It was a once-in-a-lifetime scenario. A customer who had a passion for furniture, an enormous, empty house, and the desire to fill it with reproductions of the greatest American period furniture ever built. This was the mission that Irion Company Furniture Makers took on nine years ago, and the story of how they worked with the customer to accomplish that mission is one that no lover of furniture making should miss. Read how the craftsmen worked with the client to choose the furniture, how the individual craftsmen handled the reproductions without shortcuts or compromises, and then see some of the 90-plus pieces of furniture that have been finished to date. Click here to view the full online content!

Furniture Masterpieces on View

In 1999, the highly regarded Irion Company Furniture Makers received what may well be the ultimate commission: to furnish an enormous house with line-for-line reproductions of the greatest American furniture ever built. So far, Irion has completed 90 pieces, including four breakfronts, three secretaries, three high chests, 15 tables, and more than 30 chairs. The breakfront shown here is from an original made in Massachusetts.

Pro Portfolio: Irion Company Furniture Makers

What might be the ultimate furniture commission belongs to Irion Company Furniture Makers, of Christiana, Pa. Over the past nine years it has built for one house some 90 impeccable reproductions of American furniture masterpieces. To view images of the pieces built to date, click here.

What sort of shop could handle this commission with such aplomb?

It’s a ten-man shop that integrates excellent hand-tool skills and painstaking fidelity to period construction with efficient machine preparation of stock and moldings. The shop’s foundation in sound technique goes back to 1946, when Louis Irion opened The Berwyn Furniture Shop in a suburb of Philadelphia. He filled it with European-trained cabinetmakers–men from Italy, Germany, Hungary and Latvia–and the shop quickly established a reputation for excellent craftsmanship. When Louis retired in the late 1970s, his son Lou took on his clients, operating from a shop in nearby Paoli.

Under the name Irion Company Furniture Makers, Lou’s shop specialized in repairs, refinishing, and upholstering as well as reproductions. His craftsmen started young and most learned the craft at Irion. Many found the shop through classified ads in Fine Woodworking. Since the early 1990s, when Lou shifted his attention to lumbering (he now runs Irion Lumber Company), the shop has been run by Kendl Monn, a long-time craftsman at Irion. Monn oversaw the recent commission of masterpieces. Just recently Monn handed the reins of the shop to Todd Felpel, another former Irion craftsman. Click here for the audio slideshow.

A passion for craftsmanship has sustained Irion Co. Furniture Makers for 61 years. Now, the company’s owners have set out to make its reproduction of 18th-century furniture more profitable with a 21st-century business plan.

The beauty of carefully chosen woods comes about in the finish of these cabinet doors at Irion Co. Furniture Makers in Christiana.

This unassuming shop in Christiana specializes in crafting classic American furniture in the same manner as the originals it honors.

Irion Co. has been commissioned to reproduce such masterpieces as Alexander Hamilton’s roll-top writing desk (the original is owned by the Museum of the City of New York) and the Madame de Pompadour highboy (the original is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

The passion for antique furniture that led Louis Irion Jr. to found the company in 1947 has grown with the generations of apprentices and owners who succeeded him. Collectively, they snatched a craft from near extinction and made Irion Co., a paragon of antique restoration and reproduction.

Unfortunately, profits haven’t matched the company’s craftsmanship.000 and reputation. The last fiscal year saw $700,000 gross revenue, said managing partner Todd Felpel. He believes a new business plan has Irion Co. on track to gross $1.4 million next year.

Felpel worked at Irion for eight years, leaving in 2004 to manage a title agency. Last August, he and his brother, Ronald Felpel, bought the company.

Felpel has hired a marketing consultant and developed a business plan to bolster marketing and profits. He put everything on the table for possible change, except compromises in quality and craftsmanship.
Becoming intentional

Irion Co. made a name for itself reproducing famous originals for a niche market. The pinnacle of its work is the Masterpiece Collection, a commission to furnish a private collector’s home with reproductions of prestigious antiques.

This craftsmanship — often referred to as works of art and bought as investments — comes at a high price. The reproduction of the Madame de Pompadour highboy, for example, sold for $85,000.

“Maybe the top 3 percent of the country can afford this,” Felpel said. “Word of mouth has always served well with this crowd, and it’s been enough to keep the lights on,” he said.

But this craftsman-turned-businessman said it’s not enough to see the trade, and the company, flourish.

