Antique Workbenches ~ Not Just for the Shop

If you are an antique collector or were lucky to inherit a piece of antique furniture from your family or friend, that antique item was most probably made on a wood craftsman’s workbench.  The antique workbench or L’etabli – as the French call it – was the iconic tool of furniture manufacturing from the Middle Ages into the 20^th century.  Even today this ‘altar’ of wood craftsmanship is still used by fine artisans of furniture.  Bench-made is the term that personifies the hand-crafted and hand-carved treasures.

Thanks to this ancient industry we can enjoy industrial relics, each as unique as the furniture gems they produced.  Thanks to creative designers such as Kathryn Ireland and the rise of the popularity of rustic, industrial and country styles, these workbenches are welcome in our foyers, dens and living rooms.  We can find them from chic NY lofts used as kitchen islands, in rustic lodges used as sideboards and in trendy living rooms used as side tables.

On the cover of Kathryn Ireland's "Creating a Home" we see a workbench being used as a sofa table in a rustic style living room.

These benches are hard to find in good condition as many where abandoned and relegated to barns and basements after decades of hard use.  We bring these beautiful relics of bygone era into our own workshop (our woodcraftsmen are always excited to see them and work with them) and lovingly restore them for modern use.  On my last trip to Europe, as I combed the Italian and French countrysides, I found unique and diverse examples of rustic workbenches.

Visit our website to see more of our versatile antique workbenches!

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