cabinetry made the old hard way, now going into austin rooms
THE COLLABORATION
There is a workshop on Lawler Street in Mitchell, South Dakota. The doors open at seven in the morning, four days a week.
Albert’s father left the Amish when Albert was sixteen. The way of building did not leave with him. No trade secrets, no shortcuts, no faster method somebody worked out later. Just the old hard way, passed hand to hand.
I have spent my career among the ateliers of Milan. The velvet houses. The glass studios on Murano. Workshops that have been doing things the difficult way for centuries, because the difficult way is the only way that holds.
This is the American version of the same thing, and I did not expect to find it in South Dakota.
So we made it a partnership. Helmüt builds. I specify. Every kitchen is drawn from scratch for the house it is going into, made in their own factory, and set in the room by the people who made it.
This fall a Helmüt kitchen goes into my studio in Austin.
Disclosure: Giselle Koy is a design partner of Helmüt and earns a commission on products specified for clients.
“This is not woodwork you replace. It is woodwork you pass down.”
WHAT THE PARTNERSHIP IS
Cabinetry and shelving, drawn from scratch for the room it is going into, then built and set in place by the same hands. Nothing is adapted to fit.
The drawings, the millwork, the finishing, and the installation all belong to one family and one building on Lawler Street. German precision rather than Italian. A different lineage arriving at the same place.
Sioux Falls. Mitchell. Dallas. And this fall, a Helmüt kitchen in my studio in Austin, there to be opened, closed, and leaned on.
Albert Helmuth
Third-generation cabinetmaker · Helmüt
Albert runs Helmüt from Mitchell, South Dakota. His father left the Amish when Albert was sixteen and brought the way of building with him. It has not been modernized since. Every piece is drawn, built, finished, and installed by the same people, in the same building, four days a week.
If you are building or renovating and you want cabinetry made this way, it goes in through the studio.
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