About
unpainted Americana - the story
Where a hobby and passion connect with memories and family...
Unpainted Americana is a company located in North Tonawanda, New York and born from my love for woodworking. Following in my dad's footsteps since I was able to walk. Established in 2004 from my passion for reclaiming and preserving old wood, creating new functionality while keeping it's history alive. I find myself at a stage of life where my passion and hobby have re-surfaced and blossomed into bringing memories together for myself, family, and friends. Get in touch to learn more about my process and to help me add to history and create memories for you and your family.
Defining: "unpainted" in unpaintedAmericana
Company name explained: The word "unpainted" will always be indicated with a lowercase "u", that is on purpose and meant as an understatement with respect to the wood history. Most of our products sold are from reclaimed wood. Our goal at "unpaintedAmericana" is to preserve the wood's history, re-claim functionality, and invite our customers to take part in adding to our preservation efforts and company history.
"unpainted" is also in reference to how we here at unpaintedAmericana feel the woods history should be left untouched including natural and manmade imperfections. Putting a finish on wood that has survived 100's of years would, in our opinion, take away from its story.
Beyond our control and we invite our customers to add any finish they desire. Again, we are looking for our customers to become part of the wood and unpaintedAmericana's history.
Recommendation: If customers want to add a protective finish and not change the look and feel of the product, we recommend WATCO Danish Oil. Very easy wipe on/off application process and really brings out the wood grain. A light sanding of all the surfaces is recommended before applying WATCO oils.
________________________________________________________________________________
Funny story: How unpainted Americana got its name. Back in 1987 there was a movie with Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter called Raising Arizona. Very funny story with a set of funny characters, one called Nathen Arizona who owned a furniture store called Unpainted Arizona. Now, this name stuck with me for some reason mainly because of the owner, Nathan Arizona’s rather obnoxious advertisements.
Fast forward to 2004, the year I started reclaiming wood with the idea of someday creating furniture from the reclaimed wood. Still at the time I was advancing my career, raising kids, finding my way through life. One day in 2019 my wife Liz and I sat down to pencil in some names for a website and to start getting back into woodworking. We were thinking we would just jot down some ideas and leave it at that.
I explained the movie, which Liz and I had seen a few times. I wanted the company name to indicate products were “Made in the U.S.A". With in about 4 minutes, we have “unpainted Americana” which also defined how the unfinished approach preserves the natural and man-made imperfections. Reclaim, repurpose and let the natural beauty tell the wood’s history.
Friends & Family of uA:
Copyright © 2024 unpainted americana - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy Website Builder
This website uses cookies.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.