Our Story
We have done a few crazy things over the years. We go married in Thailand while Peter was teaching in a one room school house in Cambodia. Before we had kids, we started a non-profit to make documentary style videos for overseas missionaries in Southeast Asia and East and West Africa. We also took a 21 day scooter trip from Michigan to Olympia Washington, then down to Los Angeles.
For 15 years Peter has worked a variety of web or software engineering jobs, gradually moving to working entirely remotely. That enabled us to be flexible enough to keep doing crazy things on the side, like having a milk cow for 5 years, buying a mill, or cutting all the parts for a timber framed cabin in our basement over a winter so we could assemble it the following summer. Amanda has been building things for us to use around the house for as many years, starting with beds built with hardware store 2X4s following plans from Ana White, but has been designing things from scratch for a long time.
For 15 years Peter has worked a variety of web or software engineering jobs, gradually moving to working entirely remotely. That enabled us to be flexible enough to keep doing crazy things on the side, like having a milk cow for 5 years, buying a mill, or cutting all the parts for a timber framed cabin in our basement over a winter so we could assemble it the following summer. Amanda has been building things for us to use around the house for as many years, starting with beds built with hardware store 2X4s following plans from Ana White, but has been designing things from scratch for a long time.
After Peter was laid off of his most recent job, we asked ourselves if it was time to do something crazy again? We have been up-skilling with our woodworking side shuffle for 4 years now, making quality handcrafted furniture for ourselves and friends. With the encouragement of family and our community, we decided to move forward with starting a casket business, with two unique goals. They needed to be well built entirely of wood and they needed to double as a bookcase. One of the hardest parts of a business is pricing, particularly if everything you do is custom work. We have chosen to focus on building just one thing, caskets, and having set prices to make it easier for people to know what they are getting and how much they will cost.
Why caskets you ask? Shortly after we got the mill in 2020 we had a friend tell us that she wanted us to make her casket. Amanda has been thinking about making caskets ever since. This past year a few more people said they would buy a casket from us as well. Amanda's dad thought this was a great idea and encouraged us to pursue it.
A casket is a bulky item and will take up space while you store it. Young couples who are at the stage in life where they have just bought their first house aren't exactly in the market for a casket and those that need them, need them at somewhat short notice. But... our priest has a coffin that doubles as a bookcase. We could make ours double as a bookcase while looking great ( and not particularly morbid ) for both purposes! That would solve the storage issue as well as the limited clientele.
A fellow parishioner was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at 38 years old and was given 6 months to live... she proceeded to beat the odds year after year and lived for 6 additional years before dying. Seeing her make funeral preparations and having our community come along side during the whole process has been an eye opening experience. (Not sure if this plays a role or where I am going with this, but was thinking stream of consciousness)
Why caskets you ask? Shortly after we got the mill in 2020 we had a friend tell us that she wanted us to make her casket. Amanda has been thinking about making caskets ever since. This past year a few more people said they would buy a casket from us as well. Amanda's dad thought this was a great idea and encouraged us to pursue it.
A casket is a bulky item and will take up space while you store it. Young couples who are at the stage in life where they have just bought their first house aren't exactly in the market for a casket and those that need them, need them at somewhat short notice. But... our priest has a coffin that doubles as a bookcase. We could make ours double as a bookcase while looking great ( and not particularly morbid ) for both purposes! That would solve the storage issue as well as the limited clientele.
A fellow parishioner was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at 38 years old and was given 6 months to live... she proceeded to beat the odds year after year and lived for 6 additional years before dying. Seeing her make funeral preparations and having our community come along side during the whole process has been an eye opening experience. (Not sure if this plays a role or where I am going with this, but was thinking stream of consciousness)