The company, which did almost no marketing until now, will deliberately target potential high-end customers. This will include networking with others serving the same demographic.

“Interior designers are hot on our radar,” Felpel said.

That courtship is off to a good start. Irion will furnish a room at the Mansion in May Designer Showhouse and Gardens in Chatham, N.J., a benefit for Morristown Memorial Hospital.

The monthlong event is expected to draw 18,000 visitors and has the eye of designers and clients Irion desires.

The company is also working on publishing a catalog for designers’ in-house libraries.

“The designers need something that they can show their clients, with the dimensions of the piece and a full color picture,” Felpel said.
Expand customer base

“I want to keep Irion the best of the best, but to be profitable we may need to do some things differently. We’re in a position where we want to be exposed to all levels of income and help them be able to have a piece of Irion furniture,” Felpel said.

The company will push its Chester County Line, introduced a little more than two years ago but inadequately marketed.

This line includes functional pieces such as linen presses, chests of drawers, mirrors, side tables, and beds.

Chester County pieces use the same woods and workmanship as the reproduction work, but are cut from a single pattern, making production more efficient.

Pieces average $5,000, and customers can choose the wood, finish and hardware. They can also go the instant gratification route and take home a finished item from the Irion showroom.
No compromise

The new plan includes an openness to designs outside traditional American style, which has piqued the interest of designers.

However, if the company accepts a commission to craft an original, more contemporary piece, it will be made with the old-school craftsmanship and materials the company is trying to preserve.

Within the next two weeks, the company will unveil a revamped Web site. They hope to increase the site’s number of hits per day from 1,000 to as many as 10,000.

A company goal for 2008 is to make sure products are priced right for the consumer.

“We want to make sure the price of a piece of furniture is comparable to something else. We don’t want to build a $3,000 chair that is only worth $1,000,” Felpel said.
Location, location

A return to its Main Line roots may be in the future for Irion Co., which was founded in Berwyn and later moved to Paoli before leaving suburban Philadelphia for Christiana.

At the very least, the company may reopen a showroom near its former location, where Irion Co. will be more accessible to the wealthier demographic it seeks.

Any move of the actual workshop would not occur until the lease in Christiana expires in seven years.

The ultimate goal is to maintain the levels craftsmanship Irion Co. was built upon, while changing the business model to secure its future.

“Now everything has a game plan and a goal set. It’s a well-oiled machine,” Felpel said.

“It can be profitable. It’s more of a reality now than ever.”

It sounds great at first: Kendl Monn’s furniture business, Irion Co. Furniture Makers (furnituremakers.com), has a yearlong backlog for its flawless, handmade reproductions of Revolutionary War-era highboys, chests, and tables, some of which sell for more than $100,000 a piece. Irion’s painstaking restorations of original works are on display at the Yale University Art Gallery and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One secretive Pennsylvania plutocrat has even hired Irion to replicate 80 of the greatest pieces of American furniture ever made for display in his baronial mansion outside Philadelphia. That project alone should keep Irion’s half-dozen craftsman busy for the next two years.

But life at Irion is less rosy than it sounds. First off, Monn’s 15-man firm is just barely profitable. Irion earned $73,000 last year on sales of $823,000. Equally worrying: That yearlong pipeline doesn’t mean much when a single piece of furniture can take six to nine months to complete. “It’s not like we’re knocking out 100,000 widgets a day,” says Monn, 48.

Irion’s chief executive isn’t worried about his own income. He rents out two houses and a commercial building that he owns near Irion’s shop in tiny Christiana, Pa., on the edge of Pennsylvania Dutch country. Monn also makes decent money restoring antiques in his spare time. But Monn says he wants Irion to become more profitable so that he can pay his craftsmen more and keep the company alive. “It takes five to ten years to become a master craftsman, but they make only about $40,000 a year,” laments Monn. That’s about half what people pay their plumber, and it’s not right. I don’t want to see them installing kitchen cabinets because they need more money.”

We recruited three crack consultants to help Irion carve itself a brighter future. Shelly Funderburg, 38, is an organizational psychologist with the Columbus office of Right Management, a career and organizational consulting firm. Lawrence Gelburd is a technology and marketing consultant who teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Eric Siegel, 50, is a management expert who co-authored The Ernst & Young Business Plan Guide and has lectured at Wharton for more than 25 years.

