Cochran Craftsmen Fashion Famed Wooden Furniture
Dylan Cochran crafts his family’s signature Lookout Mountain Rocker at Wood Studio in Winston County. He and his brother, Keith, and father, Randy, operate the nationally renowned shop.
By Marlee Moore hen craftsman Randy Cochran was W a new father, he had a design
inspiration. His vision of a smoothly rocking, long-lasting chair became the Lookout Mountain Rocker. Its hand-crafted frame of native hardwood and hand-stretched saddle leather achieved national acclaim four decades later when Garden & Gun magazine named it the 2012 Made in the South Awards Overall Winner. “Everything we do is hand-built one at a time,” Randy said. “We’re making modern antiques. We guarantee everything we do for 100 years or as long as any of us are alive.” These days, his sons, Keith and Dylan, spend 80 hours per piece producing signature furniture at Wood Studio in Arley. The shop, originally
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located in Randy’s Nashville backyard, moved to Winston County in 2005. The Cochrans craft pieces in limited production runs. They use the time-tested technique of overlapping mortise and tenon joints, which are glued and pegged with brass pins. The meticulously fashioned frame draws together when the Lookout Mountain Rocker is used, strengthening the piece. “It’s become an obsession to make sure we don’t cut corners or leave scratches, that everything is as tight and well-fitted as possible so it will last for generations,” said Dylan, who grew up hammering
scrap wood with his brother. Before joining Wood Studio full time, the brothers followed in their father’s footsteps and graduated from Auburn University. “(Because of my professors at Auburn) my design sense is influenced by the Bauhaus movement, along with my love for nature,” said Randy, referencing the German art school famed for its modernist construction philosophy. Wood Studio furniture includes the Beersheba (pronounced Bursh’ba) Swing. While the Cochrans’ other creations are original, this piece is
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