra Luedde, and STL-celebrity
chef and James Beard award semi-finalist Josh
Galliano. we've been asked to design + build all
the restaurant's 30 tables, design + build the
entire bar, create a large floor-to-ceiling rustic
wood accent wall, and design + build bar height
window tables. and as-per-youknowhowwedo, this
project will focus on sustainably and locally hand
crafted, healthy fabrication, to create a
space-specific, one-of-a-kind look and feel. some
highlights include saint louis-harvested woods,
repurposed woods, and custom wood stain accents.
stay tuned for project process photos and follow
them on Tumblr here:
www.libertineday2day.tumblr.com
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POSTED ON: 01-10-2013
ALPHA BREWING
COMPANY: we're pleased to announce that we have
been commissioned to fabricate custom furniture for
ALPHA BREWING COMPANY (www.alphabrewingcompany.com),
a new brewpub opening downtown at 1409 Washington
Ave (entrance on back side of building). we will be
fabricating "restaurant tables" out of recycled cast
iron for the bases and FSC-certified wood with a
custom ebony stain for the tops, two 6.5-foot-long
community tables that will connect to form a massive
13-foot-long community table made out of solid
MISSOURI-harvested maple with a slight white-wash
stain, a coffee table made out of FSC-certified
maple with a slight white-wash stain, and a end
table "cube" made entirely out of repurposed
shipping pallet wood. all the pieces are designed
with a clean lined, contemporary aesthetic. stay
tuned for project process photos.
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POSTED ON: 01-08-2013
TAYAG
RESIDENCE COMPLETED:
we were approached by the architect to fabricate our
Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com)
for this $1.5 million dollar, LEED, new home
construction project overlooking the Mississippi
River in Quincy, IL. the TAYAG RESIDENCE is
the largest single project we’ve ever had for our
cabinetry line and features several custom
modifications and cabinets from two of our four
collections (MOD and LUX). our cabinets are in every
single room of this massive house except
the bedrooms and utility rooms. we also had milled
on site a tree harvested on the property into
cabinet lumber that we will use to make custom
dining tables in the house. Wicanders® (www.wicanders.com)
renewable cork flooring was also supplied throughout
the house.
to view more photos of this
project visit our Facebook page at the following
link:
http://on.fb.me/VIkT0J.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 01-08-2013
ENTRE:UNDERGROUND : we fabricated custom
furniture for ENTRE:UNDERGROUND (www.entrestl.com),
St. Louis' first underground restaurant, owned and
operated by chef
John Perkins,
located just north of the Gaslight Theater at 360 N.
Boyle. we fabricated four custom, 32" round, bar
height cocktail tables out of 7/8" thick, solid
repurposed wood to help take this already amazing
space to the next level just in time for their first
major event, Le Coq (pronunciation: Le Cook).
it's a chicken themed event going on throughout the
entire month of January 2013.
the table bases are made out of recycled cast iron
steel with a matte black powder coat paint. the wood
used to make the table top came from a mixture of
our signature STL-foraged and repurposed shipping
pallet wood, and repurposed vintage solid maple
factory carts acquired from an old Chicago paper
mill and made by Nutting® in Minneapolis, MN
back in 1897. the factory cart wood is extra
special! we have lots of these carts and this is the
first set of tables we've ever made — residential or
commercial, using this wood. in fact, this is
probably the very first set of tables in the country
fabricated for a restaurant with these vintage
repurposed boards. the tops were finished with a
zero-VOC, clear satin top coat.
loaded full of history embedded into the wood over
the coarse of 100 years through various stains,
carvings, dents, saw marks, age coloration due to
oxidation and exposure to the elements — even an old
shoeprint mark, these tables are what we call
"re-vintage".
pictured below is ENTRE:UNDERGROUND owner and chef
John Perkins and i. to
view play-by-play photos of this project visit our
Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/XrpTV8
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POSTED ON: 01-04-2013
FEAST MAGAZINE
NAMES ME A TASTEMAKER: wowzers! what an honor! i
was just named one of Feast Magazine's
'Tastemakers' in their annual Tastemakers Issue that
just came out (January 2013). go pick up an issue
and/or read the entire digital magazine online at
the following link:
http://bit.ly/UJ78yk.
you can also read a quick blurb on their website
about it here:
http://bit.ly/ZXDIlp.
plus, they will soon post a special footage video
taken of me in the showroom and in the woodshop.
keep checking their website at
www.feaststl.com.
thanks for the head nod Feast!
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POSTED ON: 12-30-2012
CUSTOM
FURNITURE & CABINETS FOR ROBUST WINE BAR: we
were tasked to fabricate custom furniture for the
new and second location of ROBUST WINE BAR (www.robustwinebar.com)
in downtown St. Louis in The MX District at 635
Washington Avenue.
we fabricated all of their 27 restaurant tables out
of fsc-certified and formaldehyde-free oak hardwood
plywood, staining them a custom "wine" stain and
finishing it with a plant-based, glossy epoxy
coating. we also made 5 special bar height tables
out of repurposed wine crate wood. the are the first
and only tables in a St. Louis restaurant/cafe/bar
made out of this kind of wood. we also made 22 feet
worth of banquette seating out of fsc-certified and
formaldehyde-free oak hardwood plywood, staining in
a custom "wine" stain and finishing it with a
zero-voc, clear satin topcoat finish. plus, we
fabricated a few custom Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com)
base cabinets for behind the bar and at POS station.
for play-by-play fabrication
photos of this entire project, simply click on the
following link to take you to our photo gallery on
our facebook page:
http://on.fb.me/W9fsEc
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POSTED ON: 12-27-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT: we're pleased to
announce that we have been commissioned to fabricate
custom furniture for MIKE SHANNON'S GRILL, an
upscale, contemporary sports themed bar opening in
early 2013 on the east side of the river in
Edwardsville, IL at 871 South Arbor Vitae by none
other than Saint Louis fixture and legendary Saint
Louis Cardinals baseball player, MIKE SHANNON.
along with his daughter and co-owner Pat Shannon-VanMatre,
this is their first "upscale-casual" spinoff to
their iconic downtown STL Mike Shannon's Steaks &
Seafood at 620 Market Street (
www.shannonsteak.com
).
we will be fabricating all of the bar's 33 custom
restaurant tables out of sustainably harvested, FSC-certified
wood and applying a custom hand applied, zero-voc,
wood stain color. the tables will have a striking 2"
thick top and there several different table sizes
including a few bar height tables, and a feature
solid wood bar height
table made out of local, saint louis-harvested
white oak, with solid 3" wood legs and with
authentic rustic features including deep rich
patinas, saw marks, knots, and checks. stay tuned
for project process photos.
