I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about how I create our custom furniture mockups!

It all starts with a customer request. Sometimes a request is extremely detailed—a customer may send images of pieces he/she likes and exact dimensions for the desired piece of furniture. Sometimes the customer isn’t exactly sure what he/she may want and the request is a little more open-ended—maybe just some elements of items on our site that are appealing, or the kind of style that fits into the customer’s home. Or sometimes, a customer just would like to see one of our standard designs in a different color or configuration. I enjoy working on any type of request!

Lines and simple shapes are behind every custom mockup.

Next, I’ll open up a 3D modeling program on my PC and get to work. The 3D furniture model starts with simple shapes and lines. If dimensions have been provided, I can make the model exactly to scale. When the model is formed, I add on color and texture maps to simulate wood grain and finish. Sometimes this can be the most challenging part of making a good-looking mockup! The 3D program also allows me to simulate lighting and reflections, to make the final image look more realistic.

When the model is completed, John or Gail will send it off to the customers. I hope they’ll like it! But if it’s not quite what they had in mind, we can use the image as a point of discussion for changes, and I’ll make adjustments to the mockup or perhaps build something new. One of the great things about our mockups is that it’s very easy to try out different wood finishes, different table tops, and all sorts of other details without a very long wait!

Wood color and texture added!

The most exciting thing for me, is when a customer really likes his/her custom mockup and decides to order it. Then, the mockup images are sent off to the craftsmen, and they’ll build the piece for real! The craftsmen have an amazing eye for detail and always make the final piece even better than the mockup. I often see the custom pieces at our regular photo shoots. It’s such a pleasure to see a piece of furniture “come to life” and imagine how much the customer will enjoy it.

So, in a nutshell, that’s Erik Organic custom furniture mockups. If you ever want to order up some custom furniture, just visit this page and send a message or give us a call!

Here's me, enjoying the North Shore of Lake Superior!

I thought I had better properly introduce myself!

My name is Rachelle and I live in Minnesota with my husband, two big furry cats, and about 30 hermit crabs that live in a huge aquarium. When I’m not working on the Erik Organic website, I enjoy just about any art and craft I can get my hands on! Just some of the things I enjoy include: embroidery, knitting and crochet, sewing clothing, stained glass, fused glass, calligraphy, metal jewelry, beadwork, drawing and painting, collage, bookbinding, stuffed-animal making… I love trying new things! I also love staying fit and enjoying our beautiful Minnesota summers. My favorite summer activities include cycling, hiking, and camping.

I received my bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the Art Institutes International in Minneapolis. Since graduation, I worked primarily as a graphic designer for several years, but gradually added web development and 3d modeling to my resume  as well. I was pleased to use my 3d modeling skills when I started with Erik Organic doing custom furniture mockups over a year ago. It has been so fulfilling to be a part of the custom design process, to help a customer realize his/her vision, and to see that vision come to life in beautiful solid wood!

Recently, I’ve also signed on to do day-to-day management of the website — this includes things like adding new photos to our galleries and adding lots of new furniture designs! I also hope to share more stories here and make some nice improvements to our site over the coming months, so I hope you’ll visit often.

If you want to say hello, stop over at our Facebook page and write something on the wall!

After seeing all the great furniture that everyone is getting I had to have something for myself.  I live in a rather small lake home built by my grandfather.  So while it would be great to have a large Dining table or hutch of some sort, my dining area simply doesn’t have the space.  My living room on the other hand did need a nice end table.

Looking to my coffee table for inspiration on the design I sent a couple of pictures of it to our craftsmen to look at.  Of course they could make something like it, it’s made from wood.  I gave them some sizes that I was looking at and on my next trip down to them I was able to pick up my brand new solid oak hardwood end table that matches perfectly the design of my coffee table.

I have had a number of people over who without even pointing it out to them said “WOW, where did you get that?  It fits perfectly in your house.”  Not only the design to match the coffee table, but also the all wood interior of my home as well.  My grandfather built an excellent home to retire in that has been passed down to his first born grandson who is keeping up with the all wood interior that looks so nice in a lake home.

Marilyn and Larry's Bedroom

“John,

We took delivery of our furniture on February 28, 2011. It consisted of two Lotus nightstands, a Lotus armoire, a Lotus dresser and a Tulip bed – all pieces are in natural hard maple.

From the very first contact I had with a representative of Erik Organic I have had nothing but great service. Gail became a friend I could call with any problem. She would answer my questions, problem solve, or contact Erik who always provided a rapid response – this, of course, we greatly appreciated..

A Lotus Nightstand

The opportunity of having a test sample delivered to our home was fabulous. It definitely is a great idea of your company. It eased any doubts as to the quality of the furniture.

[The craftsman] is a delight to talk with. He was very nice and patient with me. He provided the comfort zone I needed when I wondered how all this was going to come together. He made me feel very confident that we would get what we wanted. (I’m a very hands-on-person, so not being there to see this come together was difficult for me.)

