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Fernando Chavez Canchola, accompanied by his dogs, creates custom furniture in his Fort Worth workshop. (Sandra Sadek | Fort Worth Report)
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Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here. 

Fernando Chavez Canchola has built custom-made furniture and executed high-end upholstery projects in his Fort Worth workshop for over a decade for area clients, including many interior designers, and some out of state. He is following in the footsteps of his father, who started making pieces in California in 1978. 

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernandochavezcanchola/ 

This interview has been edited for grammar, clarity and length.

FWR: Tell me about your business, and what you do.

Fernando Chavez Canchola: It’s just me and (my father). We build all the frames and (do) upholstery. He’s been doing this since 1978, starting in California. We came out here (to Fort Worth) and have been doing it ever since. 

It’s a trade that really was helpful to learn. I’m really lucky that I was kind of born into this. That’s why I take a little bit more pride in everything that I’m making. 

FWR: Is this something you saw yourself doing?

Canchola: I’ve always seen it growing up, when I was growing up throughout the shop. My dad never really let me handle power tools. I was a little kid. But I’ve kind of always understood how to make chairs and how to do all that. 

FWR: Walk me through your process. How do you come up with your pieces?

Canchola: Everything’s made to order. So an interior designer will have a specific space that they want (something for). If they want a midcentury sofa, or they want to reupholster antiques, they’ll send me a picture and I’ll tailor it to the client’s depth — how deep do they want it? How high do they want it? Sometimes sofas or chairs are really low; I’ll make it a little bit higher to compensate for the older client who doesn’t want to sit really, really low in these modern styles. I’ll get a picture and then I’ll tailor. I’ll mess around with the dimensions and start building.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fernando Canchola (@fernandochavezcanchola)

FWR: Is there a specific style you prefer or specialize in?

Canchola: My dad’s been doing it for a long time, so I’ve been lucky to do a bunch of different styles. Everything’s repetitive throughout the years. There’s not really much new stuff, new things. 

It’s just, I think, how well is it made and the quality of the stuff. That’s the stuff that you want to carry on for generations. You could buy something new, but it’s not going to be made to this scale of quality.

FWR: Nowadays, people just buy their furniture online or in a store. Do you still think there’s a big demand for custom-made pieces?

Canchola: In the ’70s and ’80s, that’s how furniture was made. They would tweak designs from older stuff to make new things. But there were actual craftsmen that would do all these pieces. And my dad’s been doing it for so long that it’s now a really high-end trade. So it takes a long time to learn how to do all of it. 

Since he started the business, he kind of knew how to do everything, and as I was growing up, I learned how to do every process, from building to upholstering to learning how to draft, how to draw a chair. It’s just been an accumulation over the years of just having the opportunity to keep building stuff. People keep getting referred to us, and it’s been a joy to have someone like your quality of work.

FWR: What would you say is the biggest misconception about your craft?

Canchola: People usually think I’m like a cabinetmaker or something. Because it is different. You could be a carpenter and you could build houses. Or, you could be a carpenter and do woodturning. 

I think of my dad as like a master craftsman. He could wood turn, he could build furniture, he can upholster, he knows how to paint. So it’s kind of the accumulation of everything. 

Craftsmen used to be someone who can kind of do a little bit of everything. I wouldn’t call myself a woodworker, but I can do that. I wouldn’t call myself just an upholsterer. I will say just a craftsman — I’ve been lucky enough to be born into this. I just learned bits and pieces along the way to help me build pieces and how to never really have to bring down my quality of work.

Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or @ssadek19. 

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.