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POSTED ON: 12-19-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT: we're pleased to
announce that we have been commissioned to design,
fabricate and install custom furniture and
treatments for
La Patisserie Chouquette, a sweet boutique
specializing in french pastry, couture wedding
cakes, and desserts opening at 1626 Tower Grove
Avenue in the Botanical Height Neighborhood by
pastry chef
Simone Faure — formerly the executive pastry
chef at the Ritz-Carlton. we will be fabricating a
custom counter height side/window table with
traditional french craftsmanship, several
12-foot-long floating shelves, a 12-foot-long run of
custom Greenhaus Cabinets® base cabinets (www.greenhauscabinets.com).
we will also reface the entire façade of the 12-foot
long display case, and the entire coffee bar. we
will use a mixture of fsc-certified and missouri-harvested
woods to help create a traditional french inspired
sophistication. stay tuned for more details and
check them out at
www.simonefaure.com
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POSTED ON: 12-16-2012
PALLET WOOD FORAGING : we "forage" throughout
the st. louis metro area for shipping pallets for
use in our PALIT® furniture line (
www.palitSTL.com
) and various custom furniture and casework
projects. most of the pallets are sitting near
dumpsters waiting to be sent to landfill land. we
snatch them away and repurpose them into beautiful
furniture and household items.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 12-12-2012
217 MCREE
AVENUE / we finished fabricating and delivered
our Greenhaus Cabinets® in our second home of
the Botanical Grove Homes development today
(12/12/12). our Greenhaus Cabinets® are the official
cabinetry brand of the Botanical Grove Homes
development in the Botanical Heights Neighborhood,
under development by UIC. the development
spans the entire 4200 block of McRee Avenue with 30
renovated and new contemporary-designed LEED
registered green homes. this project is the largest
single residential project we’ve ever had in our
company’s seven year history! located only a couple
blocks away from the Missouri Botanical Garden, the
Botanical Grove Homes development is a $20 million
project aimed at reviving the area.
www.greenhauscabinets.com
to view play-by-play photos of this project visit
our Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/TaVw5x
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 12-10-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT : we're pleased to
announce that we have been commissioned to fabricate
a custom countertop for downtown Clayton restaurant
PASTARIA by NICHE, located at 7734 Forsyth
Blvd., owned and operated by celebrity chef
GERARD CRAFT, the three-time James Beard Award
nominee. after seeing our work at
Sump Coffee —
shout out to Scott, we were contacted by one of
Gerard's people — shout out to Brittany, to
fabricate a few custom pieces for their newly opened
space. due to our other previous project commitments
needed at the same time, we were only able to commit
to the countertop project for the private dining
area on the 2nd floor. after meeting with Gerard to
get a feel for what he was looking for we decided to
make the 91" W x 31" D x 1-1/2" T custom countertop
with sink cutout and backsplash, out of repurposed
vintage solid maple factory carts acquired from an
old Chicago paper mill and made by Nutting®
in Minneapolis, MN back in 1897. we have lots of
these carts and this will be our very first project
using this wood — it's probably the very first
countertop fabricated out of these vintage
repurposed boards in the country — one or two of the
boards in the countertop will have the original
carved Nutting® logo in it, and it's our honor to
create this piece for Pastaria. stay tuned for more
details and check out their website at
www.pastariastl.com
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POSTED ON: 11-26-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT : we're pleased to
announce that we have just been commissioned to
design, fabricate and install custom furniture and
finishes for
Chronicle Coffee, opening very soon in the
Theater District at 1235 Blumeyer Avenue where the
old Blumeyer housing project once stood. its goal is
to not only serve bold, premium coffee, but
contribute to the area's revival by providing a
space for community engagement and meaningful
dialogue. we will be fabricating and installing over
19-feet of custom storage/display wall units behind
the counter out of sustainably harvested (fsc)
hardwood plywood and STL-foraged and repurposed
shipping pallet wood. we will also fabricate a
custom 9-foot long bar height window table out of
sustainably harvested (fsc) solid wood, STL-foraged
and repurposed shipping pallet wood and reclaimed
Missouri barnwood. stay tuned for more details and
check out the website at
www.chroniclecoffee.com
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POSTED ON: 11-24-2012
GREENHAUS CABINETS® IN WILDT TOWNHOMES : our
Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com)
have been selected to be the official cabinetry
brand of the WILDT TOWNHOMES in Ann Arbor, MI under
construction by developer
Urban
Energy Works (www.urbanenergyworks.com).
the two-condo project on Wildt Street is expected to
produce more energy than it consumes with numerous
eco-friendly features, including our cabinetry.
plus, because Ann Arbor is right at 500 miles from
our woodshop here in STL, it will also qualify for a
LEED "regional materials" credit. 801 Wildt is 2,307
sf, three bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths and listed at $565K.
803 Wildt is 2,840 sf, four bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths,
and listed at $595K. we began cabinetry fabrication
for 801 Wildt's kitchen and bathrooms in October.
stay tuned for project process photos here.
to view play-by-play photos of this project visit
our Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/Tcf4EK
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POSTED ON: 11-24-2012
STRAND POPLAR
WOOD FLOORING TABLE : we made this custom dining
table or an STL client. it's probably the very first
table ever made completely out of repurposed strand
poplar hardwood flooring! finished with a zero-voc
clear satin topcoat, this table presented a myriad
of challenges and unpredictable surprises. at some
points it left us wondering if this table was even
possible, but managed to pull it out and made a bit
of history. to view
play-by-play photos of this project visit our
Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/Tou05M
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 11-13-2012
PROJECT
/ SWEET ART BAKERY : we recently completed our
multi-phase custom furniture and casework project
for SWEET ART BAKERY (
www.sweetartstl.com
) in the South City neighborhood of Shaw, located at
2203 South 39th Street. the initial phases included
fabricating all their tables and a coffee table in
the space, and this final phase involved
redesigning, fabricating, and installing a new and
larger counter area that would be more aesthetically
pleasing, eco-conscious, functional and completed
over one weekend so it would not disrupt their
regular hours.
i want to take another moment to say a big thank you
to Reine and Cbabi for being such great friends and
being so patient for us to finally get this project
completed for them. we've been really busy for some
time now and they were very understanding. i hope it
was worth the wait. cheers!
the counter is wrapped completely with repurposed
pallet wood foraged in St. Louis. we also used
repurposed windows and reused trim from the previous
counter. everything is finished with a zero-voc,
clear satin top coat.
(L-R) Sweet Art owners Cbabi Bayoc and Reine Bayoc
w/ me. to view play-by-play photos of this project
visit our Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/WfJ4kq
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POSTED ON: 11-13-2012
GENERAL LABOR
HELP: we are currently looking for on-and-off
help with our furniture and/or cabinetry deliveries
around st. louis. delivery times range from 1-2
hours. pay is $30-$50 per delivery. must be
able to lift 50 lbs and over 18-years-of age. if
interested email your name and phone number for an
interview to info@mwanzi.com.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 11-07-2012
UNDER BIG LIGHTS: after completing our custom
furniture fabrication — tables and lounge benches, a
month ago for TAKAYA NEW ASIAN RESTAURANT
— opening downtown in the MX district, we were
summoned once again to make what might be the
largest light fixtures inside a restaurant anywhere
in the STL. which is pretty cool because it's the
very first lighting fixture we've ever made! they're
Japanese style in design and we made five (5) of
them. the fixtures are
72" high
x 24" wide x 24" deep, made completely
out of solid FSC-certified pine, stained "chocolate"
to match the tables and lounge benches we made, have
three light bulbs inside of it and will hang
directly over the tables we made in the dining area.
pictured below is Takaya owner
Eric
Heckman and i, sitting on the the custom
lounge benches we made, sans seat and back rest
cushions that will arrive soon.