We are very pleased with everything about our Erik Organic bedroom furniture – with our selection of styles, wood, and finish. Having the ability to request sizes and design aspects was great. Gail was able to convey our requests and the craftsman applied them. I would not change one thing that was done on any of our pieces. Our armoire with the pocket doors was the most difficult piece of all – size, drawers, etc. The craftsman used his judgment and it came out perfect – exactly what we wanted and needed.

The Lotus Armoire

All five pieces have the same wonderful craftsmanship, beautiful finished, and are very study. The bed is solid – it does not creak whenever one of us moves in it. The dresser drawers are deep and just the right size. We do not lack for storage space.

Simon delivered the furniture and he is an excellent representative of Dan and Erik Organic. He is a very courteous and conscientious gentleman. We wish he could have stayed longer.

Because of this beautiful furniture, we have a very comfortable retreat that has the feel of being wrapped in a cozy cloak of warmth. Please convey to [our craftsman] and the other craftsmen how very much we appreciate their work. We will think of them often. Our experience with Erik Organic has been exceptional. We look forward to the possibility of working with Erik Organic in the future.

To everyone at Erik Organic – THANK YOU!

Sincerely and most appreciatively,

Marilyn and Larry from Nevada

In Pioneer times, the harvest was the best time of the year. Families stacked their produce on tables that literally groaned from the weight of canned or dried snap beans, fruits, tomatoes, pickles and minces. These were the foods that would see them through the long and sometimes bitterly cold winters of a vast, new continent.

Today, a harvest dining table recalls that abundance, especially at certain times of the year like Thanksgiving. Though a harvest table can be many styles, it is most likely to be Early American; that is, Colonial, Primitive, Pennsylvania Dutch or Shaker, which are all fairly utilitarian types of furniture whose focus is on durability rather than elegance.

At Erik Organic, the Harvest dining table has been reinterpreted in a long, narrow rectangle that provides optimum seating. Crafted in sturdy maple, the wood of choice of cabinetmakers and wood flooring experts, the Harvest Dining Table is also available in equally durable dark (mahogany) or light (cinnamon) oak, hickory, or walnut. In fact, you can have the Harvest Dining Table crafted in any of the 70 hardwood choices the company offers, and in sizes ranging from the 70” x 32” table shown up to 140” long and 48” wide.

The choice of wood is purely a personal preference, since all of Erik Organic’s hardwoods are sustainably grown, harvested, cut to specific dimensions, then dried – first by hand and then in a kiln, to insure that the moisture content is low. This method insures that the lumber used in our furniture will not later warp or crack, ruining a finely crafted item of furniture.

The trestle dining table actually dates back to ancient Rome, where stacks of stone and a stone slab made up a dining space.

By the 12th Century, the form had been adapted to wood, and consisted of connected planks on top of trestle-type legs, all of which could be disassembled and set aside – a valuable feature in the Middle Ages, when interior space was at a premium for all but those who were rich enough to build their own castles.

The design persisted, and was particularly easy for American settlers to adapt, requiring only planks for the legs, center stretcher and top, all supported on solid trestle-type feet. In fact, the oldest (or at least most common) form of trestle is a sawhorse, and the word itself comes from the Latin word for a crossbeam. Trestle tables have the advantage of two supports, rather than four legs, which makes seating people around a trestle table easier – no one has to fight for space with a table leg.

Erik Organic’s modern interpretation of this Early American classic retains all the solid good looks and simple functionality of the tables of yesteryear, evident in the sturdiness of the 1.5-inch thick tabletops supported by massively squared and keyed uprights. Then, Amish furniture artisans cleverly shape the trestle “feet” so that the eye is drawn away from the squared lines and into a sense of splendid symmetry.

Beyond the actual trestle table, Erik Organic offers several dining table designs that echo the trestle styling but take it to the next level. These include the Woodland with its pillared uprights and modified trestle base, the Santego with its narrow, planked uprights and slim trestle feet reminiscent of the refectory tables in a Medieval monastery, and the Tuscany dining table, which adds interesting design details to the essential trestle motif.

Whichever your choice, rest assured that Erik Organic’s Amish furniture craftsmen have created an heirloom quality piece of furniture designed to satisfy your demand for quality and comfort now and into the distant future.

Nothing suggests the tenor of a home more than well-read, well-kept books. And nothing will help you keep those books in better shape than a solid, sturdy hardwood bookshelf from Erik Organic.

One of the company’s more evocative designs is the Kyoto, offered in a choice of eight standard hardwoods and fashioned with the same exacting care and attention to detail as Erik Organic’s other furniture. In addition to roomy shelves, the Kyoto model also offers two doors for additional storage.

The Kyoto bookshelf, available in sizes from 50 inches high and 30 inches wide to 5 feet high and 40 inches wide, with a standard depth of 14 inches, is a classically simple Amish design that leaps easily in the 21st century. With sides bowing distinctively outward at top and bottom, it brings to mind the elaborately “winged” roof of a Chinese pagoda.

This design is accentuated by the continuation of the side panels into tapered “feet” and top supports which firmly brace the weight of this substantial yet very airy-looking piece of furniture.

