The Works Of

The creator and founder of The Handmade Table,  David Grant Howard was raised in the historic circa 1783 town of Greenville, Tennessee located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains on one of the early roads into Kentucky and the interior of the continent.

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As a child, he was immersed in the history of the region with the names like Nathaniel Greene, Crockett, Boone, Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston,  Andrew Johnson, and Confederate General John Hunt Morgan everywhere. He once responded to a question about where his interest in history and things of ole’ arose whereupon he answered, “ I don’t really know”.  A close childhood friend with him at the time laughed and said, “David, look around you.”   He spent many hours after his grammar school classes with the granddaughter of President Andrew Johnson who hosted tours of the former president's home in Greenville.  She greatly influenced his interest in history as did his High School and college history professors.

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David attended Greenville High School where he was a student-athlete and letterman in football, track, and basketball. He was the captain of his football team. He attended the University of Tennessee where he received a degree in accounting and finance. After graduation, he moved to Dallas, Texas where he spent a number of years in international banking. While there he earned certification as a CPA.  He left banking and went to work for the consulting firm of Ernst & Young and lived in Washington, DC., Chicago, and Calgary before returning to Dallas. While in Washington D.C. he worked in the Reagan White House during part of his tenure in Washington. It was after he had returned to Dallas that his youngest sibling purchased and dismantled a historic log house. 

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This first introduced him to the world of moving historic structures and later, antique building materials.  The experience led to a major shift in direction away from the corporate world and into a career in preservation, historic buildings, and building materials.  He later started and operated one of the country’s largest warehouse operations dealing in historic materials.

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While he was engaged in the historic building materials business he saw a need for truly fine furniture and cabinetry for his and his customer’s projects. “For whatever reason I was always able to see things others could not see and using historic materials to make cabinetry for our projects was one of them.  It just made sense for our customers”. This led to an interest in and creation of a small enterprise around the making of excellent reproduction farm and harvest tables and other historic cabinetry.  The results of that interest are what you see on this website.  David personally chooses almost all the materials that go into his furniture. His customers are continually amused at how someone with a background in accounting and finance could also be so creative.

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