Siegel and Monn sit down in an Irion showroom jammed with cabinets and sample bedposts. Richard Herzog, a part owner of Irion who manages the company’s upholstered-furniture line, is also present. Siegel, a buttoned-down but affable man with close-cropped hair, starts by asking how Irion is organized. When Monn and Herzog mention their yearlong backlog of orders, he pauses. “If you’re looking for ways to make earnings tick up, and you have such a big backlog, the simplest way is to increase prices.”

Been there, explored that, Monn replies. Every year he tests the pricing waters by attending a big crafts show in Philadelphia. “We’re already pushing it,” he says. Rather than jack up prices, he would like to snag more customers for Irion’s entire line, from $100,000 highboys to $3,000 beds. Simpler, more affordable items such as plain cupboards and beds are a mainstay for Irion. “We rely on them for steady cash flow,” Monn explains. “It’s about half our business.”

Siegel suggests that Irion’s first priority should be to boost sales of its high-end pieces. That will burnish the brand and allow Irion to charge a premium for its low-end offerings, which are simpler but handcrafted to the same exacting standards as the fancy stuff. “Nobody wants an $80,000 Volkswagen,” he notes, “but everybody wants a $30,000 BMW.”

Siegel urges the partners to hire a good public relations professional who can create buzz for Irion in decorating magazines and at trade shows. Simple advertising won’t do it, he cautions. “You don’t want to just put your face on a milk carton,” he says. “A good PR firm will charge $3,000 to $5,000 a month, but it pays for itself if you sell one more $80,000 piece.”

The problem is finding furniture builders with the world-class skills needed to make that extra piece. It takes as long as ten years to turn a beginner into a craftsman, so Irion must be very careful not take on too much work too soon. To lift some of the pressure from their staff, Monn and Herzog should outsource some of the simpler pieces to former Irion employees who have set up one-man shops in the region. That will free up Irion’s master builders to work on the most expensive items with the fattest profit margins.

Figuring out how to carve the elaborate finials that top the best pieces is an expensive trial-and-error process for Irion’s artisans. But each additional copy is vastly easier and cheaper to produce once the craftsmen learn the right technique. Siegel suggests that Irion crank out additional spec copies of each antique masterpiece instead of a single replica made to order. That’s a risky proposition for a small shop such as Irion, but Monn agrees to consider it. “I could have one master craftsman supporting four guys making the cases,” he says thoughtfully.

Finally, Siegel suggests that Irion start coming up with its own designs. “Have you ever thought of the same quality but a different look?” he asks. Monn seems leery at first, scoffing at furniture makers who “put a New York foot on a Philadelphia table. Purists spot it instantly.” But then Monn mentions the architect and furniture designer George Nakashima (1905-90), who crafted simple, modern pieces from exceptionally beautiful wood. “I like the thought of you being the Nakashima of your own genre,” Siegel says. “The price limits start to go away.”

But Siegel urges caution: The last thing Irion wants to do is alienate existing clients by abandoning its niche in high-quality reproductions. To avoid confusion, he suggests that Monn and Herzog market their original designs under an entirely new brand. “Do it in a studied way,” Siegel urges. “Take some designers and old clients out to lunch. Ask them what new designs might be compatible with current market trends.”

Monn is intrigued. He notes that he has a 30-year supply of fine old hardwood stashed in warehouses around northern Pennsylvania. But he’s not sure what an original Irion design would even look like. “I’m a hard-core traditionalist,” says Monn. “But we do need to diversify.”

The next day marketing expert Lawrence Gelburd arrives at Irion’s sprawling, saw dusty shop wearing a suit and tie. “Oops. Wrong color,” says Monn of Gelburd’s dark clothes, and tries to steer him away from a blizzard of wood shavings. After a tour of the busy shop, which includes Monn enthusiastically splashing water on unfinished planks of wood to show off their grain, all hike to the top floor.

The conversation soon turns to Irion’s competitors. Monn complains that many of his high-end rivals “cheat” the customer by using machines to carve and finish furniture. The solution is obvious, Gelburd says: Irion needs to educate buyers about its superior craftsmanship.

