Our Story

John Wells, Design and Customer Experience

A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, John has collaborated with renowned local architects and designers on the design and implementation of numerous residential and commercial projects throughout the Northwest. He has also created designs for commercial production including a series of products designed for Crate and Barrel. With over 15 years of practical (and impractical) design and hands on experience, John has the breadth and depth of knowledge to facilitate the successful implementation of interior projects of every scale.

John’s philosophy as a “deep ecologist” lays the foundation for his ongoing education about how to achieve true sustainability. He has helped develop critical aspects of a conservation-based economy in the Northwest through lectures to design professionals, collaborations with local corporations, and by creating entrepreneurial ventures using salvaged and certified materials.


Seth Meyer, Engineering, Fabrication, Finishing and Salvage

Seth Meyer directs engineering, fabrication, finishing and tree salvage. A passionate studio furniture craftsman, Seth offers more than 20 years of custom woodworking experience and a portfolio that includes furniture for some of the most notable northwest residences.

Seth has a penchant for tinkering and discovery, and pairs this with a fascination for unique wood characteristics and unusual finishes. This knowledge base has earned him a reputation among architects and designers for being one of the most talented and trusted woodworking resources in the region.

Usually the term “salvaged materials” brings to mind junkyards, barnwood, old pallets and bits of scrap. Nothing could be further from reality at Meyer Wells. Walk into our Seattle shop and you will see the giant wide planks from trees that once graced the neighborhoods of Seattle. Most of the trees we salvage yield slabs much larger, more diverse, and with distinctive grain patterns not found in conventional lumberyards. These are extraordinary, premium materials that happen to have come from the most sustainable source available: our urban waste stream.


In 2001 a USDA study estimated that nearly 4 billion usable board feet of material is culled from urban areas in the United States each year. Most of this material is considered part of the waste stream and is burned as firewood or chipped for mulch. Though attitudes are beginning to change, fallen trees in urban areas remain an undervalued resource.


Meyer Wells is on the forefront of a growing movement to make better use of urban trees. In partnership with our sister company, Green Tree Mill we have reclaimed hundreds of logs from the greater Seattle area and transformed them into world class furniture for local area, national, and international projects.


The materials tell the story of the life of a tree in the city: a story of great care, crude pruning, rope swings, tree houses, drought, hard winters, and sunny day picnics in the shade.

No material is as warm and inviting as our meticulously finished wood from a tree that grew in your own neighborhood.

This Silver Maple lived a long and well-appreciated life in the military residential area of Seattle’s Discovery park. A large branch broke off the tree after a storm and made the tree unsafe for this location.

A local arborist removed the branches and felled the tree. The trunk was cut to keep the usable parts of wood intact.


After salvaging the tree, these slabs were cut, air dried, and kiln dried.


Two of the Discovery Park silver maple slabs were then made into feature elements in the entry of the Philips Oral Health headquarters in Sammamish WA.

Just as buying local organic food is better than buying food that is shipped from far away, using local materials for furniture has a cascading positive effect. By purchasing products made in the Northwest, our customers are supporting local businesses and their employees.

Buying locally made products from locally salvaged sources, means buying materials that have not traveled across the globe, thereby reducing your “Carbon Footprint” and reducing our collective net impact on global warming. Using locally salvaged hardwoods keeps useful materials out of the landfill, and also keeps the wood from getting burned as firewood (less CO2 emissions), and most likely means that fewer trees are being removed from intact ecosystems.

The case for using local materials is strong. In fact, our products may contribute towards US Green Building Council’s LEED credits in categories such as Regional Materials, Certified Wood, Low-Emitting Materials, and Innovation in Design.

Our furniture and other products are made in the Northwest from Northwest materials. The cost of our products reflects the actual cost of producing products in a responsible manner.



We pay living wages, offer health benefits to our employees and support the local economy in a variety of ways. We meet or exceed strict environmental regulations, employee wage, health, and safety standards. We embrace a “triple bottom line” approach to business, balancing economic needs of the company with high social and environmental standards. This may not be the case with products made in countries that don’t share our values, and that fact is reflected in the cheaper price.

We are working to keep the environmental impact of our business to a minimum and to be conscious of all our processes. From power use to people, we are constantly questioning our practices and seeking the best materials, products, and policies. Some of the ways we do this include:

• Local reclamation, local production, and local sales
  
  We use a bioregional approach to producing and distributing our products. While we do ship products to other parts of the country and the world, the focus of our efforts are in serving the needs of Western states. The vast majority of our materials are reclaimed from within a 100 mile radius of Seattle.
  
  
• Power
  
  We have wired our shop for maximum electrical efficiency using 3-phase power for most major equipment. Northwest power supply is over 70% hydroelectric and renewable power sources such as wind power are growing.
  
  
• Waste
  
  In addition to the common paper and plastic recycling, we recycle our wood waste and sawdust. The sawdust is also freely available for use as mulch by local residents.
  
  
• Finishes
  
  Our standard finish options are super low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) and HAPs (Hazardous Airborne Pollutants) free finishes. We also offer 100% botanical and VOC-free alternatives. There is no added formaldehyde in any of our finished products.
  
  
• Shipping
  
  “Blanket-wrap” shipping is our preferred shipping method. This ensures that nearly all packaging is reused indefinitely resulting in minimal packaging waste.
  
  
• Product take back
  
  We take back, at no charge, any product that we have made which is no longer needed or in use. We will recycle or reuse the material, as appropriate.
  
  
• Design for disassembly and recycling
  
  When designing our furniture, we keep in mind the end of its useful life. Everything we make is designed to be easily disassembled so that different materials can be sorted and recycled or composted.

• Seattle Curbed blog, "Design Talk: True Family Women's Cancer Center." June 2012
  
• Gray Magazine, "Bow Down to Washington, Alumni." June 2012
  
• The New York Times, "In New Office Designs, Room to Roam and to Think." March 2012
  See our products in the project photos on slides 2, 3, & 4
  
• Luxe Magazine, "Covering New Ground: Driscoll Robbins." Winter 2012
  "Favorite decorating source: Meyer Wells. They build furniture from local tress that have fallen or been blown down. The aesthetic is very modern and simple. It's all about the texture and patterns that form within the wood." - Driscoll Robbins
• Apartment Therapy, "Dining Tables From Felled Trees." August 2011
  
• Seattle Magazine, "Goods from the Woods: A Local Forest to Table Movement." May 2011
  

• The Seattle Times, "Reclaimed trees find new life in modern furniture." March 2011
  "Sometimes a finished sample can take five or six tries, but they do whatever it takes to get it perfect," she said. "The people that have the privilege of purchasing and living with a piece of their furniture, they get to live with a little piece of soul." - Susan Marinello

• Puget Sound Business Journal, "How Puget Sound companies thrive by serving local giants." October 2010
  

• The New York Times, "Finding New Life (and Profit) in Doomed Trees." August 2010
  “People who buy furniture here are adventurers,” says Mr. Meyer. “They see the tree and get to be part of the process. They have to have an adventurous spirit, they have to be patient, and they have to trust. There’s an element of risk.”- Seth Meyer

• The Seattle Times, "NYT profiles Meyer Wells, carvers of those lovely Starbucks tables." August 2010
  
• Seattle Mag "Area: Interbay's Meyer Wells." March 2010
• Apartment Therapy, "Five Custom Dining Tables by Meyer Wells." September 2009
  

• Design Milk, "Meyer Wells." November 2008
  
• Jetson Green, "Meyer Wells Beautiful Reclaimed Pieces." November 2008