Above: Lineground bedroom collection

Furniture designer Jacob Marks is “dedicated to redefining American Craft in the context of modern design.” A self-taught furniture builder and designer and the man behind Skram Furniture, Marks can be called materials-obsessed and draws from a very specific palette of woods: Cherry, German Beech, White Oak, White Ash, and Black Walnut.

Though the austere and precise lines of Skram pieces suggest Scandinavian or Japanese lineage, the company is actually based in Hillsborough, North Carolina; they produce seating, tables, beds, mirrors, storage pieces, and sundry housewares from their 17,000-square-foot facility.
Above: Knucklehead side table

The very act of wooden furniture-making can be seen as an environmentally-harmful process–after all, you’re cutting trees down, sawing them into pieces and treating them with chemicals–but sustainability is a large part of Skram’s philosophy, on both the manufacturing and the design ends.

First, let’s look at manufacturing. The company uses only uses non-toxic adhesives and low VOC finishes. (Over time, any finish containing a high enough level of VOC’s, or Volatile Organic Compounds, can give off invisible and odorless fumes believed to have degenerative health effects.) And since some of Skram’s pieces uses veneers, earlier this year the company began transitioning to the use of formaldehyde-free, 100% recycled substrate for all of its veneer pieces. Lastly, the company is committed to purchasing its raw materials through sustainable timber certification programs.

Second, let’s look at Skram’s philosophy of sustainability built into the very design. As an excerpt from the company’s mission statement points out,

“[We reject] built-in obsolescence and [argue] for the creation of objects of truly enduring beauty, crafted with care and intended for a lifetime of use…. In an era where trends of fashion and shoddy construction make quick biodegradability of materials that regenerate at the rate of their consumption necessary, Skram [believes] that innovative design paired with meticulous workmanship and authentic materials can yield objects of enduring value.”

Above: Wall-mounted mirrors

You can browse Skram’s collection (and download their catalogue) here.