History Lesson

Greetings, Jake D. Ramshop, spokesperson for BarMade, here again to talk about our repurposed items, and a little bit about their history.  When our creators build a bar, buyers are not only getting a unique bar, but they are also buying a piece of history.  BarMade puts forth great effort gathering as much history of their core items as possible. 

By golly, I’m excited to tell you about the history of some of our baahs, oh, excuse me….barrrrrs (for those of you who aren’t from New England!).  If you’ve visited our catalog of bars, you’ll notice that a few of them are repurposed Larkin furniture products.  Now, some of you might say “Why would I want something made out of an old piece of furniture?”  Well, let me ask you “Is any new furniture you’ve purchased recently made completely of real wood?”  Not likely. Vintage furniture is made up of your solid woods…oak, cherry, mahogany, pine, walnut, chestnut, etc., and yes, some veneers, which is also real wood.

Let’s circle back to Larkin. The Larkin Company, founded by John D. Larkin in 1875 (Wikipedia), oddly enough manufactured and sold soap! To better market their soap products, they offered “premiums” with each sale.  If you purchased a $10.00 soap order, it included a $10.00 premium that could be used to buy a piece of furniture that Larkin manufactured in their Buffalo, NY factory.  By 1912, the Larkin catalog offered some 900 different household items, and could fill a home with every necessity, from lamps to pianos, and everything in between!  It was second only to Sears and Roebuck in offering household goods.  (Stay tuned to BarMade for their soon to be release of repurposed Larkin desk and talking machine bars!)

While Larkin furniture sometimes struggled to withstand the test of time, its redeeming quality was that it was made of solid wood (and some veneer), and that makes Larkin furniture perfect for refurbishing and repurposing.  Using today’s modern materials and techniques, that Larkin piece is now of the quality to be proudly displayed. Now that’s wicked cool!

So, when purchasing a repurposed vintage furniture piece, you are not only getting new functionality, but you’re also buying a small piece of someone’s history.  And that has profound worth! If you would like to know a little more about a BarMade product’s history beyond what is in its description, please tickle us at help@barmade.co and we’ll fill you in!

Don’t forget that BarMade regularly adds new products, so please continue to check our website. 

Well folks, it’s been great chatting with ya, and thanks for tuning in!  “Til next time!

Cheers!

Jake