Southern Indiana Business September-October 2020 | Page 32

The boardroom conference table at Sincere Services in New Albany is a creation of M&M
Tabletops. It is a live edge walnut piece that adds a rich appeal to the tastefully decorated room.
Photo by Bill Hanson
veneer capital of the world. Thanks to a
combination of easy access to interstates
and vast forests of desirable lumber in
Indiana and neighboring states, the area
served as a jumping-off point for much
of the world’s veneer industry.
In fact, much of Mitchell Veneer’s
early business focused on exports as
they regularly filled up 40-foot shipping
containers of veneers headed for Europe,
Asia and other parts of the globe. The
financial crisis of 2008-09 changed all
that, though.
“At that point we were 90 percent
export,” Teives said. “We were shipping
up to 10 to 12 trucks per month to
Europe.” But when the market dried up,
the company switched gears to focus on
U.S. customers. They reduced their volume,
and their workforce, and worked
instead to build up a domestic customer
base.
Mitchell Veneer has also ventured into
something entirely new -- and entirely
the opposite of veneers -- with its addition
of a new business, M&M Tabletops.
Operating out of the same warehouse,
this 5-year-old company is gaining a
reputation around Southern Indiana for
its one-of-a-kind wooden furniture, from
small tables for individuals to countertops
and conference tables for local
businesses. The furniture is made using
live-edge wood, a technique where the
bark is left on
“We’re totally changing the way we do
things,” Teives said. “Having a storefront
of sorts, daily customer interaction -- the
business is evolving as we speak.”
The wood used for M&M Tabletops
includes ash, walnut, cherry, maple, sycamore,
red oak and white oak. An onsite
kiln dries the wood to the correct moisture
content and then it’s sorted by length,
with the longest pieces almost reaching
the ceiling of the large warehouse. “One
customer will walk in today and want
a coffee table, another tomorrow might
want a conference table,” Teives said.
Trends in wood come and go, and
Teives said that while red-tinted woods
like cherry and mahogany have moved
to the back burner, live edge is trending.
“Whatever the tree grows whatever
natural beauty is there, is saved,” he said.
32 September / October 2020