Meet Joshua Brackett of Brackett & Co Restorations

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Brackett.

Joshua, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We really got started back in the winter of 1975. Seriously, my entire life’s experiences go into nearly every day. I pull from so many lessons or creative concepts that I have learned or developed over the years in what may seem like unrelated fields. My parents are both very creative people. Both are musicians, my mother plays piano and is a very talented watercolor artist. My father plays guitar, is a singer/songwriter with an independent album. But he is also one of the premier custom home builders in the Atlanta area. It began for me looking at my father’s Eric Sloane books on pioneer woodworking or having him explain blue prints or an architectural model to me. I grew up on his jobsites starting at about the age of 5 or 6. I worked for him as a young carpenter and then managed jobs for him. I have worked in custom cabinet shops and worked doing architectural millwork. For a time, my love of music gave way and I studied audio engineering and worked as a musician and recording engineer in Nashville. I pull from this period of my life several times a day. With my love of woodworking always in my blood, I eventually started Brackett & Co Restorations about 4 years ago. It is been the hardest thing I’ve done in so many ways, but I sincerely look forward to getting to work each and every day.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There have been and remain many! I started this business without any real resources. I had just a few tools from over the years, no proper workshop space but I knew that in my heart and soul, that I could do it. I literally started my business with a temporarily enclosed front porch and little more than my two hands and a dream. It was pretty crazy and very hard. We’ve since moved a few times and even having 2 different restoration studios at once because we needed more space. We are now located in a studio I built at my home but the need for more space seems to keep chasing us all!

I really cannot imagine a day without learning something that contributes to us being better. No matter how many times that I do something or discuss that process with another craftsman, I always find new bits of knowledge to gain. No matter whom I interact with, I always believe they have something to offer me. From children to the elderly, from the hobbyist to the master. All humans have their experiences and their unique perception of them to share. Mining that out is both a pleasure and a steady education. Restoration is a field that in order to succeed, you really never can exchange your radar for ego. As soon as you stop learning this work, your end has begun.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Brackett & Co Restorations – what should we know?
We are primarily a furniture restoration company but we restore a variety of other objects as well. In addition to restoration work, we do some custom woodworking projects. Part of restoration is familiarity with a variety of different materials but our primary focus is wooden objects.

Our services include: repairs, refinishing, stripping, hardware replacements, veneer work, re-gluing, polishing, etc.

I cannot definitely say what sets us apart from other similar businesses as I don’t spend a lot of time focusing on “the competition” mentality. I spend more time thinking of ways to improve what we are. Our only true competition is ourselves. There are other restoration options in the Atlanta area, but I think of them far more as colleagues than competition.

Who and what we are about in a single word is ‘Integrity’. For ourselves, our clients, and for the pieces we are entrusted with restoring, for the original and often unknown craftsman that originally created the pieces. I used my family name for a reason and I truly try to honor it every day. Without integrity, we have nothing.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Although as a very small business I do a great deal of the work myself in the studio as well as in the office. I am often the one that answers the phone too. But there is no way in the world that the “& Co” part of our name could ever be eliminated. This business is what it is because of so many that continue to contribute in so many ways. It’s sort of like raising children, to do it proper, it really takes a village.

My father has been my greatest mentor in life and especially in all things creative. He is an extremely talented and accomplished carpenter himself but outside of his technical contributions he has helped me as a business owner in relating to other artisans and craftsmen we utilize, to working with clients in an impactful way, really in virtually everything I do his lessons are with me.

My wife is the lifeblood of this business. Without her, there would never have been a Brackett & Co. Restorations. No chance at all. She didn’t just help me plant the seed. She continually assists with the cultivation a business with this intimacy requires.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brackettandco.com
• Phone: 770-689-9450
• Email: Jb@brackettandco.com
• Instagram: BRACKETT_CO
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/BrackettandCo