The wonderfully marbled grain of medium quarter sawn oak accentuates the design, giving the buyer a wonderful sense of “light” and lightness – a motif carried through by the very simple yet elegant raised panel doors and slipmatched door panels that reveal oak’s naturally complex grain.

The shelves are installed at common presents (tall to short), but can be custom-fit at your request. And contrary to factory-made bookshelves – the kind that self-destruct and find their way into landfills within five years – these bookshelves are heirloom quality. They even have composite hardwood back panels, made of wood that was not perfect enough to go into bookshelf fronts or other highly visible areas.

Elegant as the Kyoto design is, it may not come in the right size, or exactly the type of wood, you have your heart set on. In that case, simply contact the company to order a custom design plan and get a price quote – or even “test drive” a sample piece of furniture.

Once you’ve fallen in love with your bookshelves (and added the appropriate Buddha statue), consider extending your theme with one of Erik Organic’s other Kyoto-styled pieces of furniture.

A chair, suggests Wikipedia, is a stable, raised surface commonly supported on four legs and designed for one person to sit on.

As far as it goes, the description is adequate, but the writers at Wiki obviously haven’t seen the Montrose Cherry Dining Chair offered by Erik Organic.

This piece of furniture offers a raised-surface seat, rounded rather than square to soften its lines, and four elegantly tapering legs. Then it also adds strength by incorporating three stretchers – one on each side and one across the center.

This addition, even more than the back panels and the gently curving top and bottom “rails”, or slats, insures that the Montrose chair is designed to remain steadfastly reliable for generations, never giving out beneath even the largest occupants.

Made in warm, glowing cherry, and finished to advertise the depth and beauty of that wood as it ages, the Montrose Cherry Dining Chair, made by Amish insures that your family, and your guests, won’t find themselves suddenly, perhaps painfully, seated on the floor amidst the parts of a chair, as so often happens with cheaper, foreign-made, composite chairs.

These chairs, which escape being manufactured completely of “engineered” (man-made) wood only by virtue of the fact that plywood or particle board doesn’t lend itself to turning on a lathe or carving by hand, are made to become obsolescent. In five years or less, they are consigned to a landfill, providing another sales opportunity for avaricious manufacturers.

No so the Montrose. Made of solid hardwood, by Amish furniture craftsmen who take the time to produce “heirloom-quality” pieces, this solid wood dining chair with arms and leather seats will never leave your loved ones, or guests, stranded on the floor.

In fact, the craftsmen at Erik Organic are so sure of their skills that the company offers a 100-percent guarantee on your purchase, based on its decade of proven customer satisfaction and its reputation for quality founded in the ethic that businesses must uphold their end of the social contract by being responsible to customers, to the land, and to the greater community at large.

For Erik Organic, this means not only hiring the best of the best in terms of furniture artisans, but also insuring that their hardwoods are sustainably grown and harvested, many within 50 miles of the shop, on land whose owners agree with the principles of sustainability. Sustainability is defined as “using the wealth of the natural world in such a way that we can hand it down to our children and grandchildren essentially unchanged.”

Library Table

The Montrose library table in gleaming cherry hardwood is an instant classic. In fact, it’s so perfectly timeless you could transport it back to 1825 and it wouldn’t look out of place in a Charleston, S. Carolina sitting room alongside a sideboard by Thomas Elfe.

The top of this elegantly metered table is a more than two feet in diameter, superbly stained and finished to highlight the contrast between the two wood grains while still preserving the appearance of an unbroken whole. The inlaid, 16-inch oak and walnut checkerboard is a custom option, as is the eight-sided table of similar dimensions with its octagonal skirting and bullnose edge (though options also exist for a waterfall, notched or beveled edge)

Add to that gently curving feet, and the study yet graceful Montrose bench legs designed to support the weight of the tabletop created from 1.5 inch hardwood, and you have a piece of furniture that will occupy a place of honor in your home.

You can also choose to have your Montrose library table crafted of solid oak or maple, which are less expensive, or from durable, long-lived hickory. In fact, there are 59 possible choices, all equally durable and beautiful.

Like all Erik Organic furniture, this lovely side table is made from sustainably harvested, American-grown hardwoods, many trees grown within 50 miles of their origins, and each is designed to outlast its owner to create a 22nd century heirloom.

“I am thrilled, everything is perfect. The timing, the craftsmen made sure the dining table & chairs were delivered before Thanksgiving. The workmanship is excellent, I could not have asked for more. It is flawless. Please thank the craftsmen!

The finish is just superb, truly beautiful work. We could not be happier!”

- Jay from Massachusetts

Mission Dining Set #1

Mission Cherry Dining Table, 140″ long x 42″ wide x 30″ high. Tabletop: rectangular.
Table edge: 1/2″ round. Add three 18″ leaves. Tabletop built from 1.5″ hardwood. Antique wood finish.

Twenty Dining Chairs: Eighteen (18) Mission Dining Chairs in Cherry, No Arms, Standard wooden seats. Two (2) Mission Dining Chairs in Cherry, Add Arms, Standard wooden seats. Antique wood finish.

Custom Buffet, also in Cherry hardwood. Antique wood finish.