• M.CRAIG COLLECTION

• HISTORY

Charles Michael Craig's people hailed originally from Scotland and have been in the United States since the late 18th century. Primarily planters, they settled and farmed throughout the southern states.

Michael was exposed to cabinetmaking in his childhood. He began his informal apprenticeship at the side of his father's business associate Jack Helms, a renowned southern cabinetmaker and yacht builder. Jack still frequents Michael's shop to encourage and praise his most successful student.

Over 20 years ago Michael honed his craft. Guy Robinson, an extraordinary cabinetmaker, now deceased, took Michael through his journeymanship and helped him develop his engineering skills. Michael then cut his teeth on reproduction antiques for Charlton Hall Galleries, one of the most prestigious antique houses in the Southeast. During this time patrons began to seek him out for original custom pieces.

It was at the end of his journeymanship and beginning of his master cabinetmaking period that Rosemarie MacFarlane came into Michael's life. Her European parents raised her in France and Germany where the fine craftsmanship of furniture was part of her childhood memory. That craftsmanship was not as evident to her in the United States and she was excited to see it in Craig's work. She enthusiastically encouraged Michael to realize himself and share his work with more than the local market.

The MacFarlanes had been cabinetmakers and sailboat builders for generations. Robert MacFarlane, Rosemarie's Scottish grandfather had produced carriages at the turn of the century for the Royal Family of England. For Rosemarie to marry a cabinetmaker, and make a living marketing his craft, is very satisfying given her heritage.

Continuous requests by his patrons for original designs catalyzed Michael's confidence to try his hand at a limited edition Heart Pine bed. He and Rosemarie advertised and sold it mail order through Southern Accents magazine.

The bed, side tables, armoire and huntboard were constructed of hand hewn heart pine timber which they salvaged from old cotton gins and the like. The limited edition pieces were named the Cotton Planter's Collection. The 85 hand-made Cotton Planter's Beds were numbered and signed. Between 1981 and 1985 they sold for $1,200 and now sell for three times their original price. This first step into national marketing signified the beginning of the company's current market position as a producer of unparalleled quality cabinetry and original design for America's most astute furniture investors and collectors.

Michael's national prominence began in 1987 with the initial production of the company's flagship Railroad Baron's Bed. The Railroad Baron's Bed's existence grew out of an early commissioned design. Michael rethought the lines when Rosemarie convinced him that it could be an extraordinary statement of his design capabilities.

Railroad Baron's Bed

The lines of the Railroad Baron's Bed reflect America's Federal or Empire period, a grand time in America's history (and Michael Craig's personal favorite.) Our nation was coming into its own then by embracing its musicians, planting its vineyards, and building its railroad stations that serviced the nation's flourishing economy.

When asked about the origin of the name Railroad Baron's Bed, Michael and Rosemarie will relay the following family story. Michael's great uncle, Floyd Mays, born in Sunflower, Mississippi in the late 19th century, came up working in the round house wiping grease off the big engines. Uncle Floyd stuck with it and ended up as Vice President of Illinois Central. He, like all the executives in the rail industry during this time, acquired his own private car which was paneled throughout with rich mahogany. This magnificent car could be hitched behind any train in the United States and afforded tremendous mobility. Long after his death the car was parked on Uncle Floyd's and Aunt Fan's property where young Michael would play after dinner. His head would be filled with wonderful stories about trains, Al Capone, Chicago and Uncle Floyd's private car. Years later in his teens, Michael's love affair with trains led him to spend many an adventure riding them all over the United States. He saw the vastness and beauty of a land he loves so deeply, and the feisty spirit of its people that spawned the likes of the Vanderbilts and the Carnegies who built American palaces such as the Biltmore House.

M. Craig & Company's collection celebrates the current renaissance of that time when "Made in America" meant world class product. So when the phone rings from as far away as England, Holland and Japan, with a clear message - "It's so American and it looks like the best"_ it is.

The American Empire styled Railroad Baron's Bed suggests an analogy of the turn of the century architecture seen in our finest train stations and public buildings. The grand, elegant, sweeping lines speak beautifully for the vast, expansive land the trains covered.

There really was a Railroad Baron and he lives in the "handed-down little boy's memory" of Michael Craig, a southern cabinetmaker in South Carolina who is proud of his work and is proud of the way he works.

Two centuries ago the astute American furniture shopper commissioned Duncan Phyfe. Their descendants now enjoy the fine heirlooms made by that craftsman. Today's astute American furniture buyer buys from M. Craig & Company and buys a lifelong possession that speaks highly of its purchaser.

"Dedicate yourself to quality and efficiency and everything else will fall into place." The Craigs are avid supporters of Tom Peters, the economic analyst, and they believe themselves to be part of the building wave of American manufacturers who produce a product that the whole world will be happy to pay for and own. They are the continuation of the American Dream undaunted.