The Legacy Table: A Talk With Vicco von Voss

For much of his career, Chestertown furniture maker Vicco von Voss thought of his work in relatively straightforward terms: find extraordinary wood, understand what it wants to become, and make something beautiful enough to last.

After more than three decades of working with trees, that understanding has worked its way into his creations.

A tree, von Voss says, is not simply raw material. It is a witness. Before entering his shop, it may have survived generations of storms and droughts, shaded a house, marked the boundaries of a farm or watched children grow into adults.

“When we work with a tree, we’re working with something that already has a history before it ever enters our shop,” he says. “I want to preserve and continue that story.”

Trees have long marked the chapters of von Voss’s own family life. He planted ornamental plums for his parents. He and his wife, Jacqui, were married beneath the large oak in their backyard. When their daughter was born, they planted a pink weeping cherry. A tree from their property became “Oak Leaf,” a massive structural timber near the hearth of their home.

And when trees have fallen, they have not necessarily disappeared.

A beloved tree can become a table, bench or other object that remains within a family for generations. Von Voss made a memorial bench for Jacqui’s late father overlooking the river, large enough for family members to gather together.

That idea has become central to what he calls the Legacy Table. Its value lies not simply in craftsmanship, but in knowing where the tree stood, who lived beside it and why it mattered.

The forest itself has also become a model for how von Voss now sees his workshop. Trees in a healthy forest do not exist independently. Different generations coexist, nutrients are exchanged, and visible growth depends upon an enormous amount of unseen activity.

His shop has evolved in much the same way.

For years, von Voss says, the business was necessarily about “I”: developing his skills, finding his artistic voice and achieving mastery. Increasingly, it has become about “we.” Apprentices who began with him as young craftspeople have matured into accomplished makers themselves. His family contributes ideas and support. Younger craftspeople bring new technologies and perspectives, while von Voss passes along knowledge that took him decades to acquire.

“At this stage in my career, I’m beginning to think of myself a little like an older tree in the forest,” he says. “Part of my responsibility now is to provide an environment where younger craftspeople can grow.”

That has also changed his definition of sustainability. Responsible sourcing and salvaging fallen timber remain important, but he now asks larger questions: Can the craft itself be sustained? Can knowledge be passed forward? Can a business sustain the people who do the work and the relationships surrounding it?

Von Voss once believed his job was to make beautiful things from trees. Now he sees something larger. The tree has one life. The craftspeople add another chapter. The family that lives with the finished piece adds another. And perhaps 50 or 100 years from now, people will gather around that same table knowing where its tree grew, who shaped it, and why someone believed its story was worth preserving.

“I want to preserve and continue the story of the tree, rather than simply turn a tree into an object.”

For more about Vicco von Voss, his craft, and the Legacy Table, please go here.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length.