Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
This is Fred Ball for Zions Bank, speaking on business.
Jody Thompson specializes in designing any type of furniture piece out of logs and barn wood. His company, Utah Mountain Furniture, has even built an iguana cage from logs -- of all things!
Each week the log furniture company uses between 500 and 700 logs. Loggers haul the fallen trees straight to Utah Mountain Furniture's in-house mill, where Jody's 15-man crew gets busy transforming the logs into benches, cabinets, beds, mirror frames and just about anything else you can think of. Hundreds of retail stores across the nation sell the log furniture, and a lot of Jody's work can be seen on television shows and in movies.
I asked Jody how he could tell whether or not it's his furniture on the screen. He says he simply recognizes the style and design, especially since he personally designs the furniture. In addition to his unique design, Jody proudly boasts that all of his company's pieces are made entirely from logs. Apparently, most other log furniture companies overlay particleboard or plywood with log corners. Jody tells me their level of quality sets Utah Mountain Furniture apart from many competitors.
But Jody wasn't always involved with making log furniture. In fact, before he bought the company ten years ago, Jody tells me his only experience with woodworking occurred during woodshop classes while in junior high school. Prior to buying Utah Mountain Furniture, Jody and three other partners owned a brokerage firm. The firm did well at first, but ultimately didn't last and Jody found himself looking for something else to do. After noticing a void in the furniture market for rustic style pieces made of logs, Jody became a retailer. However, he soon grew tired of repeatedly coping with the same quality issues. So, he switched gears again, learned the manufacturing side of the industry and bought Utah Mountain Furniture.
Now, Jody loves to joke that if it isn't Utah Mountain Furniture's then it's firewood!
For Zions Bank, I'm Fred Ball. I'm speaking on business.
