I found Coolican & Company the way I find most things worth knowing about — someone mentioned them once, I looked them up, and then I couldn't stop looking.
They're based in Kingston, Ontario. They make furniture in small batches. Solid wood, clean lines, designed to age. No veneers. No flat-pack. No story about disrupting the furniture industry.
Just people in a shop making things that will outlast the people who buy them.
As an architect, I specify furniture constantly. I've put a lot of things in buildings that I wouldn't put in my own home — budget decisions, client preferences, lead times. It's one of the quiet compromises of the job. You learn to live with it.
Coolican is the kind of maker I wish I could specify on every project. The kind where you don't have to explain the price, because the object explains itself the moment someone sits in it or runs a hand across the surface.
That's a rare thing. Most furniture asks you to overlook something. A joint that's slightly off. A finish that's a little too perfect in a way that feels fake. A leg that's just slightly too thin to feel honest.
Coolican doesn't ask you to overlook anything.
The pieces on this site are ones I'd put in a room I care about. That's the bar. It's the only bar.
— Andrew Reeves, Ottawa