A Note from the Designer, Brianne

If I had been asked in college to ‘write a list of the top 100 professions you could see yourself pursuing in your life’, designing furniture would have been nowhere on it. CFO, Business Consultant, Lawyer….much more likely candidates.

It wasn’t until almost 10 years into my finance/accounting career, that I tapped into what you could call my ‘creative spark’. I had worked hard and navigated my way into a good, well-paying corporate job with endless opportunities if I played my cards right. Problem was, I was burnt out….like ‘pile of cinders’ level burnt out.

I had just purchased a condo in Downtown Minneapolis and was in the process of furnishing and making it my own. As part of this process, I had the wild idea of coming up with my own coffee table using a repurposed railroad cart that I had found at local vintage store, Hunt & Gather. I cleaned it all up, incorporated a unique wood piece stamped with a Minneapolis, MN logo and found a glass top to round out the look. Such a simple piece but I found the creative process of bringing my idea to life absolutely exhilarating!

After that experience, it was a rinse and repeat exercise, and I could not get enough. I found a love for repurposing because it was a way to exercise my creative mind with unique pieces that told a story. I eventually started exploring the options to sell my creations, which led me to sign up as a vendor at a local vintage shop and participate in several pop-up markets over the next couple years.

In the vintage shop where I was selling items, there were a handful of vendors that were re-selling and/or re-purposing a wide range of mid-century modern furniture. Knoll, Eames, Wegner, you name it. It was love at first site, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. The beautiful construction, the rich material, the clean lines – it was all so aesthetically pleasing and my creative brain was going crazy just imagining all the possibilities.

I was still working my corporate job during the day and had become quite unhappy in the current role that I was in. I came to a fork in the road…do I pursue another role in my current field or do I GO FOR IT. Pursue this creative energy of an idea inside of me and see where it takes me. A monumental decision to make but surprisingly one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.

I started Timber & Tulip in June 2016 with a passion and a hope (and really not much more). I had yet to create my first design from scratch and had very little idea of how to do it. I sketched out some ideas, connected with the first woodworker and welder that I could find on Craigslist and got started.

Four years and hundreds of unique creations and wonderful clients later, Timber & Tulip is still here (whew!). Servicing more custom furniture clients than I could have ever imagined and about to launch Timber & Tulip’s first ever furniture line of natural modern tables. So grateful for all the moments that brought me to this moment and so thrilled to see what is yet to come.

P.S. Sure glad I never became a lawyer ;)