1 of 6
2 of 6
3 of 6
4 of 6
5 of 6
6 of 6
From a young age, artist Patrick Hayes had a fascination with old buildings. When he relocated from his native California to Nashville in 2014, he was surprised to find century-old buildings falling to new development and saw an opportunity to preserve what was being lost. In this effort, he launched 1767 Designs. Named for the number of miles between his hometown of Huntington Beach and his new home in Franklin, it serves as a collection of custom furniture and wall art crafted with salvaged wood from Nashville's urban decay.
Hayes became a self-taught craftsman out of a need for furniture when he moved into his Franklin home. The first coffee table he built came from a pile of reclaimed scrap wood he bought from a local contractor for $10. At the urging of friends, he started selling similar coffee tables at the Nashville Flea Marketand those early customers helped him shape his first collection. One person asked for a table without legs (they wanted a piece of wall art instead), while others requested furniture made with wood from specific neighborhoods. Customers supplied information about properties being demolished, too.
'People would come to me about their neighbor's house being torn down. That's how it started,” says Hayes, who now works directly with developers and employs a team of friends for each project, sometimes with only a day or two to dismantle a home.
After having the wood tested for any harmful toxins, the team takes it back to Hayes' shop, which sits behind his current home in Wedgewood-Houston. There, he removes what might be thousands of nails, gives it a light sanding, fashions it into furniture, and adds a clear coat to finish.
'Since we're working with reclaimed, I'm not as concerned with the species of the wood,” says Hayes. 'You're not going to see the wood grain, we're not taking the saw marks off. We're leaving some of the grit. That's what people love about reclaimed woodit has that grit you can't duplicate.”
What matters more to Hayes is the backstorywhere the wood came from. On every piece, he marks the address where the home once stood and the year it was built. Hayes recalls one project in 12 South where he met the man who grew up in the home.
'Usually these people are already gone; I don't know who they are or their story,” he says. 'A lot of what we find is old photos, and it's cool to look at but doesn't really give you a sense of who they were or what their life was like.”
This man, though, gave Hayes a tour of the home, sharing stories within each room, before his team got to work. The house later provided wood for an art installation that Hayes put together for his booth at the Porter Fleahe used a mantel that the man was particularly sentimental about and invited him to come take a look.
'To see this grown man sort of lose it, that was one of those defining moments where I realized I'm doing something for the right reason,” says Hayes.
This month, 1767 Designs launches its spring collection and debuts a line of handcrafted candles. (Hayes' favorite scent is coffee soda with fresh orange peel.) As for future goals, Hayes plans to continue developing new products that complement his growing lifestyle brand while also contributing to more revitalization projects around town. He also collaborated with Urban Cowboy's Lyon Porter to renovate a 10-room Victorian in East Nashville, which will serve as a bed-and-breakfast.
'Through this journey, I've gained a passion for design, and I really enjoy taking a blank canvas and turning it into a space that creates something special,” says Hayes. 'We are just starting to do that, and I would like to see it grow to a larger scale.”