Steve E. Dietrich

Furniture Maker, Owner

A disabled Veteran owned business. I am descended from German cabinet makers - my ancestors immigrated to America as "joiners." It is in my blood and I can't escape it. I picked out my first antique and began making furniture when I was about 5 - over 55 years ago. I wasn't very good. I took a four year break from furniture making when I went to West Point. For the following 20-some years, as an Army nomad, I collected affordable antiques and made furniture in Army craft shops, spare bedrooms, storage rooms, and sidewalks of Army quarters. I got better. In 2004, after settling down, I equipped my first real workshop and began taking lessons with some of our Nation's top furniture makers, Windsor chair makers, carvers, and finishers and accelerated my lifelong serious study of the craft and period furniture. I focused on mastering hand tool skills and studied quality antique examples in museums and private collections. I got pretty good. What you'll see on my ETSY site, Pinterest, and website (forthcoming) are examples of furniture I've made under those masters tutelage, on my own, for our home, on spec, and on commission. You be the judge. See my articles on furniture making and furniture history in the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) annual journal, American Period Furniture, 2011 and 2017 (forthcoming). I also learned and sold Bauernmalerei (German Folk Art) while stationed in Germany and perfected it under the guidance of a German-trained master. I am a lifetime member of SAPFM and a member of the Fredericksburg (VA) Area Woodworkers Guild (FAWG).