Vault Furniture is the result of a collaboration between Andrew Gooding and Brandilyn Dunkel, and their shared vision of creating functional furniture. Based in Chicago, the couple produces furniture and custom-made designs made from recycled materials.
“Andy grew up with a passion in mechanics and carpentry. From an early age he showed talent in construction and as a teenager he could bring crippled machinery back to life.” Even though his expertise lies in construction and welding, Andrew was forced, because of the economic crisis, to move toward the energy industry and worked on windmills in North Dakota for a year. Brandilyn shares his interest for functional creation. “It was this passion for creation and form that led me to graduate in Commercial Interior Design from Michigan State University.” Also touched by the crisis, she worked in her mother’s company where she acquired necessary business skills and started conceiving custom work desks.
It is in Andrew’s family barn that the couple started making their first furniture pieces, straight out of their imagination and with materials they found lying around. “We salvage everything from CB radio antenna towers, to 100 year old 2×4’s from demolition homes. We try to keep our designs simplistic in nature to let the materials speak for themselves.” Seduced by the results and passionate about their project, they went into developing Vault Furniture. Today, the little company has grown and Andrew and Brandilyn are looking to expand their manufacturing process.
Aside from recycling wood, Vault Furniture’s trademark is welding. Every piece of furniture features a steel element produced locally in the US. “Another technique is our “spray finish”. All of our table tops are finished in a commercial grade lacquer that requires a professional spray booth.” Vault products are unique and visibly inspired by the history of the materials composing them. “Our work is directly inspired by our surrounding territory since the materials are literally a part of it.”
