Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Hively.
Hi Jon, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
How the business was started is a pretty funny story. I was walking along in my neighborhood when I came across a coffee table on its side, left out to the elements on my neighbor’s porch. Even though I had essentially no woodworking experience, something led me to knock and ask them if I could attempt to restore it as a little project. I thought that it had way too much potential to be thrown away.
I built a new top for it, fixed the broken leg, and gave it a fresh coat of paint. I enjoyed it so much that when I was finished I wanted to recreate the entire experience again and decided that I would attempt to build a coffee table from scratch. I found some plans online and my love for woodworking was born.
I began making and selling coffee tables out of the basement of our townhome in Baltimore, MD. I learned pretty quickly from my clients just how hard it was for people to find sturdy, solid wood, quality furniture these days.
It changed my perspective a bit when I considered the furniture that we had in our own home at the time. I could see how the majority of it was only ever intended to be temporary, to one day be thrown out and replaced, just like the coffee table that I found.
I realized that when it comes to furniture, like many things in life, it’s not that we need “more, more, more”, we simply need “better”. That’s the mantra for what we’re doing at Relic.
We want to be that option. In addition to using the highest quality materials that we can find, we’ve also made it our goal to create something that’s the exact right size, shape, and color for each of our client’s spaces, all tied together in a design that elevates the whole room.
We love what we do and want nothing more than to build something that someone will walk by every day and cherish.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The expression “building the plane while flying it” pretty much sums up the early days of the business. Running a small business is so much work, especially at first, and unless you’re coming in with a lot of experience you pretty much feel like you’re doing everything that you do the hard way.
The long hours get to you. The mistakes discourage you. The business you’re creating feels like it is a direct reflection of you so there is certainly a pressure that comes along with that. You see your friends with their free weekends and paid vacations and you start to question the path you’ve set for yourself.
That’s where passion comes in. Those who have it keep moving forward. As long as you’re taking steps forward you’re going up the mountain and your passion will be the fuel. Lean into whichever parts of your business fill you up and try to decrease or outsource anything that brings you down, There’s no room for that.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We provide custom wooden dining tables and furniture to our clients and we proudly serve Baltimore, Washington DC, Northern VA, and beyond. Everything that leaves our shop has been made by hand and built using premium quality and environmentally friendly materials.
What sets us apart from big brand furniture options is that we offer the ability for someone to fully customize their order, we guide them through the entire process, and material wise we use actual solid wood. Due to complications with shipping and color consistency the big brands generally use veneers which can be disastrous if damaged and generally have a very predictable manufactured look to them. We use locally sourced hardwoods and hand-select them for appearance. If a solid wood table is ever damaged or just needs a little refresh it can very easily and affordably be refinished. We’ll pick it up and bring it right back to you.
A few things that set us apart from other woodworkers would be our eye for aesthetics and the way that we are continually pushing forward in design. A large portion of our work is collaborating with interior designers which is a great fit because we approach everything that we do to create something magazine worthy that the client will swoon over and love for a long long time. That’s the win-win we’re after.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Baltimore has always been home. When I think about what I love about it, the first thing that comes to mind is going to games at the stadiums. The city comes together at the games and there is a passionate energy of the people that I think is hard to find anywhere else. We’re also fortunate to have such awesome stadiums and teams.. so that’s a huge part of it. I also love the historical and nautical vibe of Fells Point and Canton and all of the fun little places to pop into. We always did a haunted pub crawl through Fells around Halloween every year, highly recommend it!
The first thing to come to mind when I think about what I like the least about the city is the cleanliness/trash/litter. It certainly isn’t as important as our major issues but it just seems so unnecessary and self-inflicted. There isn’t a single person that wouldn’t rather walk down a clean sidewalk, you know? Finding and experiencing beauty in the day-to-day is good for the soul and unfortunately, I think we strip ourselves of the beauty of the city when we’re distracted by the trash.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.relictables.com
- Instagram: @relictables
Image Credits
Christy Kosnic