to view play-by-play photos of this project visit
our Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/Qseo0c
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POSTED ON: 11-07-2012
EMAIL FROM CHEF MARC BYNUM : just received a
very cool email from celebrity new york chef MARC
BYNUM about the custom furniture we're going to
be making for his new restaurant — built on site in
new york city — more details soon. anyway, this is
what he wrote:
"i'm going to really leave the design up to you, i
don't want to curb your creativity." that is so
cool and really gets me fired up! stay tuned for
more details on this project and check out his
website at
www.mbynumcreations.com
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 11-07-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT: we're pleased to
announce that we have just been commissioned to
design and fabricate custom furniture for
entre:underground, st. louis' first
underground restaurant. located at 360 n. boyle, we
will be fabricating custom bar height cocktail
tables out of reclaimed and repurposed wood, and
over 25-feet of banquette seating out of sustainably
harvested, FSC-certified wood, reclaimed wood and
repurposed wood with custom color stain treatments.
it's going to take this already amazing space to the
next level. stay tuned for more details and check
them out at
www.entrestl.com
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POSTED ON: 11-02-2012
i try to leave my environmental hat on the hook when
publically speaking about all of the unprecedented
weather occurrences we've had across the globe over
the past few years, but i refuse to do it this time.
our earth is on a dangerous course thanks in large
part to how we've abused it for so long, and we've
been warned about the role we play in it for
generations. sure, we make, design and sell cool
things, but if what we do here at Mwanzi CO.
is not eco-conscious, then we're simply not
interested in it. it's a lonely road to travel and
one not driven by big profits - not the type of
business you're encouraged to start or work for when
you were in school. instead, it's one driven by a
sense of moral priorities. one driven by a sense
that every human being, living thing, and life on
earth is worth protecting. why? because its the
right thing to do!
thankfully, there are countless brave souls,
institutions, organizations and companies that have
decided to take this road less travelled and use
their energies to do some good on our planet. among
them, and crucial to the
Hurricane
Sandy relief effort is The Red Cross.
go to
www.redcross.org
and donate today
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 10-29-2012
PROJECT
/ ELAIA RESTAURANT & OLIO WINE BAR : we recently
completed our custom furniture fabrication and
installation project for ELAIA RESTAURANT (
www.elaiastl.com
) and OLIO WINE BAR (
www.oliostl.com
) in the South STL City neighborhood of Botanical
Heights at 1634 Tower Grove Avenue. both
establishments are connected through a breezeway
that runs across a beautiful courtyard. more
interesting is the fact that ELAIA is actually in a
renovated house and OLIO is in a renovated old
gas station. both establishments are the latest
ventures by restaurateur
Ben Poremba ( shown below on the left of me
), owner of
Salame Beddu.
for OLIO, we designed and fabricated custom floating
shelves made out of repurposed shipping pallet wood
with a white wash stain and bar height window tables
made out of Missouri-harvested pine and repurposed
shipping pallet wood with a white wash stain. for
ELAIA, we designed and fabricated a custom
Greenhaus Cabinets® (
www.greenhauscabinets.com ) base cabinet
out of fsc-certified natural walnut and custom
floating shelves made out of fsc-certified natural
walnut. the space was developed by UIC (
www.uicstl.com ).
to view play-by-play photos of this project visit
our Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/RTXHYW
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POSTED ON: 10-24-2012
A VERY GOOD
POSSIBILITY : just finished a phone
conversation with celebrity New York chef MARC
BYNUM (@ChefMarcBynum) — he appeared on the
Food Network’s
cooking competition show
Chopped
and won twice, about fabricating custom
furniture for a new restaurant he's planning on
opening here in St. Louis and it went very very
well! this is going to be exciting folks. but check
this, we might be doing work for him at a new
restaurant he's opening in New York and in another
city. the details on how we will put that together
will blow you away and unlike anything that's been
done before. stay tuned.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 10-23-2012
PROJECT COMPLETION
/ SUMP COFFEE : we recently completed our custom
furniture fabrication and installation project for
SUMP COFFEE
(
www.sumpcoffee.com
) in south st. louis city and it was truly an
honor to help contribute to a company i believe is
the best coffee shop to open in st. louis in recent
history. you have not enjoyed real coffee until you
have had it at Sump! it's in my opinion the most
artisan, sophisticated — even scientific, coffee
experience you will ever have around here, and
beyond.
i was first introduced to Sump Coffee by community
leader, friend and smartass, David Godbout
who invited my wife and i to a private tasting at
the shop. i was blown away. it was truly an
experience. i was so impressed with the level of
attention owner Scott Carey paid to his
craft. it was during that time i said to myself: i'm
making furniture for this place!
after a few months of reeling him in, we were
finally tasked to enhance the space by creating
pieces that played off of the existing aesthetic. i
pitched the idea of fabricating over 16-feet of
continuous banquette seating made out of repurposed
STL-foraged shipping pallet wood with several
treatment techniques that would add further
sophistication and uniqueness to the boards. after
one solid hour of dialogue on the banquettes alone —
Scott (shown with the half-man-half-amazing beard
below) is a very ... particular dude with a keen eye
for design, the idea was accepted. then i
pitched the idea of new tables positioned in front
of the banquette seats made out of various
repurposed and reclaimed woods, including our
commercial début of vintage 1950 - 1970 soda bottle
crate wood
with the logos and everything, and treated with
a thick, glossy, plant-based epoxy coating to
provide depth when looking down "into" the table
top, and Scott loved it.
folks this space is now one of the hottest
looking indie coffee shops in the country with even
better tasting coffee. we are spoiled to have it
here in the STL. go check them out and do so often.
i promise you won't be disappointed.
to view play-by-play photos of this project visit
our Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/RY0sYt
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 10-21-2012
PROJECT UPDATE / ART + SCIENCE SALON: are
custom fabrication project for ART + SCIENCE
SALON (www.artandsciencesalon.com)
in Chicago is near completion. we were commissioned
to fabricate 6-foot tall modular cabinetry units
that will be housed inside an open modular steel
frame and used by the stylists to store their
hairdryers, hair products and personal items.
to view play-by-play photos of
this project visit our Facebook page at the
following link:
http://on.fb.me/WzdyzK
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 10-03-2012
PROJECT IN PROGRESS / ELAIA RESTAURANT + OLIO
WINE BAR / for play-by-play photos of our custom
furniture project for ELAIA RESTAURANT (www.elaiastl.com)
and OLIO WINE BAR (www.oliostl.com)
click on the following link to our gallery on our
Facebook page
click here.
for olio, we are fabricating
custom
floating shelves made out of repurposed shipping
pallet wood with a white wash stain and
bar height
window tables made out of missouri-harvested
pine and repurposed shipping pallet wood with a
white wash stain. for elaia, we are fabricating a
custom
Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com)
base cabinet out of fsc-certified natural walnut and
custom floating shelves made out of fsc-certified
natural walnut. this space was developed by UIC
(www.uicstl.com).
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-29-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT: we're pleased to
announce we have just been commissioned to fabricate
custom furniture for SNARF'S SANDWICHES (www.eatsnarfs.com/stlouis.html).
they are opening a new St. Louis location downtown
inside The MX building at 614 washington ave. this
will be our third project at the MX. we're
fabricating 31 custom restaurant tables out of SCS
indoor advantage™ gold certified (low-VOC) Teragren®
solid bamboo plywood, two 9-foot long community
tables made out of reclaimed wood, and over 25-feet
of window bar height tables welded out of recycled
steel. stay tuned!
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-26-2012
CONGRATULATIONS ARE IN ORDER:
want to send a big shout out to our following
clients on their recent Riverfront Times BEST OF ST.
LOUIS 2012 AWARDS:
Robust®
Wine Bar (www.robustwinebar.com)
won "Best Wine List in a Restaurant (Value)".
we will be fabricating their restaurant tables and
some banquette seating for their new downtown
location.