To create a curved-front chest of drawers, for instance, Irion cuts the curves from a thick piece of hardwood such as walnut or maple. Mass-market furniture mills typically save money and time by steaming and bending a thin piece of wood into a curve, even though warped wood eventually loses its shape. But educating the customer doesn’t necessarily mean launching an ad campaign. Irion could reap valuable free publicity by donating high-end furniture to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The partners should also revamp Irion’s website to include videos about their extraordinary craftsmanship. Better yet, Irion could send its master craftsmen out to build actual furniture at trade shows and museums. “It’s visually stunning to see people at work with a tool going ‘urrh, urrh,’” Gelburd concludes.

Organizational Psychologist Shelly Funderburg manages to tour the workshop without getting a speck of sawdust on her green skirt, all the while chatting with craftsmen and oohing over carvings in progress. Funderburg swiftly determines that Monn and Herzog aren’t sure what to do about Irion when the time comes for them to retire.

Both insist that they don’t plan to take much money out of the business. While Monn and Herzog aren’t rich men, both have enough money put away to retire in comfort, they say. Neither partner is interested in leaving his share in the business to a family member. Monn stresses that he views Irion as a labor of love. The previous owners sold the business to him for a nominal price in 1993. In five or ten years Monn and Herzog hope that some deserving employee will be able to buy Irion on similar terms. “I got the company because I was the most passionate about the craft,” says Monn. “I want to pass it along to someone who will preserve the business. If we die, the workmanship could die out with us.” And besides, he adds, “I want to be the old man who comes back to visit and pass something on.” But to whom?

Great craftsmen aren’t always good managers. Irion’s current employees are “a little redneck, no college degrees,” says Monn. “They have good motor skills and enjoy solving problems,” adds Herzog. “But I’m not sure they can handle the pressure [of running a luxury-furniture business]. Some clients are hard to deal with.”

Funderburg wonders if a local trade school could help them spot an artisan with managerial skills. Alternatively, Irion could canvass contacts in the museum world for a new CEO with the requisite knowledge and passion for fine furniture. But Funderburg urges Monn and Herzog not to overlook Irion’s current employees. “You’re at a turning point,” she says dramatically. Funderburg suggests monthly staff meetings where everyone can weigh in on current projects and the company’s future. “Do you ever take the pulse of people in the shop?” she asks. “People tend not to do that in small business where you see the staff every day. But one of your workers just might want to take on different responsibilities.”

One obvious way to engage workers in the business more deeply is to make them owners through an employee stock plan. “If your workers have skin in the game, they’ll have ideas and passion,” she says. The key with any stock plan is to transfer shares gradually so that employees have an incentive to work hard. “Don’t give away the house too early,” she cautions.

A few weeks later Monn reports that Irion is seriously contemplating a move into original design. “We contacted some of our best designers and decorators and told them to keep us in mind for original or contemporary design work,” he says. “This was very well received.” Irion is also revamping its website and preparing a five-minute video on its craftsmanship.

While it’s unclear who will take over the business after Monn and Herzog retire, the partners did meet with their employees to discuss Irion’s new direction. “They agreed that diversifying cold be fun and profitable,” Monn reports happily. “The whole company is excited.” Monn adds that he has discussed succession planning with employees but hasn’t yet identified Irion’s next owner. We will stay in touch with Irion and report back on how well the company crafts its new design.

When Donald Harkins saw the writing desk, it was love at first sight. He would pine away for a year and a half before this treasure could grace his home. Certainly he could have gone to any fine furniture store and walked out with a next day delivery scheduled for a handsome, furniture piece. But this was no ordinary piece of furniture.

It was Alexander Hamilton’s desk, on display at the Museum of the City of New York. It was a one of a kind and true example of early American Craftsmanship. Should it ever be for sale, it would also be well out of reach.

But, thanks to a little company with a big reputation, tucked quietly away in Christiana, Harkins’ fantasy of owning such a work came true. Just as Hamilton had commissioned the original, Harkin’s commissioned Irion Company Furniture Makers to recreate the desk’s captivating charm to the last detail.

In the same manner as 18th Century furniture makers, one artisan reproduced Hamilton’s desk by hand from start to finish. Even the roll-top mechanism is the same.

Irion Company specializes in restoration and reproduction of 18th Century furniture. Until recently, all of its reproduction work has been commissioned. The wait averages about 18 months for a commissioned piece. Last November, Irion also began stocking a limited number of reproduction Chester County style furniture from that period.

“Our niche is that we’ve always been a custom furniture maker in traditional American furniture” said co-owner Kendl Monn.

“This is a dying art, this craftsmanship. The art of building furniture in the 18th Century manner has been quickly dying since the Industrial Revolution,” he said.

