The Salisbury Artisans wood shop is at 80 Factory Street at the base of Mount Riga in Salisbury, CT. Cabinetmaker David Bowen has been making custom furniture here since 1997.
Early Years on Mt. Riga and in Salisbury:
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.
In 1762, at the top of Mt. Riga and the source of The Wachocastinook Brook, The Mt Riga Iron Furnace began production. Three years later, the American Revolution became the focus of Salisbury’s new iron industry.
Lakeville, CT site of the Revolutionary War Foundry – Connecticut Historical Society By the war’s end, the Lakeville (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, Alexander H. Holley began The Holley Manufacturing Company, the first company in the U.S. to make pocket knives.
This cabinet of Holley Pocketknives is on display at The Salisbury Association in the Academy Building, Main Street Salisbury.
Here on Factory Street, along the Wachocastinook brook (Mohican for “land at the stony hill”) businesses thrived.
In 1874, further up the Wachocastinook Brook, a consortium of local businessmen founded The Salisbury Cutlery Handle Factory to manufacture wood, bone and stag (antler) knife handles. Clients included the Clyde Cutlery Co., the Baldwin Cutlery Co. and pocket knife handles for The Holley Manufacturing Company.
To showcase the beautiful grain of their imported hardwoods beyond knife handles, Phil Warner created a new division of The Salisbury Cutlery Handle Factory named “Salisbury Artisans.” Manufacturing “treen” (woodenware) Salisbury Artisans produced classic-form lathe-turned bowls, pepper mills and more.
After a fire in 1935, the Salisbury Artisan employees, machinery and inventory of imported logs, moved to 80 Factory Street wood shop. From 1935 the shop has been in continuous operation.
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 treen in their homes. Most of the pieces are named for natural sites in and around 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.”(photo, lower left)
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.
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
