Meet Matthew Smith | Owner / Furniture Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matthew Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matthew, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Building a custom furniture brand made sense to me because I love building furniture and most of my small business experience has been centered around providing custom services to clients around the country. Leveraging years of business experience and marrying that with my favorite hobby (woodworking) seemed like a good idea. I’m accustomed to working closely with clients and delivering highly customized solutions, so adapting that approach to working with homeowners to provide tailor-made furniture for their spaces was an easy fit.

I really enjoy providing clients with exactly what they want. Crafting custom projects brings inherent challenges to the process, but it also makes for very rewarding work and very happy clients.

Smith Farms isn’t my first small business, so I was able to skip past the fears, second guessing, and other concerns that most new business owners naturally feel. I’m not immune to the challenges of business ownership, but I do benefit from having already learned some of the hard lessons that everybody must endure.

What should our readers know about your business?
At Smith Farms Custom Furniture, we design and build furniture for discerning homeowners who are either looking for special, truly custom pieces to fit their space, or who simply can’t find what they want at retail. In either case, our approach to custom furniture is a great solution for them. We take the time to understand our client’s style and functional needs, and craft furniture that delights them. Plus, we employ a combination of traditional and modern techniques that results in furniture that lasts for a very long time.

Some furniture designers make the process too complex, which frustrates clients. Our design process is pretty straightforward. When we’re building a commissioned piece, we first make sure that we understand the client’s functional needs. This is usually quite easy. After that, we discuss the stylistic goals that they have. Some clients give us complete artistic freedom while others already have specific ideas of how the piece should look. When we’re working with an interior designer, they usually have some specifics for size and style, how organic they want the piece to be, how rustic, or how refined, etc. In most cases, their ideas are solid, and we can execute their vision.

When we’re building a piece that hasn’t been commissioned, we have complete freedom to do anything. Often, we build furniture pieces for shows or for awards contests. In these cases, we consider the environment where the piece will be shown and that has a strong influence on the design. For example, we designed a table for the Western Design Conference in Jackson Hole, WY earlier this year. The WDC brings together artists with a passion for the west so we made sure to design a piece that would fit into a high-end modern mountain home or a western-inspired space.

I’m constantly looking to learn and improve our furniture design processes, bringing more and more creativity to the process. And we invest a lot of time into working with clients, ensuring that we’re on the same page regarding the final furniture piece that they will soon own, but also communicating timelines and progress to make sure they are informed and comfortable with the process.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d probably take a visiting friend somewhere in the Temecula Valley since there’s a lot to do and it’s close by. Dinner and beer at the Yard House is always good, or The Mill in Murrieta. It’s a local favorite that’s family-owned and they’re always welcoming. If my friend was new to Southern California, I would definitely suggest the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (formerly the Wild Animal Park). We love taking the kids and friends there for a day as there are few places that can match the incredible collection of plants and animals they have.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My wife Leslie deserves the most thanks for trusting me to pursue business ventures with complete freedom. She’s an amazing partner and mother, and her willingness to manage most of the household affords me the time to build businesses that are profitable and enjoyable, though not without challenges of their own.

Additionally, my dad deserves a lot of credit because he raised us around tools. He taught me how to use tools, and how to build and fix things. Growing up he was always building a car or building a garage or building a kitchen for a customer. That was normal for me, and I’m working to make that normal for my children as well. This is the reason that we say “Continuing the tradition” on our website. I’m working to continue the tradition that my father and his father before him established. Perhaps one day my son or daughter will continue that tradition too.

I also want to mention my kids. They’re still young, but they have both helped with several furniture projects already. For example, they spent several hours helping to sand the Summer Olive Occasional Table that we debuted at the Western Design Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming earlier this year.

Website: https://smthfrms.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smthfrms/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmthFrms/