Handcrafted furniture with soul and a story to be told for generations.
Our highest goal at Helen Louise Design is to enhance the joy and flow of a space with beautiful, well-made work.
We believe in slow furniture, and carry a deep reverence for makers of the past. We blend traditional and modern techniques to build furniture with the utmost attention to detail, beauty and durability.
Our furniture is customized to your space and crafted to fit your exact needs in our SE Portland workshop. You are invited to connect with each step of the making process, from raw wood to finished product.
The wood grain tells the tree's story, and we help to write the next chapter.
I believe that creating an aligned space is a sacred process.
I am Helen Louise Helfand: craftswoman, project manager, teacher and woodworker.
I honed my craft at the prestigious Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in mid-coast Maine, where I learned from many of the greatest living furniture makers in the world, including my mentor Aled Lewis. I then expanded my skillset by working at several New York furniture lines and completing an upholstery apprenticeship.
Back home in Oregon, I am constantly in awe of the natural resources available to us here. I love sharing my passion for fine woodworking, and recently developed an 8-week Intro to Woodworking and Furniture Design course that I teach at the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers.
In my previous life, I received my BA from Stanford University and and held a variety of creative roles in the Bay Area, from project management for startups to office design for startups to set fabrication for conferences...for startups.