SUMP COFFEE (www.sumpcoffee.com)
won "Best Coffeehouse". we are fabricating
banquette seating and new
tables to enhance the space.
Salume Beddu Artisan Cured Meats won "Best
Sandwiches". although we did not fabricate any
furniture or cabinetry, or supply anything
there, we are making some custom furniture pieces
(bar height tables, cabinets and floating shelving)
for Elaia
Restaurant (www.elaiastl.com)
and Olio
Wine Bar (www.oliostl.com),
which are all owned by Ben Poremba, owner of Salume
Beddu.
Pi
Pizzeria
(www.restaurantpi.com)
won "Best Pizza (Thick Crust)". we fabricated
all the restaurant tables, the community tables, the
benches, banquette seating and servers station at
their new downtown location.
4 Hands
Brewing Company won "Best Craft
Brewery". we fabricated all the tables, benches,
and chairs inside their tasting room.
Also want to send a big shout out to our clients
UIC (www.uicstl.com)
who won for "Best New Building - 2012" for
the house they designed and built at 4230 McRee
Avenue, which is part of their Botanical Grove
Homes development, and our
Greenhaus Cabinets®
(www.greenhauscabinets.com)
are the official cabinetry brand of the 15 new homes
and 15 historic renovations development.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-23-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT:
we are pleased to announce we have just been
commissioned to fabricate custom furniture for the
new ROBUST WINE BAR (www.robustwinebar.com)
opening downtown at 635 washington avenue later this
year. we will be fabricating 27 custom restaurant
tables out of fsc-certified wood with a custom color
stain, four (4) large custom banquette seats
out of missouri-harvested wood. stay tuned for
project process photos and video! find them on
facebook
here.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-23-2012
PROJECT COMPLETION
/ TAKAYA NEW ASIAN: we just completed our
project for TAKAYA NEW ASIAN restaurant
(twitter: @takayanewasian) opening downtown in the
new MX building at 600 Washington sometime this fall
— our second restaurant project inside the MX! the
restaurant will seat 120 in their 3,300 square foot
space. we fabricated their restaurant tables out of
fsc-certified wood, four large lounge tables out of
STL-harvested wood, and some very cool lounge
benches (shown below) made out of reclaimed wood.
this amazing restaurant space was designed by CORE10
Architecture. to view
play-by-play photos of this project visit our
Facebook page at the following link:
http://on.fb.me/Qseo0c
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POSTED ON: 09-20-2012
FLOORING SALE:
our
fall flooring sale has begun and first up is
our sustainably harvested, 3/4" x 2-1/4" x RL, solid
BRAZILIAN CHERRY from IndusParquet® (www.indusparquet-usa.com)
for only $4.35/SF. sales end october 1st. direct
link to product:
http://bit.ly/OYfxbA
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-20-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT:
we're pleased to announce we were just commissioned
to fabricate nine (9) custom workstation cabinetry
units for ART + SCIENCE SALON (www.artandsciencesalon.com)
in Chicago. these 6-foot tall modular cabinetry
units will be housed inside an open modular steel
frame and used by the stylists to store their
hairdryers, hair products and personal items. we're
making the cabinetry units out of fsc-certified
natural white oak. each unit has a tall door and a
bottom drawer with notched hand holes, for a clean,
minimalist style.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-12-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT: we're
pleased to announce we have just been commissioned
to fabricate custom furniture for OLIO WINE BAR
(www.oliostl.com),
a new wine bar opening in the Botanical Heights
Neighborhood by Ben Poremba, owner of Salume Beddu
Artisan Cured Meats. we will be fabricating custom
bar height window tables and several custom 4" thick
floating shelves out of reclaimed wood. stay tuned
for project process photos and video!
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-12-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT:
we're pleased to announce we have just been
commissioned to fabricate custom furniture for
ELAIA RESTAURANT (www.elaiastl.com),
a new restaurant opening in the Botanical Heights
Neighborhood by Ben Poremba, owner of Salume Beddu
Artisan Cured Meats. we will be fabricating custom
Greenhaus Cabinets® cabinetry (www.greenhauscabinets.com)
and several custom 4" thick floating shelves out of
fsc-certified natural walnut. stay tuned for project
process photos and video!
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 09-12-2012
GONE FISHING: well,
not fishing, but we're gone! our showroom and our
woodshop is closed until Sept 18th for a
short break. we will return emails at the end of
each day, but other than that, peace out until
one-eight.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 08-16-2012
TAYAG RESIDENCE
PHASE II: looks like our TAYAG RESIDENCE
project (http://on.fb.me/K8VOJb)
in Quincy, IL is moving into another phase with a
bunch of additional Greenhaus Cabinets® from
our LUX collection on the den/office wall, plus two
(2)
custom desks made out of steel for the
base and 2" thick reclaimed wood for the top. Then,
four (4)
dining tables made out of the solid red
oak lumber we had milled on site from the tree
harvested on the property during construction of the
home and kilned here in St. Louis. two tables will
be in the breakfast nook area and the other two will
be in the dining area, but all four can join to form
a massive 21-foot x 3-foot community table in the
dining room. stay tuned!
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 07-27-2012
NEW PROJECT
/ BOTANICAL GROVE HOMES: i remember back in
early 2008 when Brent Crittenden, principal
at
UIC, first introduced me to his plan for the
Botanical
Grove Homes (www.botanicalheightshomes.com)
development. at that time it was just a bunch of
drawings, hopes and dreams sprinkled with a heavy
dose of doubters, amidst a sinking economy, hurting
housing market, and an area with a rough past. well,
it's 2012 and with lot's hard work, passion and
fortitude from the good folks at UIC and a
determined community, i now have the great pleasure
of announcing that our
Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com)
are now the official cabinetry brand of the
Botanical Grove Homes development (www.livegreenstl.com)
in the Botanical Heights Neighborhood. the
development spans the entire 4200 block of McRee
Avenue with 30 renovated and new
contemporary-designed LEED registered green homes,
and our Greenhaus Cabinets® is now the official
cabinetry brand in the kitchens and bathrooms of
these amazing homes! this project is the largest
single residential project we’ve ever had in our
company’s seven year history! located only a couple
blocks away from the Missouri Botanical Garden,
the Botanical Grove Homes development is a $20
million project aimed at reviving the area. the
neighborhood is already taking new shape with
City Garden Montessori Charter School (www.citygardenschool.org),
Olio Wine Bar, Elaia Restaurant,
Chouquette french pastry shop, and new landscape
architectural firm [dtls] all opening in the
coming months and we’re already involved in custom
furniture fabrication and casework in a few of these
establishments with the strong possibility that we
will be involved in all of these projects in some
capacity. it’s a great day for sustainable, walkable,
vibrant, urban neighborhoods and we’re honored to be
working with UIC once gain.
stay tuned for process photos and video — you know
how we do, of this exciting and extensive project on
this blog page and on our
Facebook and
Twitter pages.
