Woodworker carves out path, provides sustainable carpentry across Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) — A Chicago woodworker is bringing the art of sustainable carpentry to the city.
Verrone Sims has works located around the city, including a picnic table he made for a local café spot. It's just one piece from his South Side woodworking business.
In his one-man show, it's tough to figure out what Simms is about to create next because he's doing so many things simultaneously.
"We are building multiple projects," Simms said. "I am working on a transit van turned into a mobile office. I am working on a coffee table, plus a dining table, plus my own collection of furniture. All of this is going on at the exact same time."
Simms's small woodworking business, a Brown Hue, goes wherever he does—including working from a friend's garage. It's one of several shops he's got set up across the city.
"I was working in my garage. I was working in my basement. I'm working at a friend's house. Like it's always been this just this community of people letting me use all these spaces to do what I gotta do," he said.
Each of his creations is all-natural and handmade, finished with non-toxic materials, and, perhaps most importantly, starts as a slab of locally sourced lumber.
"So, most of my material is sourced from three local spots. It's all on purpose. I am all about local economy," Simms said.
"Because I feel as though when you build a local economy, you build a community, and when you build a community, you have more people willing to say that I want to help."
Simms says that keeping his business local, keeps it sustainable, which goes further than just saving the planet.
"It's also about saving you money. It's also about thinking about the long-term economic effects of buying the same crap over and over again."
Regardless of what he's making, Simms says all his customers are ultimately looking for the same thing.
"Something that makes them feel like when you come home, I'm at home, I can shut the world out for a second. So, that's what I build for," he said.
And that's what got him to start building in the first place— his own need to decompress.
"Honestly, it was one of those things where I work in a job where just, you know, the grime in you in a rat race. So, for me, coming home doing something tangible with my hands kind of slowed my brain down, and over the years, it became my, just my getaway," Simms said.
Woodworking went from getaway to income stream in just a couple of years.
"I'm a dad, too, so that gave me the sense of like, okay, I can make a schedule, you know, do woodworking and make a living, and be an artist, which I always want to be, right? It takes you so long., and in a neighborhood in which I grew up, you know, art is not seen as a, it's not a viable thing."
Simms began producing affordable, expertly crafted pieces, attracting nonprofits and other small, local businesses to his work.
"I've always attached myself to causes, who come up with plans and programs to really help those who are underserved. I think a shop wherever, wherever I'm working at that shop needs to be able to build community as well," he said.
Some of Brown Hue's work can be found from Evanston to Woodlawn.
His work isn't just for non-profits. Simms says custom work is an important part of his business, especially as the holidays approach. He can do just about whatever a person can think of, and he'll engrave it if asked nicely.