Teak Treasures: Wood Classics in Gardiner

I’m sentimental about handcrafted wooden furniture—the bulk of my home is decorated with it, mostly designed and built by my father over the course of 50 years. So entering the Gardiner headquarters of Wood Classics evokes familiarity and comfort in me. Permeated by the clean smell of teak, the company’s signature timber, the ground floor holds a furniture showroom and an adjacent open-air office. Purposefully arranged, seemingly timeless benches, tables, rockers, and umbrellas fill the front of the space. Large windows open to the west, allowing a view of an outdoor garden, where more display furniture wends through sections of handcrafted trellises, lattices, and fencing. To the rear of the indoor layout a handful of genial-sounding customer service representatives work the phones or proof design blueprints on computer screens.

Wood Classics is an employee-owned business, and several of the 60-person staff have held jobs here in design, production, and sales. Contact their organization by phone (as I did several times in the course of researching this article) and without fail a live, knowledgeable person will answer to assist you. “Pleasing customers with first contact”—part of the company’s credo—as well as individualized, quality service, matters at Wood Classics as much as offering the finest merchandise possible, “100% handcrafted in the usa” and completed with no outsourcing.

Founders Eric and Barbara Goodman pioneered the company’s progressive organizational structure and operating ideals more than two decades ago. An avid gardener who always enjoyed woodworking, Eric was working a job on Wall Street when he made his first Adirondack chair. By 1984, he and Barbara had built a house in High Falls and had established Wood Classics, running the business out of their basement. The company then relocated in 1989 to two buildings in Gardiner. “They found a niche market because at the time there wasn’t anything out there to compare product-wise,” explains marketing director Sue Hamel, who joined the staff in 2001. Today the all-retail, direct-sales operation has grown to ship more than 30,000 units per year. Though a fire destroyed a good portion of the site in May 2002, Wood Classics was back to filling orders by August of that year after cleaning away debris, airlifting state-of-the-art machinery from Italy and Germany, and remodeling the remaining building to make way for a new manufacturing plant, offices, indoor and outdoor showrooms, and an on-site photography studio.

Relying on the work of locally hired craftspeople, Wood Classics makes every piece of furniture they sell on the premises by hand—right down to the pegs—using imported teak for material. Beauty in design comes first, “but it also has to be functional,” says Hamel. “We try not to replicate our competitors, but there’s only so many ways to make a bench. Comfort and durability are also important, but we try to lend an air of artistry and touch of class to each piece.” Take, for example, the slatted 3-Way Adjustable Lounge model that can go from horizontal to nearly upright, customized with sturdy armrests and a handy pullout tray located directly beneath the center of the chair. It projects spa-hipness along with backyard-party practicality.

Wood Classics makes dozens of varieties andstyles, and their products fall into three distinct categories: classic outdoor furnishings, such as high-end benches, sling chairs, and swings; garden architecture, including trellises, lattice panels and planters; and teakscapes, a name assigned to a collection of affordably priced furniture fabricated from the same high-quality but lighter-weight teakwood (starting at around $199). Custom engraving is likewise available, perfect for a wedding gift, a memorial garden, or a dedication to a school or park. Accessories such as pillows, cushions, and umbrellas complete the offerings. Made entirely of solid teak—a strong hardwood—the furniture doesn’t splinter or rot, and it dries quickly and stays cool on hot days. “We recommend not staining or treating it with oils but letting the sun turn it a mellow silver-gray,” the marketing director says. They suggest a subtle, polyurethane finish for furniture intended for indoor use, whether to furnish a country kitchen or enclosed porch or to perk up an entryway or mudroom.