_______________________________________________
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INDIE COFFEE
SHOP PROJECT:
we're pleased to announce that we recently
received the green light to fabricate custom
furniture for an interior revamp at
Sump Coffee, (www.sumpcoffee.com)
which in our opinion, is one of the most
important coffee shops to open in St. Louis
in recent history. you have not tasted
proper coffee until you have had it at Sump.
we will be fabricating a custom designed,
17-feet worth of continuous banquette
seating out of our signature repurposed
pallet wood, and new tables to go along the
banquettes made out of repurposed pallet
wood and repurposed vintage wooden soda
crate wood for the top and recycled cast
iron for the base. it's going to blow you
away folks. stay tuned for project process
photos and info - you know how we do, but in
the meantime go have a real coffee
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POSTED ON: 07-23-2012
TABLES+TABLES+TABLES=TABLES:
we've created a beautiful monster. no joke: we have
39 custom dining table projects confirmed over the
next 6 months. that's almost 7 tables per month;):(.
so if you've been thinking about having us do one
for you, better holler at us ... today.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 07-22-2012
MILESTONE / 75 FeRRUM™ FURNITURE PIECES SOLD:
we have somehow managed to sell 75 individual pieces
from our FeRRUM™ furniture line since it
launched one year ago. today, we sold 1 bey table to
bring our overall total to the magic 75 number. so,
we have now sold 36 bey chairs, 21 bey tables, 5 bey
desks, and 13 bey benches, to clients in 4 states
using our eco-conscious formula of recycled steel
with FSC-certified wood, STL-harvested wood,
reclaimed barnwood, and our signature repurposed and
foraged shipping pallet wood. made in STL by MWANZI.
to learn more about our furniture line visit
www.ferrumfurniture.com
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 07-19-2012
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT:
we're pleased to announce that we will be designing
and fabricating custom retail store fixtures for st.
louis' own BETTER LIFE (www.cleanhappens.com).
the tower-style isle end-cap fixtures will be made
out of our signature foraged shipping pallet wood
and various other reclaimed wood -- some very cool
surprises in store, and will include a chalkboard
header with their logo drawn in chalk by a
"chalkboard artist". the fixtures will go into a big
home improvement store chain in Northern, CA and
could result in having displays in all of their 90
locations. plus, these fixtures could end up at
other retail stores (indie and chain) across the
country. stay tuned for project process photos, etc.
you know how we do!
#madeinstlbymwanzi
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 07-14-2012
POTENTIAL COFFEE SHOP PROJECT ON THE HORIZON:
oh boy. just finished a round of emails with the
owner of what i believe to be one of the most
important coffee shops to open in st. louis in
recent history, about doing a bunch of pretty
cool pieces of furniture to revamp the space. i'm
pumped because i've been on this dude for a minute.
stay tuned because i hope to officially make the
announcement in the coming week or two.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 07-05-2012
PROJECT
/ SWEET ART BAKERY: we've been commissioned to
revamp Sweet Art Bakery's (
sweetartstl.com )
current space, and eventually their new space, by
fabricating custom and sustainably constructed
furniture and finishes. we've already fabricated all
the tables currently in the space, but will
introduce a 2-top table (shown below) unlike any
other table seen in a cafe or restaurant before,
made out of pallet wood. plus, a massive display
case, a pallet wood coffee table, saloon doors for
staff to access the kitchen, a revamped counter +
checkout space, and several accent touches.
at this moment, however, i would like to shed some
light on the 2-top cafe/restaurant table ( 24" x 30"
) just completed and now known as THE GARVEY
TABLE, named after the great Marcus Garvey.
it is — we believe, the first standard
cafe/restaurant table, fabricated out of shipping
pallet wood for the interior of a restaurant or cafe
in the country. like a lot of what we do, i wanted
to transform the regular — the standard four-pronged
cast iron base cafe/restaurant table, into a more
creative and eco-conscious piece of furniture. the
red stripe of pallet wood came from the "stringer"
(a.k.a. "runner") portion of a pallet we found in
south st. louis.
the black stripe of pallet wood was created by
burning the wood in my modern take of what is a very
ancient form of art, practiced by a number of
cultures including the Egyptians and several tribes
in Central Africa since the dawn of recorded time
and later known as pyrography. the following link
takes you to a youtube video of this being performed
in it's traditional style:
http://bit.ly/LTsA07.
the green stripe of pallet wood came from the "deckboard"
of a pallet also found in south st. louis. the table
top is comprised of white oak, cypress, knotty pine
and silver maple. a clear, glossy epoxy finish was
applied to the surface of the table top to create
extremely durable protection that looks and feels
like glass, giving the table top an incredible
amount of visual depth, magnifying all of the
character and detail only found in the shipping
pallet wood we hand select.
to view play-by-play photos of
this project visit our Facebook page at the
following link:
http://on.fb.me/LZ5lnd
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POSTED ON: 07-05-2012
THE GARVEY TABLE:
i just posted a sneak peek photo of a
restaurant/cafe table we just finished making out of
STL-foraged shipping pallet wood for
Sweet Art Bakery
on our Twitter page here:
http://pic.twitter.com/v98ZrO0H. check
back later today for a full description of this
one-of-a-kind table and lots of other cool stuff.
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 06-29-2012
NEW RESTAURANT
PROJECT:
i'm pleased to announce that we just got the green
light to fabricate all the restaurant tables, a few
coffee tables, and to create five massive
Japanese-style hanging light fixtures that are
approx. 7' H x 4' W (diameter), made out of wood and
steel for the new
TAKAYA NEW ASIAN RESTAURANT (@takayanewasian)
opening sometime this summer inside the new
Mercantile Exchange Building. stay tuned for more
details on this exciting new project — our second
restaurant project inside the MX!
_______________________________________________
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POSTED ON: 06-28-2012
CONTEMPORARY STYLE VS. TRADITIONAL
STYLE:
i feel the need to say this before posting
our new feature project photos for june.
many potential clients look at our portfolio
and say, "you guys do contemporary stuff,
but that doesn't fit the style of my home.
can you do more traditional styles?" well,
the answer is YES! although my personal
style is contemporary, the projects in our
portfolio are completely a reflection of the
clients that come through our doors.
our
focus is on sustainability and environmental
stewardship
— not style,
and i want to make that clear because as
craftspeople, we can make anything, and as
suppliers of interior finishes, our showroom
is loaded with products from all
persuasions, and always has. so, i think the
fact that overwhelming, the majority of our
clients are contemporary leaning, speaks
greater volumes about them than about us. |
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POSTED ON: 06-27-2012
PROJECT
/ CITY GARDEN MONTESSORI: we donated a free
custom conference table to the top rated, tuition
free charter school in the state, City
Garden Montessori School (citygardenschool.org)
in south STL for their new building scheduled to
open this coming school year. the table measures 98"
L x 42" W, the legs are a whopping 4-1/4" x 3-3/4"
thick and tapered on one side. it sits 10 people. we
made it completely out of scrap and repurposed
underlayment plywood and finished it with a
whey-protein based non-toxic topcoat.
to view larger photos and fabrication process photos
of this project, simply click on the following link
to take you to our gallery on our Facebook page:
http://on.fb.me/M8JLMw
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POSTED ON: 06-25-2012
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ:
we're getting all this buzz outside our
hood these days and i can't figure out why.
so, it looks like we're going to land
another large furniture project for a salon
in Chicago, IL and we're in the early stages
of supplying our Greenhaus Cabinets®
in a small housing development in Ann Arbor,
MI. what's up doc? we're still resonating
within our local though. we are currently in
serious talks to be the official cabinetry
supplier (base and upgrade) with our
Greenhaus Cabinets®, for a major green
housing development in St. Louis. stay
tuned! |
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POSTED ON: 06-22-2012
BIG PROJECT IN
CHICAGO: okay, what's going on here? we
just finished our largest residential project for
our Greenhaus Cabinets®: a $1.3 million
dollar LEED new home construction in Quincy, IL (http://on.fb.me/L3Vxov),
and thought there's no way we would do another
project that size, at least not so soon. well, i
received a voicemail yesterday that our Greenhaus
Cabinets® "have been personally requested"
throughout a $1.6 million dollar home in Chicago, IL
and construction starts late summer/early fall.
apparently this potential client has been following
us on facebook and twitter for almost a year and has
seen our work at one of our commercial projects
while they were in the STL in march of this year.
i've already received drawings for the home - it's
... very large, and sent them a preliminary quote.
well, i'm pleased to announce that they approved the
figures in the quote and have given it a green
light. next step will be finalizing details on the
layouts, then figuring out how to schedule all of
our projects so that we can finish this project on
time. #goodproblemtohave. stay tuned!
