As the holiday season approaches, are you thinking of what traditions you cherish most? There is no doubt that traditions are important; they are the anchor in our lives that form a fundamental part of our identity.

Wood product businesses understand the importance of tradition and many take pride in their histories and strive to maintain techniques and products that stay true to their business heritage.  

This holds true for Andrew Pearce Bowls. This past June marked the company’s 10-year anniversary. The Pearce name is well known and associated with elegant and unique craftsmanship. “Our 10-year anniversary is extraordinary because my craft and my business is born out of decades of tradition,” said Andrew Pearce. “Generations of Pearce family members before me were, and are, artisans. Each of us shares a love of creating with our hands and a commitment to practice our crafts with the utmost respect for our impact on the environment. The success I’ve achieved with woodworking is my contribution to our family story of artistry done with innovation, passion, and a conscious effort to protect the environment in all that we do.” 

So how does innovation meet tradition? Though it sounds paradoxical, innovation can play a vital role in staying true to one’s business heritage. Using Andrew’s innovative update on the classic “rough-out” lathe machine, woodworkers are able to cut several bowls from a single block of wood, in a nesting pattern. This means that woodworkers waste as little of the precious material as possible.  

The Andrew Pearce Bowls workshop is also home to 7 drying kilns, where the wood that will become a beautiful, finished piece is carefully dried for a month or more, depending on its size. A master wood-turner takes each dry, rough-cut “bowl blank” and mounts it onto a finishing lathe. Using various gauges, the wood-turner forms the inside of each bowl with a precise approach to curve and consistency. The wood’s unique characteristics are allowed to come through, ensuring that no two bowls are identical. The craftsperson then fine-tunes the exterior by sanding the surface for a perfectly smooth finished product. 

As the Center’s business advisor to wood product companies across the Northern Forest, I understand that Innovation is vital to help these businesses navigate the ever-changing landscape of our economy. Andrew Pearce Bowls stands out as an example of a company that uses innovation to complement tradition in a way that creates final products that buyers can cherish and pass on from one generation to the next.  

Andrew Pearce Bowls is a Vermont based business known and respected world-wide for its unique craftsmanship and design of wooden bowls and wood cutting boards. Visit the Andrew Pearce Bowls website to learn more about the company and its products.