Transform your life
Perhaps the single most important part of Puffin Design's business is our network of suppliers. These are people in various enterprises who find the raw ingredients for us to create the things we do.
Awhile back, Alison and I pulled up to the shop of one of our favorite sources ....Three Mile Antiques, near Bonners Ferry Idaho, when Mike - the proprietor - came running out to greet us. Barely able to contain himself, he took us to the side of his store and showed us his latest find. It was a gorgeous, old, ...well rusted transformer. Imagine, Mike exclaimed, "the table base that this transformer will make." We couldn't agree more. Mike just doesn't miss with his picks.
About a year earlier, while schlepping around a junk store in Cranbrook British Columbia, Bart found a large "mill stone". The interesting thing is that the mill stone was never finished. The one side was never faced. When mill stones are quarried, the rock (sandstone) must be free from defects and of sufficient hardness to grind grain without the surface of the wheel breaking down. For whatever reason, this wheel was mostly completed before it was abandoned by the craftsman making it.
We cleaned up the transformer, being careful to leave the patina, and added the the grinding wheel as the table top - with the spectacular unfinished side up. Voila...one of the most interesting bistro tables in existence.
To set the stage, Bart grabbed a couple of stools that Ali has been working on. Calling Alison at home, Bart asked Ali to bring the cameras as well as some wine and glasses for a photo shoot. Keep in mind that this was well before noon on a Sunday. As luck would have it, a group of six ladies dropped by to view the galleries just as we were finishing the staging. It wasn't until after they left that Alison commented on what the visitors must think about a half finished bottle of wine with full glasses on a Sunday morning.
The best thing about this bistro table is that it will get better with age when exposed to the elements. If it is located in a shady area, the sandstone edge will attract moss which will put this table over the top as a defining piece in outdoor furniture. As with all Puffin Design creations, this table is "one of a kind."
.....$800.
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