The Creative Life: Anthony Williams & Robin Lee Berry Embrace Hard Work for Big Rewards

April 14, 2004

Anthony Williams was definitely thinking ahead when he bought 13 acres on a hillside overlooking Lake Charlevoix back in 1970. At the time, some of his friends thought it was a dubious idea spending $13,O00 on rural property a few miles west of Boyne City.
But today, of course, the same stretch of lakeshore is blooming with $2-3 million homes -- a number of which are filling up with another forward-looking idea of Williams‘: custom log furniture which he and his musician wife Robin Lee Berry create from the resources of local swamps and forests.
Tony and Robin live the sort of creative lifestyle many people dream of. In addition to creating custom-commissioned pieces of furniture each year through their Log Art Inc. business, Robin is also a nationally-known folksinger with her fourth album coming out this spring.
And although there are many other log furniture makers out there, none even begin to approach the artistry of the $6,000-$8,000 beds made by Tony and Robin.

AT HOME WITH NATURE
“What we do brings nature into the home in a big way -- that‘s why it‘s been so popular with so many people,“ Williams says.
One look at the couple‘s handiwork and you know just what Williams means. At the home of Deb and Dave Reed on Lake Charlevoix, a Log Art bed dominates a room of windows overlooking a beautiful lake view. Four cedar trees form the base of the bed, with the burl of their roots spreading outward in an inverted crown, as if the trees are growing out of the floor. An arbor of artfully-bowed branches makes up the canopy of the bed, which conveys the weight and permanance of something meant to last several thousand years. Rustic? Perhaps, but the artistry of the bed transcends the meaning of the word -- this isn‘t the sort of bed Daniel Boone might sleep in -- it‘s more on the order of something you‘d find in the bedchamber of Elron, king of the elves of Rivendell in Middle Earth. Someday, long after its existence for generations as a family heirloom, this bed will surely be a museum piece.
And that‘s just how Williams sees things shaping up too. “We took a hint from Tiffany‘s,“ he says of the renowned jeweler. “Tiffany‘s numbers everything, and we decided it would be a good idea to put a number and a date on the furniture we make. So 200 years from now, we‘ll hopefully have created a legacy here.“

ROOTS
Williams got started building log furniture while still in high school, growing up in Boyne City. “I started out building driftwood furniture and selling it at shows way back in the ‘60s,“ he recalls.
Other pursuits led him away from furniture making. For a time, he owned a restaurant/bar with 45 employees. “But I found out that managing people is something I really don‘t like to do.“
Then, Williams began building log homes. “I decided I‘d build a bed for myself and the guy I was building a log home for instantly offered to buy it,“ he recalls.
Williams built his own home far up the hill overlooking Lake Charlevoix back in 1986. Although it looks like a timber frame home, the house is actually built of free-standing panels which Williams constructed at the bottom of the hill. Once the panels were ready, the house went up in a matter of days.
Fifteen years ago, his log home building evolved into a furniture-making business. Then, Williams met Robin Lee, who sought his advice on how to construct a new music studio at her home.
It was one of those matches made in heaven. “She had her own sanding and power tools and a gift for carving,“ Williams says. “She‘s an incredible craftsman and a fantastic musician -- it all led into the realm of her being a fantatic furniture maker.“

NOTHING SHAKEY
Today, the couple have been together 10 years, working together in Log Arts, Inc. Robin specializes in small furniture designs, doll houses and carvings. “I do a lot of benches because that‘s something that can be put together quickly,“ she notes. “But Tony has a lot of ideas on what works structurally for the larger pieces, and when you get down to it, it‘s structural soundness that makes the piece.“
You won‘t find any shakey furniture in the Williams-Berry line; they‘ve even turned down an offer to mass-produce log furniture because it didn‘t measure up to their standards.
Plus, there‘s the artistry involved in making everything custom.
“There were 1,500 log furniture makers on the web when we launched our own website three years ago and 99 out of 100 were all the same,“ Williams says.
Early on, the couple got a boost by exhibiting their beds in the window of Gattle‘s in downtown Petoskey. Each bed drew a crowd, with tourists even having their photos in front of the window. The window displays sold beds as fast as the couple could build them, and when Gattle‘s folding, the displays moved to Traverse Bay Woolens for more sales and commissions.
Overall, the couple have created 40-45 beds through the years. Today, 50 percent of their commissions come via their website, with most of the remainder by word-of-mouth.

