Sisters of Sawdust was born of necessity: An old house, a missing fireplace, a possibility for inspiration.
The backstory: We knew the living room of our ca. 1915 house once had a fireplace — the gas connection was still there, but nothing remained of the structure. Two other rooms had a fireplace, though, and they matched. That’s when we thought: Can we recreate the corbels to replicate the fireplace?
But instead of deconstructing the original fireplace, we used new technology to create the brackets. We photographed the shape, traced the image, and developed a 3D model using the dimensions from the original piece. This sparked an idea: If we can recreate these historic pieces, can we recreate others?
As 3D printing evolves and more materials are available, it opened up the possibility of 3D printing using wood-based filament. This not only gives us design flexibility that comes from digital scans, but a method of creating new features using wood products.
This is how Sisters of Sawdust was born. We recognize the need to restore or recreate historic architectural details that might otherwise be lost to time. Our process honors the past but, by using cutting-edge technology, we’re also prepared for the future. Our goal is to create sustainable, affordable pieces that allow homeowners, contractors, and historic preservationists to bring history and character back to their spaces.