Boutique Design | boutiquedesign.com

Wood Work: Longtime friends Daniel Hellman and Eric Chang team up to create a handmade wood furniture line.

By Megan Krause

Even in high school, Daniel Hellman and Eric Chang knew the difference between good and bad design. When a local store was selling what they viewed as ugly, overpriced fish tank stands, the teenagers opted to design and build their own. “It was a great inspiration to get us started,” Hellman says.

Along with a passion for design and hand-craftsmanship, they also shared a strong entrepreneurial spirit: After high school, Chang co-founded a marketing agency while attending New York University’s Stern School of Business for Finance and Marketing, and Hellman ran a music recording business as a student at Northwestern University, where he studied classical guitar performance.

The friends reunited after college and began renting space in a Brooklyn furniture and artist studio co-op. And in 2006, they launched luxury furniture line Hellman-Chang. It turned out to be an auspicious debut: The designers submitted their Z Pedestal Table to Interior Design’s Best of Year Awards for 2006 and won. That blast of publicity resulted in a commercial order for The Four Seasons Seattle. And that work, in turn, led to contracts for such high-profile clients as the Waldorf Astoria, the Ritz-Carlton and the Setai Hotel.

Looking back, Chang, now 29, says getting the Four Season commission was a bit surreal. “We had to pinch ourselves a few times, but it was a great confidence booster,” he says. “It felt like everything had paid off.”

Since then, the company’s offerings have grown to include 12 lines of solid wood tables and case goods, including bookshelves, a bed frame and cocktail, side and dining tables. Each piece is sourced and made in New York, with solid wood construction and rich finishes including ebonized walnut and granite oak. Mixed materials, such as Starphire glass, brushed steel and Swarovski crystals, are also incorporated into the furniture pieces.

The Hellman-Chang aesthetic stems from its founders’ roles as both designers and craftsmen. “A new line might be formed because we can see the piece evolve as we build it,” says Hellman, 30. “Maintaining this hands-on approach makes for an intimate design/build process that allows our true design voice to be heard.”

Hellman and Chang employ six additional artisans: four in the workshop, and two in the design studio. They produce the company’s furniture lines in an 8,000-sq.-ft. Brooklyn warehouse that has what Chang describes as a “vintage woodshop vibe” and includes storage units with reclaimed barn wood doors and antique casement windows. Inside, the shop is divided into four zones: a showroom/loading dock; bench space for hand detailing, joining and finishing work; an industrial machinery room; and 2,500 sq. ft. of co-op space for rent.

Roughly 65 ordered pieces are in production at any given time, but that number can vary greatly based on product size and scope. The company’s furniture is sold at designer showrooms in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Seattle and Dania Beach, Fla.

Hellman-Chang is currently developing its first chair prototype and designing a loveseat, along with lighting and flatware collaborations. The idea, Chang unabashedly says, is to “bring something new, refreshing and timeless to the world.”

So far, things have moved at warp speed for these young craftsmen, and they continue on with plans to expand their line and double their work space. “We still have a tremendous journey ahead of us,” Hellman says, “but looking back on our successes is what drives us forward.”