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Below are excerpts of newspaper/magazine articles and letters from some of our customers
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Maureen Galey, Irish Museum and Cultural Center Nov, 2007
Ian, the table is magnificent. Your shop did a beautiful job. Can't wait for our Board Meeting to share it. Thank you so much. Also appreciate your timetable.!
We are very proud to give you credit with displays of your name in the Conference Room.
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David Edgar, Edgar Law Firm LLC. October, 2007
I have been meaning to touch base with you since the furniture installation and delivery here at the office. I am terribly sorry this is so belated—we have been out of the office for, literally, months. After working with your shop, I always have high expectations, but your shop always exceeds those expectations. The furniture here at the office, both my office and the conference table, is absolutely incredible. Thanks again for all of your help; we really appreciate it. Andrea and I will have to get to work thinking up the next project!
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"Kansas City Star", February 7, 2006
Woodworking is an art that has yielded to less costly mass production, but New World technology is providing one Old World craftsman his American dream.
Ian Byrne, owner and founder of Byrne Custom Woodworking in Lenexa, began learning his craft as a 14-year-old boy in his native Ireland. Byrne immigrated to the United States with his wife, Kathy Quinn, who is a Kansas City native, in 1987.
Byrne’s business has come a long way since he started making cabinets from a friend’s garage with borrowed tools in 1989. He still makes custom cabinets, but he also fashions plantation shutters, mantels, molding and even replicas of pieces from photographs that clients bring him.
About 50 percent of his business is high-end custom residential woodwork, 30 percent is plantation shutters and the remaining 20 percent is for commercial clients, such as Harrah’s Casino.
Sales in 2005 were about $1 million. Byrne’s 2006 plan forecasts 50 percent growth in plantation shutter sales and a 20 percent increase in residential custom woodworking. Commercial sales are expected to remain about the same.
Byrne, who also plays in a Celtic rock band, The Elders, said he has a global perspective on his business. “When I left Ireland, there was a 26 percent unemployment rate,” Byrne said. “It’s really no wonder that most of the rest of the world wants to come and live here.”
One of Byrne’s first challenges was to determine how much more Americans would pay for quality custom woodwork.
“People don’t mind paying additional for quality product,” said Byrne.
Byrne moved his business from his friend’s garage and eventually landed in a 4,000-square-foot building in the West Bottoms but he found that it was labor intensive to move furniture from floor to floor during the building and finishing process.
In 2003, a former supplier offered him 30,000 square feet of office and shop space in the Meritex Underground Complex in Lenexa.
The facility came with some advanced woodworking equipment and a forklift, which would help Byrne’s craftsmen increase productivity, but he had some reservations about moving his 12 employees underground. “I had worked in all kinds of shops in Ireland, even some that were outside that had no roof. I wanted it heated and air-conditioned and cozy,” said Byrne.
Byrne found the ventilation system to be state of the art and the previous company had outfitted the space with bright lights. The temperature stays a comfortable 68 degrees year around.
Byrne skipped ahead with his business plan by four years and funded a $250,000 capital investment into automated equipment that replicates Old World techniques. The new technology helps Byrne’s employees use their skills to measure cuts without mistakes.
Byrne said his business grew by 20 percent last year.
The finishing shop is still housed in the West Bottoms. Before moving that part of the business underground, the company has to cut another ventilation shaft 65 feet into the ceiling to meet air standard requirements required when paint and varnish is being used.
He hopes to be able to relocate the shop and the remaining full-time employee to the Lenexa facility this year.
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"Midwest Irish Focus", June, 2004
What Byrne does is create top-flight custom kitchen cabinets for high dollar homes and high end commercial applications. His reputation for creativity and quality has become his hallmark, and his work has appeared in locations arund the country.
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"Heart of America Irish Life", January-February, 2003
Of all the projects underway, the jewel in the crown of Byrne Custom Woodworking and the brothers Byrne has to be a round pedestal table. The nearby table-top, inlaid with the most beautiful pie shaped wedges of veneer, will rest on a pedestal of Celtic knot design conceived and hand crafted by a true craftsman, Ian Byrne.
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"Log Home Design Ideas" Magazine, February, 2003
(Ian Byrne) flew into Kansas City on a Sunday and began working for a home remodeling company the very next day. His strong work ethic and command of woodworking helped him move up quickly to project manager. But it was his customer service skills that set him apart. "It was frustrating working for other production managers who didn't deal with clients right," he says. "They'd just throw something together and not bother to discuss options or changes with clients." Byrne saw how this damaged client relations so he decided to emphasize client relations when he started his own business, Byrne Custom Woodworking in 1989. Byrne specializes in mid to high end custom wood installations. He works mostly on residential projects but also does some commercial work. "I'm an Irish-Catholic boy, so I do a lot of churches and pubs," he says with a laugh.
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"Operation Breakthrough" St Vincent's Family Service Center, February, 2002
"Dear Mr. Byrne. Your wine cabinet is causing quite a stir! Our raffle tickets are about to go into their third printing of 500, and we are still a month away from the drawing. Everyone wants to get in on the action when they hear about your beautiful cabinet."
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"Kansas City Home & Gardens" Magazine, Jan/Feb,2000
"The couple and their three children spent the next month eating in the garage. But it was worth it! The finished result clearly shows Byrne’s talent. He transformed the aged and cracked kitchen to a modern wonder with custom cabinets and textured walls and ceilings."
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Larry & Kathleen Miller, Kansas City
"We really are extremly pleased with how the new furniture turned out. The styling and craftsmanship are first class, and they are great additions to our condominium. We know that anyone who enters our home will see the file cabinet and writers table first thing, and the furniture will make a dramatic and powerful first impression".
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"Ingrams Magazine" August, 1998
"The woodsmith and his crew specialize in custom designs. No two creations are alike, even when clients ask for, say, a china cabinet identical to the one under way in his shop. "I'd do better if I had a production line," he says, "but I just couldn't come in and do the same thing every day. For me it's the variation that counts. That may explain why Byrne has designed and built everything from the chancery for the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas to dining room furniture for some of the area's most affluent families".
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