Company carves a custom niche

Crafting and building home furnishings is a unique art for Jim Swan and Steven Pattillo, co-owners of Swan and Pattillo, a custom furnishings company. The two men focus their business on handcrafting one-of-a-kind pieces. Their services can range from a single item to furnishings for the entire home.

Swan and Pattillo were childhood friends who grew up together in Yucca Valley, Calif., and moved to Palm Springs at 18 to work for a custom furniture builder.

"We officially started working on these sorts of projects at 18, but growing up we were always getting tools for Christmas and helping our fathers, who worked in construction, with projects," Pattillo said.

The two men worked together there for almost six years before going their separate ways for a short while. It wasn't long before they decided to start their own company.

"We both tried working for other people and didn't like the way they were doing things, so eventually we just decided to do it ourselves," Pattillo said.

Since starting the company four years ago, Pattillo and Swan have taken on projects ranging from a single piece of furniture to the decor for entire homes.

Their largest project to date was a house in Anthem Country Club. Swan and Pattillo built most of the house's furnishings, including cabinets, counters, sinks, a kitchen island, the walls and desk area in the home's office, the bed, and a wall in the bedroom and sinks and cabinets in the bathroom.

Swan and Pattillo also built a unique outdoor barbecue on the patio and several one-of-a-kind furniture pieces, including fireplaces and a dining room table.

While the two men do all of the building and much of the design for their furnishings, they use contractors for electronics, some glasswork and lighting.

For the Anthem house, Swan and Pattillo worked with Palm Canyon Development, a general contractor they often work with, and followed a concept designed by Gary Pittsenbarger.

Swan handles most of the day-to-day business for the company, as well as doing many of the drawings for pieces and much of the finishing work. Pattillo figures out how to construct the pieces and does most of the building.

Many of the pieces that Swan and Pattillo currently build come from an idea the homeowner or an interior designer already has in mind. Occasionally they will get free reign over a project and pull the design entirely from their own imaginations.

"Ideally I'd like to have my own showroom of all unique furniture pieces," Pattillo said. "Eventually I'd love to be able to totally dedicate myself to very unique one-of-a-kind pieces, and only create five or six of them a year instead of 100."

Building furniture for an entire house typically takes Swan and Pattillo about one year from start to finish, though for a single piece they generally need about six weeks for design and ordering, and another 2-3 weeks to complete the project. Prices are determined by project depending on length of time needed and materials.

The offices of Swan and Pattillo are located at 5329 S. Cameron St., Suite 109.


<<--[back]