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 06-12-2012
PRESSE: check
out these photos taken by the Riverfront Times
of Nico. these amazing pictures not only show
the great food served at the restaurant, but also
show all the CUSTOM TABLES we made for the
restaurant out of solid missouri-harvested (local)
knotty pine, and the fsc-certified Kährs®
hardwood FLOORING that we supplied and installed
throughout the space. it's funny because i
remember making each of those 21 tables and remember
the unique pine grain pattern found in each of the
tables. when i had lunch with my wife and daughter
there after it opened, as i walked around the
restaurant i could remember each experience i had
with each table as i was making it. it's personal,
and i take deep pride - sometimes too much, in the
work that my hands and the hands of my guys in the
woodshop produce, and the quality of the flooring
installation by crew performs.
to view the
photographs click on the following link:
http://bit.ly/Lc1vGs
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 06-06-2012
GONE FISHING: we
will be closed june 7 - june 17 and will pick up
where we left off on the 18th. cheers!
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 06-05-2012
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PRESSE: i was recently featured in the
June issue of STL culinary magazine
Sauce Magazine for the work we've been
doing recently in several of the top locally
owned restaurants around the city, most
notably for our work at the new
Pi Pizzeria downtown in the Mercantile
Exchange Building.
here's a excerpt from the article: In
this month’s Five Questions column (p. 54),
Jermain Todd told us about his boutique
green design-build-supply firm, Mwanzi. Todd
talked about what he’s working on for the
new Pi location downtown, what other area
restaurants we can see his work in around
town and how he found his way into the
furniture industry. Check out the full
interview below to find out where you might
see more of Todd’s furniture in the future
and why this whole rehabbed wood trend isn’t
going anywhere.
to read the article click on the following
link:
http://www.saucemagazine.com/a/1729 |
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POSTED ON: 06-03-2012
PRESSE: check out
this cool article in the Riverfront Times
about our custom furniture project for Pi
Pizzeria.
to read the article
click on the following link:
http://bit.ly/KAJAHR
_______________________________________________
POSTED ON: 05-19-2012
PROJECT / PI
PIZZERIA: we were commissioned to fabricate all
the restaurant tables, community tables, benches,
booth seating and a server station in the new
million dollar, downtown st. louis location for
Pi Pizzeria
(www.restaurantpi.com).
it's the largest single commercial furniture project
we've ever had. plus, the 40-foot stretch of custom
booth seating and the 14-foot stretch of waiting
area bench seating was designed by us and will be
fabricated out of our signature repurposed shipping
pallet wood, and probably the first time any
restaurant in the country has had custom furniture
on this scale fabricated out of foraged shipping
pallet wood.
to view play-by-play photos of
this project visit our Facebook page at the
following link:
http://on.fb.me/J5absb
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POSTED ON: 05-03-2012
FEYS BENCH:
here's a sneak peek at our second piece currently in
production for our
if.FURNITURE™ line.
we call it the Feys Bench. despite his
extremely busy schedule, Cbabi is currently
putting the final paint strokes on it. made out of
solid, missouri-harvested and milled red oak,
it will retail at $1500. we have not officially
launched the line yet — sometime this summer, but
we've already started taking orders. holler at us.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below. for more info on our furniture line visit our
website at
www.if-furniture.com.
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POSTED ON: 04-13-2012
VIDEO: owner
and craftsman Jermain Todd demonstrating how
we go about dismantling our locally
"foraged" shipping pallets for use in our
PALIT® furniture line and other
projects. no pallet is alike so methods
change. delicate dances are performed in
order to yield the wood from the pallet
without damage.
www.palitstl.com
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POSTED ON: 04-12-2012
CUSTOM PICTURE
FRAMES: we do picture frame. we can do it
out of reclaimed barnwood, repurposed pallet wood (www.palitstl.com),
our local saint louis-harvested woods or any
reclaimed wood. click on the following link to see
and example being fabricated in our WOODSHOP:
http://pic.twitter.com/ImJz1r99
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POSTED ON: 04-09-2012
WE'RE IN A BOOK!: it's amazing how
time flies. it's been almost a year since
being contacted by author Sheri Koones
(@sherikoones) about answering a few
questions about our company and specifically
our Greenhaus Cabinets® for a book
she was writing called "Prefabulous +
Almost Off the Grid" about building an
energy-independent home. she told me she was
going to make mention of the LEED
certified home built in south st. louis last
summer by Eco-Urban and Blue Brick
Construction and wanted to included us.
we fabricated all the cabinets in the
home out of wood from trees harvested and
milled locally in St. Louis. apparently our
company's name, web site and telephone
number will also be listed in the resource
guide of the book and available at all major
book sellers. the book is also forwarded by
the world famous Robert Redford and
comes out in October, but you can pre-order
it at the following link:
http://amzn.to/IgFBhQ
for more info on our
cabinets visit our website at
www.greenhauscabinets.com. |
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POSTED ON: 03-30-2012
PALIT®
FURNITURE WEBSITE LAUNCH: it's taken us
longer to officially launch our PALIT®
furniture line than expected. i say officially
because we've already sold 14 custom furniture
pieces from the line for clients who could not
wait:) so here's what we're going to do: on MARCH
31 we're going live and you'll be able to
navigate the website and see where we currently are.
some links will not be operational, but at least you
will finally be able to get a feel for the line and
the pieces we've completed. at this point it looks
like mid-april will be when everything on the site
will be up to speed. sound good?
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POSTED ON: 03-26-2012
PROJECT /
TAYAG RESIDENCE: a million dollar, LEED, new
home construction project overlooking the
Mississippi River in Quincy, IL that we're supplying
our Greenhaus Cabinets®
(www.greenhauscabinets.com)
in. it's the largest single project we've ever had
for our cabinetry line. our cabinets will be in
every single room of this massive house except the
bedrooms and utility rooms. we're also milling a
tree harvested on site into cabinet lumber that will
be used in the house, and supplying over 4,000
square feet of Wicanders®
cork flooring and over 275 square feet of
CaesarStone® quartz countertops.
to view play-by-play photos of
this project visit our Facebook page at the
following link:
http://on.fb.me/L3Vxov
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POSTED ON: 03-05-2012
BEST FEBRUARY
EVER!:
want to thank all of our clients for making this
past february the best february we've ever had since
we started back in 2005. love was truly in the air -
and bank accounts, this valentine's season. cheers!
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POSTED ON: 02-28-2012
GREEN LIGHT: it's
official! very excited to announce one of our
upcoming commercial projects is officially a GO!
we're doing the new
Pi
Pizzeria (www.restaurantpi.com)!
it's opening downtown in late spring in a 4,000
square foot space inside the mercantile exchange
building. we designed and are fabricating all the
dining tables (25), two 8' foot long community
tables, and four benches. everything will be made
out of st. louis-harvested and fsc-certified natural
walnut wood, and made by us, right here in st.
louis. stay tuned for project process photos and
video on one of the most exciting projects we've
ever had.
