FROM YOUTHFUL OBSESSION TO THRIVING BUSINESS
I first became obsessed with woodworking in junior high. I didn’t have to think twice about what I was going to do when I grew up. I was going to build things with my hands in my own shop, whether it paid me or not.
In 2019, I founded Natural Collection Stands. Here we create fine furniture for your musical instruments. In the years before its inception, I spent a lot of time building my hobby wood shop in the hours outside my full-time job framing houses. The shop was my escape—I’d go there to do what I truly loved.
Between my partner, Sydney, and me, we have half a dozen guitars lying around the house—we play a lot of guitar. One day, while visiting family, something in the corner of my brother-in-law’s cluttered office caught my eye. It was a guitar stand built by his father 20 years prior. It was in rough shape, but the curvature of the wood was inspiring.
The beginning of Natural Collection Stands
Ultimately, I was motivated by the craft, not money, and it led the way. I was a 19-year-old with more confidence than I knew what to do with, thinking “I’m going to build a better one.” For the rest of my holiday, this guitar stand became my obsession. Little did I know the obsession would grow to consume my thinking in the years that followed.
Once home, I jumped straight into the woodshop and built my first guitar stand. Not long after, I built my first guitar stool. These two projects sat in our living room displaying guitars for the next couple of years, and the vision for Natural Collection began to percolate. I spent countless hours staring at the stands, thinking of all the ways to improve them before refining their designs multiple times. During this same period of my life, I became passionate about business and finance, eager to start a business of my own. So, I decided to merge my passion for woodwork, love of guitar, and interest in running a business to form Natural Collection Stands.
LEFT: PHOTO BY SYDNEY RUSSELL. RIGHT: PHOTO BY DUBLESS MEDIA
Today, we operate out of our home-based shop in Campbell River. Our products merge high-quality hardwoods, Portuguese cork fabrics, and metal components with furniture-building techniques into a piece of fine furniture that complements your living space and the instruments you love. Each piece involves hours of labour and methodical attention to detail, as many components are hand-sculpted before sanding. Once our oil finish is rubbed on by hand and cured, we say goodbye to the woodshop and hello to the sewing machine. This is where we become fine tailors: hand sewing the Portuguese cork fabric protectors to custom fit each stand. Natural cork is safe on guitar finishes and makes a beautiful and functional soft pad for instruments to rest on.
What started as a side hustle has turned into a full-time business—one with many highs and plenty of lows along the way. We never imagined some of the opportunities this path would present. Both our Floor Stand and Performing Stool have won awards, and our stands have found their way into the hands of world-class musicians, such as Eric Church, Chis Stapleton, and Brian Adams. One of our cabinets currently displays Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield’s guitars, and our products have travelled the globe to the US, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, and beyond.
What’s next for Natural Collection Stands
And we’re not done just yet. We plan to grow our product line by introducing a music stand and guitar rack this year. From there we’ll move on to other instrument stands with the ultimate vision of offering a full line of fine furniture for a variety of musical instruments—like cellos, violins, saxophones, trumpets, and more.
