The Spark

I’ve always been drawn to working with my hands.
Growing up,a few houses over lived a man who built heirloom furniture for a living. Knowing someone so close had made a life through creating stirred something in me.
His son, Billy was a few years older. He gave me attention, made me feel seen. Their family carried a quiet, creative energy I didn’t yet have words for. But I felt it.

At the same time, school never quite fit me. I struggled to learn the way others did. But when I was building, creating, working with my hands, I came alive.

“I didn’t learn wrong. I just saw different.”

The Craft Begins

Years later, after leaving a job and searching for what was next, I asked my parents to reach out to the same family. The response: Go talk to Billy.
I didn’t have formal experience, just instinct, discipline, and a deep respect for the craft.
Billy gave me a shot.
I trained under of their lead builders, in a shop without automated tools. Just hand plans, chisels, and time. In a few months, I was building pieces from start to finish. Every joinery detail. Every curve. Every story told in wood.
Over six years, I built hundreds of one-of-a-kind pieces. Never the same thing twice.

“I learned that true precision is felt, not calculated.”

The Mastery Years: Millbrook furniture

Eventually, I started my own company: Millbrook Furniture.
There were no investors. No roadmap. Just craft, reputation, and growing stream of custom commissions.
We built for clients across the country. Designers, architects, and homeowners who wanted something one-of-a-kind. Everything was hand built. Timeless. Functional. Beautiful.
I brought on a team. Trained apprentices. Took pride in every piece that left our shop.
But over time, something shifted.

“The drive for success started to overtake the passion for the craft.”

The Pause

At home, life needed more from me. The pace of business became overwhelming, and I felt myself drifting from the bench, from the stillness that first drew me in.
So I stepped away.
It wasn’t failure. It was clarity. I hadn’t fallen out of love with craft. I had just lost the silence that helped me hear it.

The Return to Reverence

Out of that stillness, something new began to take shape.
Not a business plan. Not a strategy. Just a quiet pull back to the bench.
I started sketching again. Feeling grain again. Building not for production, but for presence. That’s when Brian Whitehead Furniture was born.

“This isn’t a return to work. It’s a return to reverence.”

Built in and Inspired by Utah

Every piece I build today carries that clarity. They’re rooted in tradition but shaped by the landscapes that raised me. Starting with the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The Salt Collection, my first, reflects that landscape’s quiet geometry and light. The River Collection will follow. An ode to flow, erosion, and time.
I don’t build to chase trends. I build for presence. For clients who want to feel something when they walk into a room.

“True luxury is emotional.”

This is More Than Furniture

Brian Whitehead Furniture is an invitation:
To slow down.
To connect.
To live with intention.
To bring soul back into the spaces we inhabit.

“Welcome to the work that brought me home.”