To pass it on, he trains apprentices just as an early American furniture maker would.

However, apprenticeship in a 2006 workshop is a bit more free-spirited than one in the 1700s would have been. Instead of keeping a craftsman-in-training on one single task, such as wood cutting, Monn lets them loose to master new tasks as fast or slow as they are able.

The business even operates in much the same way. Irion Company’s previous owner, Louis Irion III, supplies the furniture shop with choice lumber through his lumber company in Wellsboro. Irion Company co-owner Richard Herzog provides upholstery services in his Paoli shop. An 18th Century furniture maker, according to Monn, would have been just as self-sufficient.

At Herzog’s shop, Irion’s reproduction furniture is even upholstered in the early American way. First, traditional webbing is applied, followed by a layer of horse hair sandwiched in with a firm layer of muslin. Next, the piece is topped with an airy layer of down for cushioning. And finally, it is impeccably dressed in fine fabric.

Irion Company was founded in Berwyn in 1947 by Louis Irion Jr. after he caught a contagious love affair for furniture restoration and antiques from his wife’s family.

In 1977, his son, Louis Irion III took over the business and moved it to Paoli. When Irion III decided to sell the company in 1988 and dedicate himself to his lumber business, Monn and Herzog welcomed the opportunity.

Herzog had provided upholstery services for Irion for years. A passion for this dying art had been imparted to Monn through years of working for both Irions. Herzog bought the Paoli property to house his upholstery business, and they moved the furniture shop to South Bridge Street ,Christiana.

Can this American artistry survive the age of assembly line furniture and same day delivery from showrooms? Monn says they’ve done well because in Irions more than half a century of dedication to the craft, “we’ve achieved a reputation that’s never been blemished. That word travels real fast.”

And with one look at the product and the process, their passion for 18th Century furniture travels even faster. “We get them in the door and they’re hooked, ” Monn said.

This love affair with the golden age of American furniture was shared so much by one client, he has commissioned Irion Company to furnish his entire Lancaster County home, a first in reproduction furniture history. At seven years and counting, the customer has waited patiently for each beloved piece to be completed.

When one client saw a piece they built from flame birch, Herzog says, she gasped. “Oh….,” she said. “It’s better than diamonds.”

And with results like that, Irion is sure to keep the craft of American furniture making alive.

Bill and Nancy Giles, who are receiving the First CADE Community Service Award, were among the co-founders of CADE, Philadelphia’s leading, elementary school-based drug, alcohol, and violence education and prevention program. The special ceremonial bat, made entirely by hand from a tightly-grained piece of rare Pennsylvania tiger maple, will be presented at CADE’s April 27 awards event at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

“We specialize in American classics and welcomed he opportunity to make an American classic for such a wonderful couple and a great organization, with a typically stylish Irion twist,” says Irion co-owner and master furniture maker Kendl Monn, who led the bat-making team. “We even chose a wood that embodies the strength and spirit of Bill and Nancy, and all those involved in CADE.”

Even though the commemorative bat is destined for the mantle or show case rather than the diamond, Monn and Irion master wood turner Jonathan Sanbuchi, made it to exacting major league specs. Of course, they couldn’t resist hand etching into the barrel, in green, Bill and Nancy’s signature, along with the distinctive Phillies red “P” and the trademark Irion fire-branded, scallop shell logo.

A second Irion Phillies-CADE bat, which will be offered as an auction item at the CADE reception before the April 27 awards ceremony, is crafted from stunning Pennsylvania tiger ash, boasting a lively, honey-burst pattern. Monn and some of his other team mates will be at the CADE event, but not before attending the Phillies-Rockies game that afternoon. If they’re lucky, maybe the Irion Slugger prototype will get some real Major League playing time.

For further information on CADE, visit www.cadekids.org

When Kendl Monn, co-owner of Irion Furniture Makers in Christiana, received an order for a West Chester client’s dining room, he didn’t dream it would turn into one of the largest private furniture-making commissions since the late 18th century. That was when Revolutionary war hero John Cadwalader hired leading local cabinetmakers to furnish his Philadelphia townhouse. “After making a sideboard, a table and chairs for the client’s dining room, he said go find me ‘the best of the best’ for the rest of the house,” says Monn.

Copies of masterpieces from the greatest collections of American furniture were selected for this commission, including rare gems from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Winterthur, and the Yale University Art Gallery.

