The Salisbury Artisans wood shop is located among the beautiful historic factories and homes along the Wachocastinook Brook at the base of Mount Riga in Salisbury, CT. Cabinetmaker David Bowen has been making custom furniture here since 1997. Carbon Neutral: Fifty-three PV panels make our electricity and power our home’s geothermal system. A Steibol-Eltron evacuated tube solar collector heats our shop floor.
The Salisbury Cutlery Handle Factory began a bit upstream from here in 1874 by a consortium of local businessmen. The factory made wood, bone and stag(antler) handles for the Clyde Cutlery Co., the Baldwin Cutlery Co. and many of the Holley Pocket Knives. Salisbury Artisans was later founded as a division of the Salisbury Cutlery Handle Company concentrating on making woodenware from the beautiful imported cut-offs and overstock.
After a fire in 1935, the “Salisbury Artisans” employees, machinery and inventory of imported logs, moved here to 80 Factory Street where it has been in continuous operation.
Early Years:
In 1732 large deposits of iron were discovered in Salisbury. Iron, water power and vast forests of trees for charcoal enabled one of the first iron forges in the U.S.. Atop Mt. Riga, at the source of the Wachocastinook Brook, The Mt Riga Iron Furnace began production in 1762. Three years later, the American Revolution became the focus of Salisbury’s new iron industry.
Site of the Revolutionary War Foundry, Salisbury – Connecticut Historical Society By the war’s end, the Salisbury Furnace had turned out some 850 cannon, estimated to have been three-fourths of all those made in the colonies. George Washington called Salisbury the “Arsenal of the Revolution.”.
In 1844, on the site of Lakeville’s cannon production(photo above), Alexander H. Holley began The Holley Manufacturing Company, the first company in the U.S. to make pocket knives.
The Salisbury Association has this cabinet of Holley Pocketknives on display in the Academy Building, Main Street Salisbury.
The Salisbury Cutlery Handle Factory began a bit upstream from here in 1874 by a consortium of local businessmen. The factory made wood, bone and stag(antler) handles for the Clyde Cutlery Co., the Baldwin Cutlery Co. and many of the Holley Pocket Knives.
A fire moved the factory downstream to our present location in 1935. A champion of the beautiful grain of his imported hardwoods, Phil Warner began producing treen(wooden ware) showcasing the beautiful wood grain especially in classic lathe turned bowls.
On Factory Street, with iron and water power, businesses thrived –
In this circa 1935 photo of Salisbury Artisans, the logs (on the right) were imported from Venezuelan.
Employees, families, lumber barn and kiln of the Salisbury Cutlery Handle Factory
Photos courtesy of The Salisbury Association.
Turning stunning bowls, candle holders, and pepper mills from the Rosewood and Cocobolo once used for their cutlery handles, the “Salisbury Artisans” began advertising in the Tanglewood play bill and in 1948 Popular Science magazine offering exotic wood blanks as well. The Salisbury Artisans catalog circa 1950.
Richard Parsons was master turner. An olympic cross country skier, Mr Parsons represented the United States in the 1932 and 1936 Winter Games.
Many Salisbury residents have pieces of SALISBURY ARTISANS’ wooden ware in their homes. Most of the pieces are named for the natural sites of Salisbury, CT: Selleck Hill, Cobble, Bald Peak, Ethan Allen, Twin Lakes. A set of small vessels honors the hard workers of Mt. Riga, it was called “The Four Raggies.”
In 1951, Salisbury Artisans partnered with renown designer and potter Eva Zeisel on several forms for the home. The collaborations with Salsibury Artisans included candlesticks, fruit stands and a tea service tray.
Eva Zeisel – Legendary industrial designer and maker of beautiful things.
Purchasing Salisbury Artisans in the 1960’s, Lewis & Fannie McClure, along with turner Richard Parsons, continued the making of bowls and fine treen.
McCLure’s Press – “Mac” McClure’s replica of the Gutenberg Printing Press. With a forward by Harrison Salisbury, the plans for the press are available in book form.
Fannie McClure sold Salisbury Artisans to David Bowen in 1997.
photo: Walter Kidd
After an alliance with painter William Ward Beecher and Cornish potter Bridget Duxbury, the artisans plural are now singular: David continues on with his cabinet shop at Salisbury Artisans.
Proportion, appropriateness of style and showing beauty of wood are equally important in his work.
“I am honored to be working where woodworkers have produced so much with their time and effort.”
— David Bowen