IN THE SWAMP
If there‘s any downside to their artful lifestyle, it lies in the fact that creating log furniture the way Williams and Berry do it requires brutally hard work with many hours invested in each piece.
Creating a $7,000 bed for a genetic scientist in Vermont starts out by wading through a Northern Michigan swamp with a chain saw.
“Everything we makes starts in the forest,“ Williams says. “You‘ve got to know what you‘re getting, and you‘ve got to go and find it. You can‘t find it in a lumber yard.“
“You peel every stick -- it‘s not like snapping open an oyster -- it‘s hard work,“ adds Berry. “You roll up your sleeves and really work.“
Williams and Berry scour the swamps and forests of local farmers looking for likely material in the form of cedar, red pine, white pine and sumac.
“We hand-carry all of the wood out and select very few trees to cut,“ Berry says. “We leave the swamp in very good condition.“ In a year‘s time, they may cut 50 trees with permission on private property. In return, Berry plants about 100 trees each year as a way of regenerating the forest.
The trees and their limbs go into a 100-by-40-foot quonset hut which serves as a workshop for the business. In places, the wood is stacked 20 feet high, requiring a photographic memory on Williams‘ part to select just the right limb for a bed post or bannister.

HOME DETAILS
Speaking of bannisters, adding the finishing touches to log and timber frame homes is also a big part of the couple‘s business.
At a $3 million home of 6,700 square feet on Lake Charlevoix, built by Williams‘ son Homer, 25, of Blue Moose construction in Traverse City, the couple point out a railing and bannister system of hand-peeled sumac that adds a finishing touch to 250 feet of stairway.
Here again, the couple are well-positioned for a home trend that‘s sweeping the Great Lakes region like a storm off Lake Michigan. “It‘s the yuppie dream -- everyone wants to live in a timber frame or log home,“ Williams says. “A huge number of builders in the area are turning to log homes of 6,000, 8,000 or 10,000 square feet. I was in one log home that was 29,000 square feet -- it was like being in a ski lodge.“
The log home and rustic furniture look is especially popular with successful downstate business persons or professionals establishing second homes in Northern Michigan.
“There‘s a romance with log homes like this that you can‘t get with stick-built houses,“ Williams says. “A guy goes to his office and it‘s all drywall and ordinary; then he comes up here to his getaway. That‘s what‘s happening with America and this building trend -- it‘s people getting reaquainted with America.“

KEEPING IT REAL
When possible, Williams and Berry try to steer customers towards the regional qualities of the Great Lakes in their furniture and home-building pursuits.
“The work that Robin and I do is all indigenous to Michigan and we‘re trying to create a Great Lakes lodge look,“ Williams says. “People come to us and want the Adirondack or Rocky Mountain look, but we always say -- look -- you‘re in the Great Lakes -- go with what you‘ve got.“
Old fashioned quality is part of that midwestern tradition. In addition to picking the wood from a swamp and eyeing each branch for its potential in the whole, the couple travel all over the country to assemble their furniture on-site. “When someone‘s buying a $6,000 bed, we want to make sure it‘s put together right and they‘re happy,“ Williams says.
The creative life can also be time-consuming, with 70-hour workweeks not uncommon. Then too, there are unpredictable downswings. “It‘s all commission work and we‘ve had a waiting list from day one,“ Williams says. “But there was one point five years ago when there was no work and I was thinking of going back to work as a carpenter. Then I had three phone calls within 45 minutes and $45,000 in commissions to do. That‘s what it‘s like sometimes.“