I love it when people reappropriate words. Such is the case with designer and founder of Commonhouse furniture, Shawn R. Sowers, who has erased the negative connotations from the word common. Using his grandmother’s meaning of the word—“the perfect balance of simplicity, familiarity, and goodness”—Sowers used these elements as a guiding aesthetic to create elegant, modern furniture that “represents those three ideals through form, construction, and material.”

Frame Tables. Designed by Shawn R. Sowers. Manufactured by Commonhouse.

Modern Heirloom Furniture

Based in Columbus, Ohio, Commonhouse uses Amish and Mennonite craftsmen to realize Sowers’ designs. The simplicity comes through in the company’s focus on “purposeful forms that let the materials, structure, and joinery serve as the decorative elements.” The familiarity is evoked through Commonhouse’s use of traditional materials and construction methods. And the good is the result of classic design and excellent craftsmanship, which add up to “never having to buy the same thing twice.”

Frame Table exemplifies all of these characteristics. This simple, beautifully built table is a solid surface of wood resting on two wooden frames. Available in three sizes—a larger coffee table, a rectangular side table, and a square side table—Frame Table is made of solid wood in your choice of walnut, cherry, maple, ebonized oak, or white oak. Finished with a water-resistant, natural, low-sheen lacquer, Frame Table highlights the wood, as well as its own shape. The two squares making up Frame Table’s base act as windows, allowing you to frame the different tableaus within any room.

About the Manufacturer: Commonhouse, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, was started by Shawn R. Sowers to create furniture with three guiding principles: simple, familiar, and good. Combining his clean design aesthetic with the meticulous construction of local Amish and Mennonite craftsmen, Sowers “transforms customer selected solid hardwoods into modern day heirlooms.”