Habersham Furniture
In early 1969, Habersham furniture founder Joyce Eddy was
a single mother struggling to support two young sons in the small North Georgia
town of Clarkesville. After working as a clothing factory accountant for
a few years, a family friend gave her the opportunity to operate a small
antique shop located above an old laundromat.
Looking for a way to make her antique business more profitable,
Joyce soon began crafting small, decorative pocketbooks from vintage wooden
cigar boxes. They were an instant hit with customers and Joyce decided to
name her new venture Habersham Plantation after Georgia's Habersham County
and the plantations for which the area was known.
Not much later, Joyce drove by a local textile company where
she spotted a large pile of discarded wooden spools. Struck by an idea, she
purchased them and set about crafting them into candleholders, towel racks
and other practical folk art items. Like the cigar boxes, these delightful
designs sold extremely well. With the help of her sons and other family members,
Joyce soon expanded Habersham's offerings to include handcrafted furniture
pieces reflecting the American Country design styles of the early 17th and
18th centuries.
Word of these unique furnishings spread quickly.
To meet growing production demands without sacrificing her
commitment to the handcrafted quality of original American Country furniture,
she enlisted the help of individual woodworkers from her North Georgia region.
Because the region had been a center for cabinetmaking since the early 1800s,
the area's master craftsmen were quite familiar with the time-tested woodworking
and joinery techniques Joyce demanded for her growing line. In fact, she
even designed her factory to work just as the 18th century cabinetmakers
did, with individual artisans hand-finishing, signing and dating each piece
of furniture they crafted.
It wasn't long before Joyce began receiving national recognition.
Her acclaimed designs appeared in leading magazines. Inquiries came in from
across the country. And in 1984, President Reagan hosted Joyce when she was
named
Now, as then, the Habersham Plantation furniture name is synonymous with the
fine art of furniture design. And over the years, the line has grown to include
furniture, custom cabinetry and accent pieces in an array of rich, opulent
finishes and delicate, hand-painted designs.
Yet despite its rapid growth, Habersham furniture has never
wavered from Joyce Eddy's core business philosophy – that the creation
of fine furniture is a true art form demanding that each piece be individually
crafted, painted and finished by hand. Habersham Furniture offers its collections
through fine home furnishings retailers like Basista Furniture.
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