Alabama Sawyer

Cliff Spencer spent 20 years building sets in New York, Aspen, and Los Angeles before he moved back to Alabama with his wife Leigh and a question that wouldn't leave him alone: what happens to all the urban trees that fall or get cut down in Birmingham?

Most of them go to the landfill. Birmingham sits in the second-largest urban forest in the United States, and every storm, construction project, and utility clearance sends hardwood to the dump. Cliff saw material, not waste. In 2015, he and Leigh launched Alabama Sawyer to rescue that displaced wood and turn it into furniture and home goods.

They call it "field to studio." A hackberry tree downed by a storm becomes a wide-plank dining table. A pecan log from a utility clearance becomes a live-edge charcuterie board. Each piece carries the character of the tree it came from — grain patterns, natural edges, the occasional bolt hole or bark inclusion. Nothing is hidden or sanded into uniformity.

Cliff handles the woodworking. Leigh, a former senior graphic designer at ING, runs the business side: sales, marketing, and product design. They relocated from Los Angeles to Birmingham in 2016, set up shop on Vanderbilt Road, and have been milling, drying, and building there since.

The product range spans kitchen essentials to large-scale custom furniture. Cutting boards and charcuterie boards start around $108. Furniture — dining tables, coffee tables, benches, desks — runs higher, with custom pieces reaching into the thousands. They also make smaller accessories: compost caddies, candle holders, knife holders, breakfast trays. Everything ships via UPS or blanket-wrap freight, and they offer free shipping on accessory orders over $150.

Garden & Gun gave Alabama Sawyer its 2017 "Made in the South" overall prize for a Wide Plank Hackberry Table. The brand has since been featured on KonMari, 1stDibs, and Wescover.

Products

• Live-edge cutting boards and charcuterie boards
• Dining tables, coffee tables, and console tables
• Benches, desks, and side tables
• Compost caddies and kitchen accessories
• Candle holders and home decor
• All-natural cutting board oil
• Custom commercial installations

Why We List Them

• Founder-owned and operated by Cliff and Leigh Spencer
• No outside investors or corporate backing
• All products made from reclaimed urban wood in Birmingham, Alabama
• Diverts displaced hardwood from landfill to studio
• 2017 Garden & Gun "Made in the South" overall winner
• Ships nationwide and internationally