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POSTED ON: 02-17-2012
RE-CYCLE: what has now
become a weekly event since summer 2010, i take our
two recycling bins located on the west side of our
SHOWROOM to one of the city recycling centers.
we put these bins there for folks in the immediate
vicinity to drop off their glass and plastic bottles
and steel cans. they fill up every week, despite the
fact we now have single stream recycling containers
down every back alley in the city. every day, people
in the neighborhood can still be seen walking down
the street to drop their recycling in our bins. i
think it's now more about a statement people in the
neighborhood are trying to make, and a very good
one. good stuff Benton Park West.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED ON: 02-14-2012
PROJECT /
BROWN SHOE CO.: always nice to see our work out
in the world. we fabricated and co-designed the
store display items for BROWN SHOE CO.'s
environmentally friendly women's shoe line Naya®
(www.nayashoes.com).
we made hundreds of pieces — shoe risers and sign
holders, out of solid bamboo and finished with a
whey-protein based non-toxic topcoat finish, and
even had a custom iron brand made to burn all the
logos into the pieces. these pieces were sent to
stores all over the country including all the
Naturalizer stores like the one at the Saint
Louis Galleria in Brentwood where we took these
photographs. for more photos of the project check
out our "portfolio" under the "woodshop" section.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED ON: 02-11-2012
AMERICAN ELM: i
absolutely love heading over to see Scott to
get our st. louis-harvested lumber. we have
Scott mill and kiln any logs gotten from our
client's properties that they want us to make their
custom furniture with or use in the fabrication
of their Greenhaus Cabinets®
(www.greenhauscabinets.com).
Scott has a bounty of wood knowledge and i just soak
it all up. a super nice dude and a blessing to have.
on this day i went over to pick up a few board feet
of silver maple for a project, but then Scott —
bless his heart, showed be some american elm
he had all planed up and ready to rock. i told him i
had never worked with american elm before so he
hipped me to all the properties and what it would be
like to work with. suffice to say, i ended up
purchasing much more than just the silver maple. it
was my complete honor to have purchased my very
first board of american elm from Scott, harvested,
milled and kilned right here in st. louis.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED ON: 01-26-2012
@WOODSHOP: Justin
and Jermain going over details this morning on one
of the projects currently in the shop for our
Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com).
in the background is a bunch of Purebond®
natural walnut, formaldehyde-free, veneer core
hardwood plywood cabinet parts just cut out on the
CNC for a client in the shaw neighborhood (south st.
louis).
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED
ON: 01-21-2012
NEW FURNITURE LINE:
we are pleased to announce the coming launch of a
new furniture line by MWANZI CO. owner and wood
craftsman Jermain Todd, and well known
stl-based artist Cbabi Bayoc. the furniture
line is called
if, an
acronym for "illustrative furniture". the website
address is
www.if-furniture.com
and will officially launch in early february, but
you can go there now to read our blog updates and
see where things are at!
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POSTED ON: 01-14-2012
200 PROJECTS.
were excited to announce that on december
21, 2011 we completed Greenhaus Cabinets®
project № 200. we launched
Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com)
on august 24, 2009 because we wanted to
create a brand that made a difference.
thanks to our clients we have. here's to 200
more. cheers! |
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POSTED ON: 01-03-2012
12 FOOT ST. LOUIS
HARVESTED SOLID WALNUT CONFERENCE TABLE:
it's walnut season - big walnut season! this solid
walnut table is 12' L x 4' W and we currently have
two other tables the exact same size - for different
clients, in the WOODSHOP. with those and the other
projects currently in the shop, we simply ran out of
space. the backyard of our SHOWROOM looked really
good so that's where we set up shop. gitrdone!.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED ON: 12-31-2011
A HAPPY NEW
YEAR MESSAGE: we want to wish you a happy,
healthy, peaceful and successful 2012. another year
almost up and we're open to all the new year has for
us. when we started back in 2005, we made the hard
decision to provide ONLY eco-friendly interior
finishes and furnishings. in the Midwest selling
only green product offerings is a huge challenge in
and of itself. at MWANZI CO., we do things
different. we purposefully go against the grain.
it's not just about selling stuff. always has been
and always will be. so, we want to thank all that
have decided to accept us and what we offer by
deciding to "like" us on facebook or follow us
twitter, and especially, by being our clients,
friends, and business partners. against all current
economic odds, trends, and obstacles, you've enabled
us to realize sustained growth and profit throughout
this entire year, especially through our
Greenhaus Cabinets® (www.greenhauscabinets.com),
custom furniture, and our Goodbord™ (www.goodbord.com)
hardwood flooring offerings, as we continue to steer
towards our happy medium of
not-too-small/not-too-big business stance,
consciously re-funneling the money you spend with us
back into our local economy. lots of exciting
projects already on the boards for 2012, including
one that will be the most exciting and largest we've
ever had and the launch of our new furniture line
PALIT® (www.palitSTL.com).
stay tuned. cheers!
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POSTED ON: 12-14-2011
OUR NEW
FURNITURE LINE: our new furniture line is
called PALIT®.
it launches 01.2012 and the website address is
www.palitSTL.com.
check it out! it's a semi-custom furniture line made
out of wood reclaimed from shipping pallets that we
find around st. louis alleys and other locations in
the area, meaning the wood used in the furniture
will be diverted from landfill!
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POSTED ON: 12-05-2011
NEW COMMERCIAL PROJECT IN THE LOOP
- it's now official. we will be fabricating all the
tables, as well as supplying and installing the wood
flooring in a new restaurant opening in the Loop
called NICO. it's in the former Brandt's
space at 6525 Delmar. the restaurant is designed and
renovated by SPACE Architecture + Design.
we're making the table tops out of St. Louis area
harvested wood and using American made steel for the
base. the flooring is an FSC-certified engineered
wood floor. it's going to look awesome!
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POSTED ON: 11-28-2011
PRODUCT
INFO: Kährs® - available at MWANZI
CO., is the first flooring brand to offer
dual-labeled flooring that meets both FSC and
Fairtrade certification standards through a
cooperative pilot project. click on the following
link to download the press release.
http://bit.ly/spG9Ma
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POSTED ON: 11-09-2011
LEED PLATINUM PROJECT: so
awesome. got word today that the SHETH
RESIDENCE - a project we were part of last year
in Tower Grove South, officially earned LEED™
PLATINUM status! we supplied our Greenhaus
Cabinets®, Grass Elements® bamboo
flooring, Cambria® quartz countertops and
Ergon® Green Tech porcelain tile in the home.
this is a historical achievement! the builder on
this project was Blue Brick Renovation +
Construction (bluebrickconstruction.com)
and consulting from EcoUrban Development (ecourbanhomes.com).
for more information about this project click on the
"feature project" section of our website and click
the right arrow until you get to the
"July 2011" feature project.