Colonial furniture maker equivalents to Rembrandt and Renoir, including Philadelphia cabinetmaker Thomas Affleck, Newport’s John Townsend and New York’s William Whitehead, are all represented, as are the best examples from the Queen Anne, Chippendale and Federal periods.

It is no surprise that Irion was selected for this commission. Celebrating its 65th anniversary, Irion is one of the oldest and best 18-th century reproduction cabinetry shops in the country. The shop mantra is “every piece must be built right.” Kendl Monn speaks with the pride of a craftsman when he says, “Every piece is built like it was then, and with passion.”

Irion’s roots in the business started with conserving and restoring antiques (which they still do). Today, clients come to them with orders spanning the entire range of 18th-century American furniture from the simplest candle stand to a reproduction of a family heirloom to this collection of “masterpieces.” Irion’s passion for period furniture is why people often mistake the company’s reproductions for the real thing.

Each piece is custom made to order from the exquisite woods the company uses. Dovetailed drawers, hand-carved embellishments and a time-consuming single-cabinetmaker-per-piece process produce furniture mirroring that made in Colonial times. Knowledge from decades in the business has been passed down from cabinetmaker to cabinetmaker. Their handwork is what makes you marvel at a hand-carved shell on the crest rail of a Chippendale chair or at the luminous hand-rubbed finish on a tiger-maple highboy.

Louis Irion, II founded Irion in the 1940s and was a pioneer in the renewed American art form of handmade furniture. Louis “Bert” Irion, III continued the family tradition growing the shop’s reputation among museum curators, collectors, and antique dealers as one of the best in the business. Bert turned over the reins to his chief cabinetmaker Kendl Monn and co-partner Richard Herzog, but is still involved in Irion as the wood source. “Bert has some of the best contacts for wood in the business. He is known to meet shipments at the dock and get first pick of the best woods,” says Monn.

Irion’s new commission of masterpiece was inspired after Monn took his client on several visits to Winterthur. “Winterthur’s collection really opened his eyes to what period rooms were all about. Winterthur is a Mecca-it’s all there. That what did it. He left saying, “I want my house to look like that,” explains Monn.

The showcase for this impressive collection is a rambling fieldstone estate in Chester County. Custom paneling and millwork provide the backdrop. Irion designed the period room settings in partnership with their sister company Richard Herzog Upholsterers. “The difference between interior design shops and us is that we have all the craftspeople practicing these age-old arts ‘in-house’ – cabinetmakers, upholsterers and seamstresses. We make it all and can design period rooms from the drapes to the furnishings.” Says Herzog.

The Port Royal Parlor at Winterthur inspired the interior design of the living room, with its symmetrical layout of matching Philadelphia camelback sofas. Ivory damask drapes provide an elegant contrast to the furniture, which includes a Philadelphia high chest and matching dressing table (Yale University Art Gallery), tall case clock (State Department Collection), Philadelphia pie crust table, Newport kneehole desk and Charleston breakfront and wing chairs.

Herzog also works with various antique dealers to find the perfect finishing touches for a room. Herzog points out the rare carpet, a Serapi, he found for the dining room. “Serpais go best with American furniture-they have rich, old colors.”

The 18 dining room chairs are reproductions of one of the great chairs of all time – the original, made by Thomas Affleck, is at Winterthur. The dining room also has a Federal pedestal table (Winterthur), a Garven Collection card table (Yale), a William Whitehead sideboard and a Simon Willard tall case clock. Three years later Irion is still making furniture for the house. Some pieces, like the Charleston breakfront that will go in the entrance hall, take nearly two years to complete.

A recent visit to the shop, housed in a three-story brick Victorian era hardware store, finds it bustling with activity. Kendl Monn is showing me around to see several of the works in progress. We pause to admire the Charleston breakfront. “This is one of the finest breakfronts ever made-the original is in the Charleston Museum,” says Monn as he points out the crotch mahogany drawers, elaborate inlaid woods and refined carving.

Another piece we see is a famous high chest of drawers known as the “Madame Pompadour” – so called for the French central bust that adorns its top. The original is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is considered to be one of the best examples of American furniture in the Chippendale style. Intricate sketches of the elaborately carved apron and corner columns sit on a nearby desk.

