Exploring Life & Business with Urbn Timber

Today we’d like to introduce you to Urbn Timber. 

Hi Urbn , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Urbn Timber was established in early 2016 in a 1,200-square-foot unit on the South side of Columbus, OH. Treg Sherman, Tyler Hillyard, and Tyler Sirak – the three partners – recognized an ongoing issue with the disposal of the city’s trees and a useful material going to waste. The solution; collaborate with Columbus arborists to salvage trees that have been removed due to storm damage, potential hazard, new construction, disease, or death. Hardwood that has historically been left for waste or firewood, Urbn Timber would up-cycle into live edge wood slabs and contemporary furniture. As the business grew with popularity and the word started to spread, Urbn Timber was able to expand into 3 more 1,200 square foot units. About a year later, after connecting with more local makers, woodworkers, and designers, Urbn Timber had the opportunity to move into a neighboring building with 10,000 square feet. This expansion provided space for a dedicated showroom, along with a larger shop to take on more projects. Since then, Urbn Timber has continued to grow and become more rooted in the Columbus, OH community, constantly pursuing more ways to recycle our city’s Urban Forest. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Knock on wood… starting the business and growing it to be a sustainable operation has been rather smooth. Finding adequate space for our operation and navigating through COVID have been the most difficult obstacles, but we’ve been fortunate to overcome those challenges. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Trees that have grown in our backyards for decades are transformed into live edge slabs in our Columbus, Ohio-based wood shop. We collaborate with Columbus arborists to salvage trees that have been removed due to storm damage, potential hazard, new construction, disease or death. Hardwood that has historically been left for waste or firewood, Urbn Timber up-cycles into live edge wood slabs and contemporary furniture. Our team is intimately passionate about the process of revealing a tree’s natural beauty. Whether offering Columbus’ largest collection of live edge wood slabs or crafting custom hardwood furniture, we are dedicated to be a part of something that will last for another 100 years – as a cherished piece of family history. 

Urbn Timber utilizes strategic relationships with Columbus, Ohio arborists who allow our business to locally source hardwoods. Each tree we salvage is felled by arborists due to natural causes, then delivered to our log yard and milled into live edge slabs. The wood slabs are stacked and air-dry for 12 to 24 months to preserve their vibrant colors and rich character. Completing the drying process, each live edge slab is kiln-dried for three months resulting in a single-digit moisture content to ensure stability and longevity for your furniture. 

Urbn Timber collaborates with designers, architects, homeowners, and businesses to create sustainable, handmade furniture for both residential and commercial spaces. Our passion is to support the community by crafting the highest quality handmade products with a local spirit worthy of sharing. Urbn Timber and our makers are dedicated to each project and guide clients during each step of the process. By controlling the product from Tree to Table, we can ensure each piece of furniture is carefully crafted with our quality standards. 

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Seeing the joy, a completed piece of furniture brings to our clients, whether we built in our shop or if it was built by the customer! The more excited people become about building with live edge slabs and local hardwoods, the more possibilities we have to save our city’s trees from going to the landfill. 

Pricing:

• Live Edge Slabs
• Tabletop Surfacing
• EcoPoxy & Odie’s Oil
• Steel Table Legs
• Custom Hardwood Furniture

Contact Info:

• Website: www.urbntimber.com
• Instagram: @urbntimber
• Facebook: @urbntimber
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/UrbnTimber