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Brooklyn Mammal consists of two designers, Michael A. Miritello and Adam M. Lesser, who design and build fine furniture from salvaged materials. Reclaimed pine rafters from Brooklyn brownstones, the rich history behind the material, and a solid understanding of woodworking techniques are all valuable resources that we use to make premium products that become an enduring part of the home. We are part of an ever-growing Brooklyn design community seeking to improve the way our environment is consumed and to use that goal to steer our process to good design. Brooklyn Mammal enables our customers to enjoy these luxuries while knowing that resources were not wasted and all involved with the production were treated fairly.
We think about making furniture much in the same way chef Fergus Henderson describes his cooking process in The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. Just as Henderson utilizes every part of the animal in his cooking, Brooklyn Mammal approaches each board knowing that every last scrap should be used. Before making any cuts, the potential for each section is considered. The heart of a board may be used to make a bench, the ends the seat of a chair, and the edges a chandelier.
Michael, a graduate of NYU in Studio Art, and Adam, a graduate of RISD in Industrial Design, met as employees in a Brooklyn furniture and custom cabinetry shop. There we learned the strengths and weaknesses of the materials we worked with; how to use, maintain and repair the machines in the shop; and how to think of time as resource not to be wasted. We also had the opportunity to use the shop after hours for our personal projects using materials that we found. We began collecting broken hardwood pallets, turned some into furniture and reserved the rest for a destiny unwritten. Glass on the street became glass in picture frames. Abandoned steel and plywood scraps from Craigslist became a staircase in Adam’s loft.
Working for design/build firms, we gained business and organizational experience. While learning the value of meetings, filing systems, architectural drawings, and schedules, it became evident that our passion was leading toward our own environmentally sustainable furniture business.
In June of 2010, it was time for Brooklyn Mammal to go full-tilt. We moved into a more suitable space, bought some old cast-iron machines, built prototypes, created a website and told everyone we knew that we were in business. We are currently expanding our line, and discovering new ways to responsibly reuse material to produce unique contemporary designs.