By David MacDonald S ince 2011, there has been a “real public reach in Nova Scotia for real wood products made in the province,” Amos says. This is part of a wider trend. People prefer local. People prefer traditional – retro, if you will. People prefer custom and unique. And, in tune with Amos Wood’s vision, people are going back to wood. “Wood has a gravitational quality to it,” he explains. “As a material it does something inside a home that other materials just don’t accomplish. It draws people in. Nothing does this as warmly as wood does.” This back to basics movement is not a passing fancy. “There was a clear realization. People felt bilked by cheap and lousy MDF [medium-density fibreboard]. Our whole- salers have been telling us for the last couple of years that there has been ongoing and substantial decline in the overall sales of MDF because people want the real deal,” Amos explains. “Wood has a gravitational quality to it. As a material it does something inside a home that other materials just don’t accomplish. It draws people in. Nothing does this as warmly as wood does.” Amos knows wood. He should. He’s been in the design, millwork, and furniture game since 1976. He just had “the gumption to start early,” he says. “In 1974, I somehow got it in my head that I was going to make furniture. I started with very little money and a very small tool base. I gradu- ally secured the quality tools that helped me make a name for myself in the beginning as a craftsman of increasingly fine execution in joinery and line and wood.”
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • AUGUST 2016
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