Southern Joinery was founded as a professional wood shop in Rome, Georgia, in January 2000. Ben Harrison, owner and founder, built his first wood project at the age of ten - a pie cooling rack for his mother that she still prizes - and has been working with wood ever since.
Before founding Southern Joinery, Ben spent 35 years involved in the manufacturing of products from many materials, such as steel, glass, and ceramics, putting to use his engineering degree from Auburn University. However, after an inspirational visit to a professional wood shop in Oregon, Ben left the industrial arena for good to honor his craftsman instincts and feed his passion for working with wood. The dream was clear - to bring to the South what he admired in this unique West Coast business: a collaborative wood shop whose furniture displays simplicity in design, workmanship of exceptional quality, natural finishes.
In less than a year, after a couple of research trips to Oregon and a lot of sawdust in Rome, Southern Joinery opened its doors with a wide array of sample pieces and an enthusiastic response from all who saw and touched them.
Through fifteen years of collaboration with customers and hundreds of heirloom pieces designed and built, Ben has expanded his lines to include Asian, Modern and, Bow-fronted pieces.
In his modernly equipped building (built 9 years ago) on the hill across from his home, he continues in the tradition of a one-man shop, carrying forward the same dedication to quality in workmanship that brought him to the business. Ben welcomes customers to his shop and home, which is filled with his own crafted pieces, to participate in designing their unique piece of furniture.