About Whit McLeod

Whit McLeod was born, bred and educated in Northern California. His furniture-making studio is located in Arcata, at the far north end of the state, deep in redwood country. McLeod’s professional career began in these woods, on the other side of the bark as a wildlife biologist and his abiding reverence for the natural world is reflected in his award-winning line of Arts and Crafts furniture.

His work embraces the classic traditions of the Craftsman movement but in a new way. It’s almost entirely constructed of reclaimed lumber. Specifically, salvaged oak quartersawn wine barrels — and in a few cases Douglas fir recovered from industrial waste. An approach that marries the artistry of handwork along with the precision of machine manufacture and McLeod’s underlying philosophy of adding something beautiful to the world without taking anything away.

That spirit of preservation informs his manufacturing process, from relying on vintage machinery that McLeod has retooled himself to scouring scrap yards for copper to be melted down in his foundry for tiles used in tabletops. Accordingly, every facet of work is done in-house — unheard of in this present day and age, but not during the heyday of Arts and Crafts.

McLeod’s furniture has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fine Woodworking and numerous other national news publications and magazines. He has been given the American Crafts Council Award of Achievement and his work has been exhibited in the Oakland Museum. Besides Whit himself, Whit McLeod Furniture consists of his wife, Kristy, and three other craftsmen.

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