About Pierre Fine Furniture
Pierre Fine Furniture is a high-end furniture design and fabrication company offering custom pieces as well as a shop of made-to-order items. All Pierre Fine Furniture products are conceived and meticulously handcrafted by founder Simon Blache in his New Orleans area workshop.
The Person
Hello. My name is Simon Blache, I am the founder and sole member of Pierre Fine Furniture. Making high-quality furniture is among my greatest joys. I design each Pierre Fine Furniture piece with the aim to gracefully distinguish and enhance your living space.
My goal is to provide furnishings that you enjoy owning as much as I enjoy creating.
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My surname, Blache, has never been correctly pronounced or spelled by anyone outside of my family. Most commonly people want to sneak an “n” into the middle, likening me to the fun-loving member of The Golden Girls. But the mistakes range widely from “Bla-SHAY” to “Blatche” and everything in between. (For your satisfaction, the correct pronunciation is “Bl-osh”, as in “Oh My Gosh”.)
Since company names tend to work better when they can be properly said aloud, the surname as a brand name custom was out for me and I needed to get creative. So I reached down deep and pulled out… my middle name. Thus, Pierre Fine Furniture was born. I think it sounds quite snappy and hope you agree.
In short, I am Pierre. But when we talk you can call me Simon.
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As you have probably noticed, wood is the primary material of my furniture. However, I love to incorporate metals, glass, leather, and other materials when the opportunity is presented.
In the woodworking world, I am what is commonly referred to as a “hybrid woodworker”; a craftsperson who takes advantage of both modern power tools and traditional hand tools.
Power tools offer undeniable value to furniture making (rip cutting an 8ft board with a handsaw would be no fun), but these modern luxuries often fall short on the ability to execute the finesse tasks that hand tools excel at. With a formal education and years of professional experience in Mechanical Engineering, selecting the “right tool for the job” is part of my core philosophy in life. As a result, I unblushingly employ power tools for the jobs they are good at, but almost nothing I create goes untouched by traditional hand tools.
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Discussing inspirations without sounding pretentious can be tough. But all things considered, you probably don’t want your fine furniture made by someone who isn’t at least slightly snobby; so here goes.
My inspirations are numerous. I am driven to create by everything from the cultural vibrance surrounding me in the city of New Orleans to the mundane objects of everyday life. I have made a display cabinet with details inspired by the elegant exteriors of Uptown New Orleans homes and a kitchen island inspired by a job-site tool cart.
Speaking more narrowly, the furniture styles/periods that chiefly influence my designs are:
— Mid-century modern
— Contemporary Japanese
— French Louis XVI
— Mission/Craftsman
The characteristic clean lines and relative absence of excessive ornamentation shared amongst these styles complement the sensibilities of contemporary interiors.
When creating my pieces I attempt to harmonize the elements of my inspirations to achieve visual cohesion without stumbling into stale predictability.
(Yeah that was a bit pretentious, oh well.)
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As stated above, my goal is to is provide furnishings that you enjoy owning as much as I enjoy creating. Obviously, this means delivering products with exquisite form and robust function.
But in addition to high-grade products, I also aim to provide high-grade service by:
—Achieving and maintaining clear communication about your wants
—Providing transparent pricing
—Keeping you connected to the creation process with progress pictures and updates
By pairing high-grade products with high-grade service, I am confident I can achieve my goal and we can both share in the joy.