Published December 2018 in Vol. 3 Handmade by B Side Collective, see expanded article below. See entire publication here.
I caught up with the dynamic duo that is S.G. Woodworks in their Lakeside storefront, the nexus of their operations since November of 2017. With the technical prowess of the company’s founder, Sarah Grinter, and the connoisseurial training and business strategy of her partner, Erin Till—the pair have built a bustling community around their passion for preserving and repairing objects, while teaching others along the way. The two have found “work wives” in each other’s partnership, as Sarah explains, “The two of us match each other, we like to say that we divide and conquer.” Before becoming business partners, Erin worked with Sarah at their Fulton Hill studio for two years. Over this time, Sarah recognized Erin’s strengths and drives as indicative of someone whose “head was in it away from work, not just a manager or someone that is only working for hours, but someone who is as invested as you, through the good times and the bad.” Looking at each other with utmost pride, Erin relayed, “We have different skill sets that really work together, and you just don’t come across that very often,” to which Sarah added, “Our differences are our strengths. We don’t duplicate, unless it’s measuring twice.” While Erin heads the front of the house, managing client relations, sales, and business strategy, Sarah oversees workshop operations, managing quality control and the overall wellbeing of the shop.
Hailing from a family of entrepreneurs and business owners from upstate New York, Sarah was familiar with the atmosphere of a workshop from the start. “Growing up my dad was a mechanical engineer, so from a young age I was taught to see how things were put together by taking them apart, to understand the mechanisms of things, problem solving and seeing projects to completion.” This grounding in schematics and entrepreneurial spirit made her decision to start S.G. Woodworks in 2004 “only natural”. After graduating with her BFA from VCU, Sarah noticed an unfulfilled niche in the Richmond area for an upholstery shop that also offered high quality furniture restoration.
Inculcated from the start, Erin’s early exposure to connoisseurship and business trained her to see things with a most critical eye from a young age. Growing up in Europe, her family worked in and around museums, collecting and investing in furniture, decorative objects and fine art. She recounted, “I was at least four, and I remember [my mother] showing me the difference between transfer porcelain and hand-painted porcelain.” After earning her B.A. from UC Irvine, Erin spent a number of years working as the mid-century modern furniture and decorative arts specialist at an auction house outside of Washington DC, where she honed her eye only further. “Handling the sale of 50,000 pieces per year will give you the education you need to know the breadth of what is popular,” she explained, “not only in this area, but also to understand the market values and material culture” that denote how and why these objects were made. “We work on a fair amount of furniture here [at S.G. Woodworks],” Erin continued, “but really having seen so much over so many years really helps me understand why we take the care that we take, and it makes me appreciate Sarah and her extraordinary abilities. She had the other half of it that I didn’t have, and I needed someone exactly like her with her skill set, and her lovely personality to make this all work. I could never have done this by myself, it would have never worked on a day-to-day basis with just me.”
When asked about their business strategy, Erin notes how their recent growth as a company is largely due to accruing regional contracts with national retailers and national brands. Along with their loyal clientele of hotels, restaurants, churches, and residential projects, both women exude that all of this success is the direct result of their commitment to immaculate craftsmanship, and impeccable customer service. “For us, it’s really important that anything that is done can be un-done, kind of like painting conservation work. All of our decisions are made to last well into the future, and that is one of the ways that we’ve had such excellent client retention rates—because we have such a wealth of knowledge at our disposal, and we use that to make smart decisions in the upholstery process and restoration process. So not only does it look good when its delivered, but it looks good in three years, in thirteen years, and by the time their kids inherit it they are ready to change the fabric.”
What truly sets S.G. Woodworks apart from the typical upholstery shop lies in the experience offered to their customers. “We welcome all of our clients to come into the shop and be part of the process if they are interested,” Erin explained, “from start to finish it is a different experience. We are very open, very transparent, we don’t cut any corners, and we can be trusted not to. If you are going to spend $200 a yard on fabric, if you are going to entrust someone to work on an heirloom that has been in your family for seven generations, you need to find a company to work with that values that trust—and we do.”
S.G. Woodworks takes the time to educate clients and designers about the labor and decisions that go into each piece, and moreover exists as a community resource for anyone who is interested to learn. In this vein, Erin and Sarah started an Intern-to-Apprentice program, with the goal of fostering craftsmanship particularly in women in the Richmond, VA area. In this initiative, the pair hopes to inspire a wake of talented craftswomen “committed to upholding very high standards, and to practicing the same kind of commitment to their clientele and transparency that we are so passionate about.” Given that the upholstery and wood working trades are traditionally male-dominated industries, I asked Sarah if she could share any examples of sexism she has experienced in her career, to which Erin chimed in, “When Sarah founded the business, she used her initials S.G. to disguise that she was a woman.” Sarah relayed that she would often have clients ask if S.G. Woodworks was her father’s business, and she recounted often having to prove her prowess to a number of clients, some of which are still with her today. Being 25 years old when she started the business, and female, she explained, “S.G. was a way for it to be more of a level playing field.”
And level it they have. In its fourteen years of operation, S.G. Woodworks has become known as a force of will, passion and perfection in the city of Richmond. What Sarah and Erin have built goes far beyond the label of a maker’s shop, and stands as an effervescent example of just what happens when partners clock 200+ hours a week into a grass-roots operation. In testament to this, S.G Woodworks are currently finalists in The Right Van For the Job contest sponsored by Mercedes-Benz and Inc Magazine—one of four finalists out of 20,000 entries. The winner receives a new Mercedes-Benz sprinter van that S.G. Woodworks could most certainly use for their pick-up and delivery services, as they have until now graciously called upon a rotating caste of friends and helping hands. So, here’s to wishing them all of the luck!
(they won!!!!!)
Find out more about S.G. Woodworks here.