WE’VE ALL GOT FURNITURE IN OUR HOMES THAT comes from big-box stores or chain retailers—it’s stylish, fits whatever aesthetic we’ve chosen and gives some expectation that it’ll last us until we’re ready for a refresh. It’s also soulless.
There are no hand-joined pieces, no real artistry, no character or sense of tradition.
But there’s a world beyond fast furniture. A place where tradition, craftsmanship and legacy still matter—and every piece has a story. That’s the world of Englishman’s Fine Furniture, a family-owned business rooted in generations of passion for antiques, design and true artistry.
It all began with an ambitious young man in England who didn’t care much for school but found his calling in an antiques shop. “My father worked many different jobs trying to find his passion, and he’d eventually begun working at a barbershop next door to an antique store,” says Anita Vreeland, daughter of Englishman’s founder Michael Howarth. “He started going in and fell in love with the shop and the antiques there, so the owner offered him a job.”
Howarth took the knowledge he gained and moved from London to Kent, to a village called Wingham, where he bought an old butcher shop. He lived above the shop, which he converted into an antiques shop, and began selling and exporting furniture to America. By 1981, he’d gone into partnership with three other English exporters who owned an auction house called Kennedy Antiques in Atlanta. Skilled as he was, his partners asked him to move to Atlanta and run the auction house.
“My father became known around town at the other auction houses and other businesses as ‘the Englishman,’” says Vreeland, whose own English accent has been softened by more than 40 years of living in the United States.
When the economy went into a recession in 1990, Howarth’s partners wanted to dissolve the company—giving him the perfect opportunity to create something of his own. Naturally, he used a name that meant something to him personally: Englishman’s.
By 1997, Vreeland joined the company, bringing with her a Bachelor of Fine Arts in interior design from the University of Georgia after transferring there from SCAD in Savannah. “I grew up around the auction house and my father’s antiques, and I loved helping my dad out on the weekends for extra money while I was at college,” she says. “After I graduated, I did model home interior design, then worked for a company that did executive office suites and commercial interior design. When my dad asked if I’d be interested in working with him, they had just started doing reproduction pieces, so he needed me to do drawings of the furniture for the factories that we work with in England. Auctions and the older stuff weren’t doing as well at this point, so he needed more reproduction pieces as we slowed and ultimately stopped the auctions—which led to a catalogue and the creation of our own furniture line. I came on to expand our reproduction and custom work, which is now over half the business.”
True to its name and roots, Englishman’s 20,000-square-foot showroom is filled with both antique pieces and reproduction pieces, with an experienced team on hand to help clients create custom pieces. And while they may work with “factories” in England, these factories in no way resemble the mammoth factories that mass-produce pieces. Rather, these are companies whose workers have spent years as apprentices to other craftsmen who have spent years themselves working in the industry.
And that is what the Englishman’s name has come to represent: quality, handmade products. Dovetail joints cut and joined by hand, hand-polished finishes, legs turned by hand. Human hands are at work through every step of the process, from design to completion. “What really defines us is the quality of the handmade products and the hand finishes,” says Vreeland, who runs the custom design side as well as marketing and administration. “You’re getting generations of craftsmanship, and it shows. When someone orders a custom piece, we send the design to one of the three factories we work with in England—each of which has different specialties. One works specifically in oaks and cherries—all local guys who learned through apprenticeship and now work at this small factory out in the countryside. It’s an old-fashioned way of learning that we’ve lost here in the States, and of course some of them are family-owned. Over the years, I’ve worked with the grandfather, then the father and now the son. The other two factories that do our mahogany and walnut pieces, like desks, have more modern machinery—the wood tops are machine-planed and turnings are done on a lathe—but most everything else is still done by hand.”
Completion of a custom piece generally takes three months to arrive in the United States, once a design has been approved by the customer and sent to the factory. “People may see a piece here in the showroom and need a different size or finish, sometimes they bring a sketch or photograph of something they want reproduced or made with specific changes,” says Vreeland. “We’ll write a quote form with the description and sizes, sometimes with drawings and photos attached. That is emailed to the factory in England, and we typically get back to the customer within 24 hours.”
Whatever the case, Englishman’s has proven itself to be a granter of wishes come to life in cherry, oak, mahogany and walnut. On offer are a variety of finishes and a range of leg types. Bestsellers include a quad-base pot board extending table, double pedestal mahogany-banded dining table and a pedestal desk, as well as an imported leather collection that has been a popular choice for swivel chairs, couches and love seats.
As traditional as its furniture is—whether antique or reproduction—Englishman’s has maintained its appeal. “There are always going to be people who like classic design, and the simple lines of our pieces still blend well with more modern aesthetics,” Vreeland says. “Nothing is really ornate; you won’t find a lot of appliqué work or embellishments on our pieces, unless a customer requests it. We’ve also got a lot of younger people interested in the pieces because of the ‘grandmillennial’ trend that embraces the look of things you’d find in your grandparents’ house. Overall, we stay relevant because we listen to the customer and adapt. And, of course, this is work we’re all proud of. We believe in it. We all have these products in our own homes because they’re heirloom-quality pieces that can be passed on as a family legacy.”
Much like the company’s heritage, Englishman’s is a family affair. Vreeland’s brother-in-law, Kevin, joined the staff in 1997—the same year she did. Today, he runs the warehouse, processes orders and oversees delivery. Her cousin, Adel, and Darren, a family friend, both came over from England in 2003 to join the company. The office manager, Donna, has worked for Englishman’s since it began. Vreeland’s parents, though semiretired, are also still heavily involved in the business. The next generation is involved, as well: Vreeland’s son and nephews work part time, though time will tell which of them will carry on the business.
“We all have our own areas to oversee, from social media and sales to design and daily administrative tasks,” says Vreeland. “It takes all of us to make Englishman’s work smoothly.”
In a world where disposable furniture is the norm, Englishman’s Fine Furniture stands apart—rooted in tradition, built with care and created to last for generations. Whether you’re furnishing a home for the first time or adding a timeless heirloom to your space, Englishman’s offers more than just furniture. It offers a legacy—pieces crafted with heart, history and the hands of true English artisans. *
Liesel Schmidt lives in Navarre, Florida, and works as a freelance writer for local and regional magazines. She is also a web content writer and book editor. Follow her on X at @laswrites or download her novels, Coming Home to You, The Secret of Us and Life Without You, at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
