Chatfield, Minnesota is located in the rolling hills and hardwood forests south and east of Minneapolis. In 1952 Chatfield resident Joseph (Joe) Tuohy’s hobby was making solid wood furniture with hand-carved, beautifully sculpted details. His ability to create reproductions of period furniture attracted the attention of local churches that wanted hand-carved pieces for their sanctuaries. As his furniture gained acclaim and popularity, he moved what was now a money-making enterprise from his garage to a former blacksmith shop nearby.
By 1954 he was quoted as saying his “hobby got out of hand” and became a full-time business. It was doing well enough that he incorporated, becoming Tuohy Church Furniture Company. And in 1955 he moved the business into a 4,000 square foot factory. As the company grew and its reputation and clientele broadened, the decision was made to drop “Church” from its name and the present-day Tuohy Furniture Company had arrived.
From its beginning 70 years ago, the trend of growth and evolution has been steady; not without ups and down, but steady. The company’s big break came when Marcel Breuer of Bauhaus fame was commissioned to design a Benedictine abbey in central Minnesota. Tuohy Church Furniture was selected to provide all the wood furnishings for the abbey church working from designs by Breuer himself. Close collaboration with architects and designers to manufacture project-specific furniture has been a major hallmark of the company from its earliest days to the present.
Hand-made hardwood furniture imbues one with a deep knowledge and love for the singular beauty of wood in its myriad colors and grain patterns. Joseph passed that deep understanding and love to his son Francis Michael (known as F. Mike) and from him, it has been passed to his sons, Daniel (Dan) and Michael, who are the CEO and COO, respectively, of the company today.
When F. Mike was asked to reflect on the company’s 70-year history, he said, “There are hundreds upon hundreds of people – families, that have woven this story with us. It is humbling to think of all of those faces, all of those people – workers, who drew together and performed so diligently for so many years. This story, is really a story about all of them…all of us.”
Even though the Tuohy story is one of growth, evolution and change there are some very obvious constants. Noteworthy among them are the commitment of the current leaders, Dan and Michael Tuohy, to the employees and clients of the company and to the community of Chatfield, where the company is still located.
Today Tuohy specializes in casegoods, conference tables, and seating designed for boardrooms and executive offices and installed in some of the largest companies and most prestigious law firms in the world. Their work is always in close collaboration with the specifying interior design firm or architect due to the client and project-specific nature of work at that level.
When Joe Tuohy was hand-carving solid wood furniture in his garage, there were four sawmills in Chatfield processing the hardwood from nearby forests. Now there are no sawmills in Chatfield and solid wood furniture has given way to veneered panels, which of course is a more ecologically sound approach. Tuohy uses only sustainable veneer from 100% sustainable sources.
All veneer panels used in the fabrication of Tuohy products are produced by Saunders Wood Specialties, a Tuohy-owned company in Northern Wisconsin. The panels are laid-up at Saunders and manufactured into finished products at the Touhy plant in Chatfield. The partnership allows for efficient specialization of functions while preserving the ability of Tuohy to offer a huge variety of wood species.
Tuohy hand selects the highest quality veneers for their products. If it is from plain slide or flat slice cuts, Touhy uses only book-matching of the veneer. For all quarter-sawn cuts they use only slip-matching. This balance-matched veneer layup provides uniform grain patterns and consistent, balanced color. During production the veneers for each workstation ae matched and tagged for each office-suite. All visible veneers are selected grade A with no sap grain.
Of course, an important contributor to the final quality, durability and appearance of wood furniture is the finish. Touhy’s wood finish is a self-sealing, water reduceable acrylic. This finish meets or exceeds KCMA test requirements for heat, cold, and stain spill-testing. It also meets or exceeds BIFMA hardness and rub testing.
The finish is hand-sprayed with heat applied between each coat to ensure full cure. Each coat is sanded, tacked, and visually inspected prior to application of the next coat. This is accomplished while achieving Indoor Air Advantage Gold certification.
Tuohy has invested in computer-controlled machinery that uses parametric manufacturing to allow for easy and rapid resizing of width, depth, and height of components for the endless custom applications that are consistent with its position in the market it serves.
I first visited Tuohy in Chatfield about 15 years ago. Many of the things that struck me about the company then were still obvious when I visited recently: the commitment to its people, and the concomitant longevity and loyalty of its people, the knowledge and appreciation of what it takes to make wood furniture at the highest quality level, the speed and transparency of decision making and the commitment to the local community as well as its larger community of specifiers, clients and the industry as a whole.
What also struck me on my recent visit was how far the company has come in developing and incorporating sophisticated, state-of-the-art manufacturing. I think the Tuohy of today would make “Grandpa Joe” extremely proud – even though it has come a long way from hand-carving solid wood.
