Creative Reuse: Summer 2005

Quite by happenstance, Vintage Furniture Manufacturing owner Paul Block first realized the potential of reusing wine barrels in 1997. As a student in an architectural program, Block was required to create physical models to help explain his ideas; he states that creating scale models of what one is trying to design helps improve upon an idea. Having to purchase materials to make his preliminary architectural models affected his design process because he wanted to avoid making a mistake when constructing the model and wasting expensive materials. As a result, Block used free reusable materials for his sketch models, and he was motivated by the creative freedom that comes from using free materials.

Also while attending Parson’s School of Design, Block was exposed to progressive environmental ideas such as sustainable agriculture, green architecture, alternative energies, ecological restoration, and the Gaian hypothesis¹. Here Block’s sense of reverence towards the Earth was crystallized.

Block poses the questions: How can one create art without creating waste? How can one be an artist and not be inspired by other artists involved with the same medium? He says that the answer is to find an unfamiliar and unexploited material. The idea of wine barrel furniture occurred to him without outside influence, and designing and building this furniture satisfies the inventor in him.

Block has two employees. His position at Vintage Furniture Manufacturing is to research and develop various reuses for the discarded barrels and produce a quality product that can be sold at a reasonable price.

He states that the first step in making wine barrel furniture is to find the barrel that has all the right characteristics for the product being made. Because not every wine barrel will make a comfortable rocking chair, his company offers 54 different products. The sushi platter and the rocking chair are two products that are not mass-producible because they require such rare characteristics.

To select the right barrel for the product, he removes the lid to look inside. Once this is done he can decided how to reuse it. Only 30 percent of the barrels he receives have the characteristics to become furniture; the other 70 percent are recycled into cooking wood. Because of this he started an adopt-a-barrel program, in which he takes a wine barrel, removes the lid, and fills it with two wine barrels’ worth of wood. He sells the barrel of wood for $25 and will deliver anywhere in Calistoga; refills are $10. Block emphasizes that every barrel he has contact with will be reused or recycled.

Block says the process for wine barrel furniture making is complex. Wine barrels are irregular and prohibit automation in the manufacturing process. However, he has created customs machines that are not affected by these irregularities to help him efficiently produce well-crafted furniture. Most of the products Block makes depend upon these unique measuring and cutting tools.

Block is currently establishing a wine barrel reuse/recycling facility in the commercial area of downtown Calistoga. The wine barrel recycling process will be of interest to many of the six million wine enthusiasts that visit Calistoga each year and will allow him to meet the people that buy his products.

While Block generally reuses wine barrels from wineries that are closest to his shop, he also reuses barrels from the wineries that purchase his reused/recycled barrel goods. Within three miles from his shop are 75,000 barrels available every year for his use. Block currently reuses or recycles 50 to 120 barrels each month.

Vintage Furniture Manufacturing currently offers 54 different products made entirely from wine barrel wood. However, variations and modifications can be made to any product to meet most specifications. Block has been approached by local residents and business owners who have shared with him their ideas about wine barrel products, which he then develops and refines.

Wine barrels are made from the finest oak available, and the wood selected must be free from knots and defects to ensure water tight seams. The trees must be more than 125 years old to obtain proper grain density for wine barrel construction. However, most trees are more than 200 years old since older trees yield a better flavor. The wood’s extraordinary grain density provides an opportunity to create durable products from this high quality wood. This factor affects all wine barrel furniture construction and design. The products Vintage Furniture Manufacturing builds from wine barrel wood are exceptionally sturdy, functional, and require little maintenance.

Contact information:
Vintage Furniture Manufacturing
1700 Cedar Street
Calistoga, CA 94515
(707) 337-2539
vfm1997@hotmail.com
www.winebarrelfurniture.com/
 

*Text for this article was provided by Paul Block.

¹ James Lovelock, Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth, New York, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1988.
This hypothesis, states that the earth is a kind of living organism, in which all animals and plants serve a function that helps maintain a stable environment.

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Last updated: February 27, 2008