Seyler’s Rustic Furniture is a one man operation where every piece is designed and built by me, David A. Seyler. Exactly when the business began is a little fuzzy. Building furniture by hand was not a career plan for me. I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. I always loved nature and animals and began planning a for a career in the wildlife field as a freshman in high school after I’d seen a poster for the College of Environmental Science and Forestry in the Guidance Councilor’s office. I graduated from the college in 1989 with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology.
Over the next few years I worked temporary wildlife positions. Wildlife Biology is not a good career choice. I held seasonal and temporary positions for state and private companies until 2004 when I finally threw in the towel. Working in the woods, I saw very unique, artsy looking trees and pondered the idea of putting those natural designs and materials into my apartment. On the way to work one day, I passed a house with a cut down white birch. It was already cut-up for firewood, but I asked the homeowner if I could have a few pieces. She let me pick a few and I very happily continued to work. I was going to make a lamp. I didn’t know how to make a lamp, but I wasn’t an idiot. I made two lamps, which I still have and use today. I suppose that was the start of making rustic furniture, but it still wasn’t a plan for the future.
I have always been artist and artist people are creative people. Creative people NEED to create things. I toyed with designing wildlife mugs and wildlife embroidery. At the same time I kept making things from tree parts and wood. I found that I really enjoyed the wood aspect of the creative things I did and so I gradually focused on just furniture and décor. That’s why I really don’t know when exactly I became a furniture maker. Maybe I always was.
