Rustix is an independent ‘ live edge ’ furniture producer run by Heather Torraville out of London , Ontario . For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term , ‘ live edge ’ ( or natural edge ) is a style of furniture that incorporates the natural edge of the wood into the design of the piece ; leading to a more unique and individual look . The style was first pioneered by George Nakashima in his series for Knoll , a Pennsylvania based Furniture Company , in 1946 .

Nakashima said that the craftsmanship involved in live edge work was " not only a creative force , but a moral idea ". It is an idea that has gained new traction in recent years , given the trend towards upcycling and vintage furniture and clothing that has come back in past few years . Now Heather and Rustix are here , to bring her own twist to this style of furniture , and ( hopefully ) take London by storm !

After starting out under the name " Heather ' s Craft House " creating unique hand crafted rustic furniture , she is ready to launch her brand new showroom on Richmond Street , London , and we got a chance to sit down with her to talk about Rustix !

CASA London : So how did Rustix get started ? I started making wreaths to make some extra money , then that became palette tables – I wanted one for myself - and then my friends and family loved it and started asking me to make them something , soon I had a whole business . I never realized how much I would love it , I ’ ve always been artsy , but now I could be sanding for hours and not notice how long it ’ s been . I found my passion by total accident !

CASA London : Where do you get the pieces of wood for your furniture ? And the inspiration for your pieces ? I go to the mill and walk through to pick a few pieces , I like to go for odd pieces because I can envision what it could be . Anything I can get local I do . I get a local lady from Nova ’ s Handmade Creations to hand stamp my pieces , and the shirts [ with Rustix logo ] are also locally made by Fredin Graphics and Apparel . I like to avoid using commercial printing and producing corporations ! I know what it ’ s like running a home business . For the actual furniture , I ’ ll go to my clients ' house , look at their décor and we ’ ll design a piece together . I always send them pictures along the way !

CASA London : Are you working on anything at the moment , apart from the showroom obviously ? I ’ m currently building an 11ft dining room table . Some people think they want an 11ft table , but I try to go and measure myself first . We ’ ve had a lot of deliveries where if we ’ d made it 1mm bigger it wouldn ’ t have fit . We ’ ve had people who want to cut the live edge off , so we will go and choose a different piece of wood and I ’ ll keep the wood for another piece .