Elegant furnishings from winery discards

(PD) - Wine Country chic meets steampunk in the eco-friendly workshop of Whit McLeod.

In a Healdsburg warehouse filled with old industrial machinery, including steam-bending equipment, the former wildlife biologist takes what was once just wine-industry trash and turns it into stunning, hand-sawn and custom-designed wood furnishings.

Some pieces distinctively telegraph their humble roots, making no attempt to hide the fact that at one point they were utilitarian barrels. McLeod re-imagines those oak and redwood staves and round barrel tops into folding chairs, stools and end tables with stylish legs made of the bent metal bands.

Other pieces, like his modernist dining tables and Morris chairs, don't betray their past. They appear only as beautiful pieces made of the best wood — wood hard if not impossible to come by today. The source of his lumber is McLeod's secret, one he is proud to spill.

“There's a direct link between the diminishing resources and the oak coming out of the wine industry, which is of pretty high quality,” the woodmaker says with a shrug. He speaks in slow, halting phrases, a man most comfortable communicating through his hands. he has the lean, cool-headed look of a younger Harrison Ford.

Furniture made of recycled wine barrels is now commonplace in Wine Country. But McLeod was one of the first to pioneer the practice and with some 30 years of experience, he's perfected it to an artistry.

His pieces aren't just novelties for wine cellars. Many are classic, strong and stylish enough to command the eye in a room, like the round French and American white oak dining table that the popular design website ApartmentTherapy singled out as “extraordinary” and “inspiring.”