Today we’d like to introduce you to Hank Hambright.
Hank, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I went to a hippy college called Warren Wilson in North Carolina where everyone lived and worked on campus, sort of like a commune. I studied forestry and worked in the forest building trails, controlling invasive species, and harvesting timber. This was my first introduction to wood. We felled trees, dragged them out of the woods using horses, milled the logs into lumber, dried that lumber, and distributed it to various other crews to be used on campus. I didn’t build anything but still learned a lot about wood and it’s characteristics. After college, I moved to Athens because I had a lot of friends here. I got a job doing residential carpentry with Oneta Woodworks. As the business expanded, we began building out more restaurants and I got to spend more time in the shop. I began teaching myself more fine woodworking techniques and hand tool joinery and began designing and building furniture. Almost three years ago, I left Oneta to start Heavy Friends, building furniture in a one-person shop. Six months later my partner, Lindsay, left her job to join me full time. Lindsay has a background in sculpture so she took right to the shop. It’s been the two of us and our dog in that shop since and we love it!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not. It is incredibly hard. We usually work 70 hour weeks, we live in a partially renovated house that we never have time to work on, and we don’t make very much money.
It’s a constant struggle of balancing managerial tasks, corresponding with clients, creating the furniture designs and building in the shop. We often feel spread thin, but know that this is what we want to be doing and it is worth it. We look forward to challenging ourselves to get better where we lack. We are learning what kind of business we can and want to be.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Heavy Friends Furniture story. Tell us more about the business.
We mostly deal with custom furniture and cabinets. I build a lot of boxes for the knifemakers Bloodroot Blades here in Athens. I have taken several Windsor chair classes with a couple of different teachers and am in the beginning stages of developing a line of contemporary chairs. I am most proud of us just being in business. It is very rewarding to make a living building and being creative. There are days when I am dovetailing box parts and I will have a realization where I can’t really believe it’s happening. I think our attention to the details in our designs is what set us apart from other woodworkers. We love to run away with a design and I won’t think twice about adding hours to a project if I think the end results will be more special.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Athens is an incredible place. If you are trying to make a living with your craft, people are really willing to support you in any way they can. It’s a small town but the arts thrive here. I would absolutely recommend someone start out here. Running your own business is very demanding and hard at times, but that is the case anywhere. Even when things are at their most difficult, the supportive community here in Athens enables you to carry on.
Contact Info:
- Website: heavyfriends.com
- Email: heavyfriendsfurniture@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heavyfriendsfurniture/
Image Credit:
Lindsay Pennington
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