Each piece begins with visits to the museum to study the original and make sketches. The work continues in earnest at the shop where exact scale drawings are made. The drawings are then transferred onto carefully matched pieces of wood and the carving begins. Several trips back to see the original are often necessary to refine details once construction of a piece begins.
As with the best of fine art, the original masterpieces of American Furniture sell at auction routinely for seven figures.

The Greatest Masterpieces in American furniture are scattered throughout the world’s finest museums and most prominent private collections.But right now, they’re under one roof.
Plenty of furniture fanatics aspire to own great antiques. But there’s one problem: Those priceless pieces reside at Monticello or the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In other words, they’re not for sale. That’s where Irion Company Furniture Makers come in.

The Christiana craftsmen reproduce 18th-century American furniture down to the most intricate detail, even using handmade tools and 200-year-old wood.
In 1999, Irion embarked on its most ambitious project ever: replicating enough American masterpieces to furnish an entire estate.
The “Masterpiece Collection,” commissioned by a Pennsylvania gentleman, will include 80 to 100 Chippendale, Federal and Queen Anne-style pieces.
“It’s never been done before,” Irion co-owner Kendl Monn says. “No one has ever said, ‘Let’s reproduce the greatest pieces of American furniture.’
“It’s just a historic event.”

Now, six years into the project, Irion will show off the Masterpiece Collection in a Saturday open house, the furniture maker’s first in 15 years.
“The furniture we produce is more than a piece of furniture,” Monn says. “It’s an investment. It will be the antiques of tomorrow.”
Irion opened in 1977 as an antique-furniture restoration and conservation business. In 1989, the business moved from suburban Philadelphia to an old two-story Victorian hardware store in Christiana.

While dissecting damaged pieces for restoration, Irion craftsmen learned how to copy them.
“Irion was doing handmade furniture when everything was manufactured,” Monn says. “Machines can’t do what the hand can do.”
Monn, who’s been with Irion for 23 years, now co-owns the business with Richard Herzog, who heads the upholstery division.
Irion’s 15 craftsmen share their knowledge with new employees. More than skill, Monn hires based on a passion for fine furniture.
“I’m not here to teach (them) how to use a table saw,” Monn says. “We go way beyond that.”
Irion custom-makes furniture the 18th-century way, starting with handmade tools, which help precisely re-create details.
The craftsmen copy William & Mary, Queen Anne, Chippendale and Federal-style furniture, using traditional woods, like mahogany, cherry, maple, birch and walnut.
Irion often buys furniture just for its parts, salvaging 200-year-old wood from antique pieces that can’t be repaired.

A single craftsman hand-makes each piece, signing the completed creation.
“The 18th-century furniture and the way it was constructed is the reason it’s still around and it’s in museums,” Monn says. “This is quality.”

Prices range from $400 for a small mirror to $275,000 for a floor-to-ceiling bookcase – 10 percent of what the actual antique versions might cost, Monn estimates.
(Considering a period table just sold at auction for $6 million, that’s a substantial savings.)
A dining-room chair might take 125 hours to complete; a floor-to-ceiling bookcase, two years.
And no, Monn never gets tired of working on the same piece for so long. Making drawer bottoms can get a little mundane, but that’s only a day’s work.
“We come whistling to work every day,” Monn says. “We absolutely love what we do. We were born to do this.”

Irion began the Masterpiece Collection in 1999. The anonymous buyer will furnish his entire home with the collection, expected to be complete by 2008.
With help from museums and antique dealers, Irion drafted a list of the most sought-after American furniture masterpieces, then set about re-creating them.
Craftsmen have finished 75 of the pieces, for which the buyer will pay an undisclosed price.
The greatest challenge of this – or any – project, Monn says, is working with rare, valuable wood, which leaves little room for error.
“No two pieces of wood are the same,” he says. “They don’t make any more of that tree. You have to be very careful.”
A Philadelphia film company, Art in Motion, is documenting Irion’s work on the Masterpiece Collection.
The documentary will focus on traditional 18th furniture-making as a lost art, a skill that died out with the Industrial Revolution.
“Here’s our chance to make a place in history and preserve a dying art,” Monn says. “This is a unique thing.”
The documentary’s future is uncertain, but Monn says it could end up anywhere from PBS to the Sundance Film Festival.
Along with the finished masterpieces, open-house visitors will see Irion craftsmen at work.
And will the anonymous gentleman be there, scooping out the treasures that will soon inhabit his house?
Monn laughs. “No comment.”