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POSTED ON: 11-01-2011
@WOODSHOP: owner Jermain Todd ripping
some no-added urea formaldehyde, FSC-certified
PureBond® birch hardwood plywood. he's making a
credenza for an exclusive collaboration and
furniture line with local painter/artist Cbabi
Bayoc (cbabibayoc.com)
coming soon. stay tuned.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED ON: 10-25-2011
FEATURE PROJECT: we received these photos
the other day from a client in Mountain View, CA who
purchased our Greenhaus Cabinets®
(greenhauscabinets.com)
in natural maple wood this past summer for her
mid-century modern styled home built in 1972 by
famous builder Joseph Eichler. Eichler was a
mid-century real estate developer who built
affordable, modern homes for the masses.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED ON: 10-22-2011
our FeRRUM™
furniture line (ferrumfurniture.com)
- designed and made by us right here in St. Louis,
will soon be available at Design Studio Furniture in
Chicago. stay tuned.
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POSTED ON: 10-14-2011
it seems like the
tables we built for Sweet Art From Scratch Bakery
(sweetartstl.com)
are becoming famous. we're humbled and appreciate
the countless amount of great feedback we've
received. well, we're going to be making two benches
for, and to match the two large community tables
really soon, so stay tuned and keep supporting the
best local bake shop in St. Louis!
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POSTED ON: 09-23-2011
PHOTO SHOOT:
we're about to add the "bey barchair" to the fold in
October 2011. available in raw steel (shown),
stainless steel, or red. welds are available exposed
(shown) or grinded down. several sustainably
harvested and/or local hardwoods and reclaimed
barnwoods to choose from. it will retail at $400.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED
ON: 09-18-2011
PRODUCT INFO:
our prefinished Missouri Hardwood Products®
flooring is becoming a popular item amongst our
clients over the last few months. it's a very high
quality, unfinished and prefinished wood flooring
line, milled in Brighton, MO from Missouri grown
trees. the price points are great! visit the website
at
www.missourihardwoodproducts.com for more
info.!
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POSTED ON: 09-18-2011
PROJECT /
4 Hands Brewing Company
: [ week one ] things are in full swing for
our latest commercial project and we're loving every
minute of it. i'm a major beer nerd/aficiandao so
this is actually a dream gig for me. it's been an
absolute pleasure working with 4 Hands Brewing
Company (4handsbrewery.com)
owners Kevin Lemp and Will Johnston to bring their
vision for their brewery taste room to reality,
without compromising on environmental sensibilities
and quality, and keeping it within budget. this
project consists of making a massive 12'x4'
community table by repurposing the building's
original dock door for the top. we're also
fabricating bar chairs, bar tables, and
benches out of recycled, american-made steel, and
100-year-old barnwood from a missouri barn. it's
essentially a custom line of furniture from our very
own FeRRUM™ (ferrumfurniture.com)
furniture line. below you will find play-by-play
photos of week one of the project.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED ON: 09-17-2011
PROJECT UPDATE / Atomicdust
: so we're just about finished making the
custom Greenhaus Cabinets® LUX collection
(greenhauscabinets.com)
cabinetry for graphic design and marketing services
firm Atomicdust (atomicdust.com).
and i think we're going to have the GreenGuard™
certified, designer cork floor panels from
Wicanders® delivered in two weeks.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED
ON: 09-11-2011
9/11:
our thoughts go out to all who were touched by the
9/11 tragedy. we will remember and honor you
forever!
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POSTED ON: 09-06-2011
MADE IN AMERICA:
President Barack Obama presented his $447 billion
dollar jobs plan to a joint session of Congress
tonight in the nation's capitol. In his speech he
spoke about several important matters facing our
country but the following statement is what stuck
with me the most:
"I want
to see more products sold around the world stamped
with three proud words: 'Made in America.'"
—
President Barack Obama
At Mwanzi CO., that statement hits right at the core
of what we're about and we hope that if you watched
the president's speech tonight you were inspired to
think about the purchases you make. The next time
you're in the market for a car, children's toys, a
dining table, a dishwasher, cabinetry, clothing,
flooring, a computer, etc., and there are quality
options made/manufactured right here in America,
that you would buy American!
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POSTED ON: 09-06-2011
LOWER
PRICING:
check out the reduced prices in our FeRRUM™
(ferrumfurniture.com)
furniture collection. we've fine tuned our
manufacturing and design process to bring costs down
again. we're now among the lowest prices you'll find
for steel + wood furniture. thank you to those that
have purchased from our collection. your response
has been amazing, and it's your purchases that have
allowed us to make the investments necessary to
reduce costs. cheers!
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POSTED ON: 09-04-2011
PROJECT /
Atomicdust
: one of our new and notable commercial projects in
the St. Louis area is for graphic design and
marketing services firm Atomicdust (atomicdust.com).
they are moving into a new space currently under
renovation in Midtown Alley. Mike Spakowski,
principal and creative director at the firm recently
told me, "i still can't believe this will be our new
space. we're use to being in just a box with white
walls." well, that's about to change. we're
supplying our Greenhaus Cabinets® LUX
collection
(greenhauscabinets.com)
with several custom modifications and in one of the
coolest wood grain styles you'll ever see. we're
also loading them up with some GreenGuard™
certified, designer cork floor panels from
Wicanders® 8 thee highest quality brand of cork
flooring on the planet. we snapped some photos the
other day doing a walk through with developer Jassen
Johnson, and a few more back at the woodshop during
various stages of the cabinetry fabrication. i
believe the new office is scheduled to be fully
occupied some time this month.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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POSTED
ON: 09-03-2011
PROJECT:
as it turns out, we really don't do a lot of
commercial projects. the vast majority of our
projects are residential, but lately we've been
fortunate to have a string of really cool commercial
clients. most recently, we got the green light on
the 4 Hands Brewing Company (4handsbrewery.com)
project in downtown St. Louis. we're designing and
fabricating bar stools and bar tables, benches, and
a 12 foot x 5 foot community table, plus we're doing
a custom build out for their taste room. it's really
cool because we're using recycled steel tubing for
the bases/frames, and locally (Missouri) reclaimed
100 year old barnwood for the bar table tops, bench
seats, and bar stool seat and back rest. the
community table top will be made out of the
building's original warehouse dock door. stay tuned
for more info, photos and video of this exciting new
project!
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POSTED ON: 08-27-2011
PRESSE: check out this awesome article about
our recent project for 10denza (10denza.com)
- the Central West End’s newest boutique fashion and
lifestyle store in the St. Louis Business Journal.
http://bit.ly/pCRtSX
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POSTED ON: 08-25-2011
COMING
SOON:
we're putting together a BUILDER GRADE
collection for our Greenhaus Cabinets®
(
greenhauscabinets.com
)
in an effort to meet the price points of
clients working with a tight budget and
willing to do w/o several of the bells n'
whistles and construction features available
in our standard collections. however, we
won't compromise on our environmental
and health responsibilities! we anticipate a
reduction in cost by 35%. stay tuned. |
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POSTED
ON: 08-17-2011
PROJECT /
10denza : stopped by
10denza
(10denza.com)
yesterday to drop off a few things and check on the
store's progress. looks awesome! the "shoe wall"
cabinets, cash wrap, modular storage units and dj
booth top we fabricated and installed look sweet.
and the steel work by space architects (spacestl.com)
is killer. we'll be back in on friday to do some
additional work on the shoe wall cabinets. the owner
(chris), along with blair (space architects) want to
run the cabinets all the way to the ceiling. that
shoe wall is going from massive to epic. wait till
you see it and the rest of the space in person.
opens in a week or two so make sure you stop by and
get some amazing gear. pictured below is 10DENZA
owner
chris
lanter and i.
to view larger photos simply click on the images
below.
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