FORM AND FUNCTION

Andy Monahan crafted a life’s work of beauty and purpose

There’s a saying Andy Monahan wiped into the sawdust on a wall in his Watersong custom furniture shop: “It’s a fine line between a rut and a groove.”

Monahan found his groove 42 years ago.

After a childhood spent in North Africa and Italy where his father worked for the U.S. government, Monahan studied political science and international law at Kent State University, then Latin-American studies and Spanish at the University of New Mexico. “Then I gave it up to work with my hands,” he says. He tried roofing, concrete and glass, and he drove a semi-trailer truck.

“One day I picked up a piece of wood and it was a semi-epiphany,” he says. “The clouds parted and the sun did shine and the good Lord said, ‘You’ll never be rich but you’ll always be happy.’”

Today, Watersong custom furniture is in demand across the U.S., with many repeat customers and referrals, as well as people attracted by Monahan’s website. He works in hardwood and specializes in unusual shapes and designs. Book shelves, wall units, desks and platform beds make up the bulk of his work these days, and he typically is booked six months out.

But initially, he worked with a partner making inexpensive coffee tables out of pine construction scraps they sold at flea markets. When they rented a building, the landlords made a bet about how long they would be in business. One said a month and the other, three months, he recalls. Monahan and the partner had differing business goals and parted ways after a couple years, he says, but “42 years later, I’m still here!”

Monahan, who is mostly self-taught, graduated from coffee tables to platform beds, futon and water bed platforms. “Then the bedroom furniture just evolved with customers prodding me on and on to perfect my skills to do other things: a bureau, nightstands, nicer headboards, then entertainment centers and office furniture.

“In the early years, you learn to say ‘yes’ to everything. And you learn your limitations, if any, and you keep coming back at it,” he says. “Now it’s nice to be able to pick and choose.”

Monahan speaks of wood as though it has its own personality. Alder is his favorite: “It makes the tools sing rather than scream.” Zebra wood, although beautiful, can be “unruly,” shifting in shape unless it’s “captured” by being placed with a more stable wood.

“Every wood is a different story in itself. And even if you have two pieces of wood the same species, sometimes they don’t want to be together, like the two sisters who don’t get along,” he says. “You have to listen to the wood sometimes.”

Monahan believes furniture must serve form and function. “If it’s going to occupy a space and not pay rent, let’s make it work somehow.”

A s a child in North Africa, he was impressed by the utilitarian pieces made by the nomadic people that had to be portable. He also took inspiration from his experiences in Italy where he marveled at intricate wood inlays.

His favorite project so far has been a half-round desk and matching credenza of solid cherry. “The customer comes to me. He’s got this idea. It didn’t make sense to me at first,” Monahan recalls. “He had a cardboard cutout in his garage that was exactly what he wanted. This guy had gone to great lengths. And I built it and it was stupendous.”

Another favorite was a table with a butterfly leaf he built for a motorhome owned by a couple who traveled around the country. He used maple for its sta- bility to weather different temperatures and levels of humidity. When the table is pulled apart from either side, the leaf emerges in the center, he says.

“It was an engineering feat,” he says. “Basically, I made the table. I sanded it, finished it, then I cut it and I cut it again so it was all continuous. It was all of the same board so I wasn’t putting two pieces together that were not going to get along together. Still, with all the moving parts, the wood and the metal, you have to be a lot more exact.”

“ Those are the customers who prod you and push you forward and make you go the extra mile,” he says.

Monahan says he’s learned from all his customers – and, sometimes, from people who did not become his customers.

A s a sole proprietor, he’s not always at his shop. He might be at the lumber yard or doing an installation, so he asks people to make appointments. He recalls a person who was unhappy after stopping at the store when Monahan was gone.

“ This guy left a note on the door and says, ‘You have the business skills of a piss ant.’ So, I went on the internet and looked it up. Piss ants happen to be very industrious! They work 24-7. They work their tails off! So, he was complimenting me!” Monahan says. “These are the things you can learn. I didn’t know that about piss ants!”

W hile there have been ups and downs in his business over the years, Monahan says he’s never had a second thought about his career path. “I love doing what I do! It’s kept me alive when other things have left. It’s been there, a constant for 42 years.”

LISA OCKER