About Gudde Co.
I am a woodworker, I build furniture. I make things with my hands and I don’t wear gloves because they get in the way of keeping my hands rough from work (except when I’m welding of course, because not wearing gloves when welding would have the adverse affect of keeping my hands rough and I'm not an idiot). I have been told that I make functional pieces of art, and while I don’t refute that statement, I simply consider myself a woodworker who makes furniture. I believe that nature is the true artist. It’s my job to bring out the best of each piece of wood I work with. I don’t stain my work, or alter the natural colors of the wood. I use hand-rubbed oil finishes that are designed to bring out all the natural beauty each piece of wood has to offer. Every piece I make is designed, built and finished by me. I mill my own lumber whenever possible from fallen trees, cut every mortise and tenon, finish every live edge slab and lay every bead of welding on my pieces. I control the process from beginning to end, this way I know everything that leaves my shop is made to be passed through generations. I make heirloom quality furniture, in Austin, Texas.
- Dane Gudde
Deep in the heart of Texas, in a small, cramped, almost always hot East Austin workshop filled to the brim with three things:
The sweet, sweet smell of fresh-cut wood
A steady stream of good guitar-driven music to keep things moving
The busy hands of a dedicated craftsman
Oh, and I am not sure how I almost forgot:
Shelves and shelves, and sometimes stacks, of hand-picked wood dreaming about becoming your next piece of furniture
It’s in this small workshop the man attached to those hands, Dane Gudde (pronounced GOOD-ee), a local small business owner and artisan woodworker, designs and builds custom furniture the right way—the only way he knows how.
The way his grandfather and then nine-year-old father crafted the desk now standing in his office, the same desk that has faithfully and sturdily served three generations of his family, and should serve another three...at least.
There are easier, and definitely cheaper, ways to build furniture. But that ain’t Dane.
Instead, each and every piece starts with beautiful, hand-picked solid wood. Understanding the unique characteristics of both the species and your specific pieces of wood, Dane crafts simple and clean designs to ensure your furniture won’t fall apart, or out of style, until long after you’re gone.
From there, Dane’s hands stay busy, and his beard gets sweaty, as his dedication to impeccable and meticulous craftsmanship and timeless techniques highlight, not hide, the natural beauty of the wood in each piece he hand crafts.
“If you want stain on your wood, then I’m not your guy,” Gudde says. “Truly beautiful wood needs nothing but a hand rubbed, natural oil finish to bring out the beautiful colors already in there.”
Dane even mills, cures and prepares his own lumber, saving beautiful old, Austin trees killed by drought or disease, or washed away by a spring flash flood, from decaying in the dump—transforming historic wood into heirloom, truly-local furniture.
“I build every piece to be leaned on, and loved on,” Dane says. “To honor and extend the life of these beautiful, majestic pieces of Austin history by building furniture that will last. Living pieces that survive, each scuff, nick and scar a reminder of the stories and memories that you and your family made around that piece.
“Everyday I try to build better pieces. I want to constantly be stretching my boundaries and striving to learn new techniques and develop new designs. The day I stop pushing to create something new, or learn is the day I will stop making furniture. Tables and chairs that will stand the test of time, survive fights between your kids, with the hopes that one day, long after you’re gone your grandkids will fight over who gets to inherit them.”