Jacob Dorpfeld of Medina to make 125 benches, stools for a new hotel in Maine
Provided photos: Jacob Dorpfeld will be making these benches and stools for a new boutique hotel in Portland, Maine.
Article courtesy of Sharon Baker
Jacob Dorpfeld
MEDINA – Jacob Dorpfeld, a custom furniture maker in Medina, has been picked to make 125 hand-crafted benches and stools for the guestrooms for The Longfellow Hotel, a 48-room boutique hotel under construction in Portland, Maine.
The hotel, named after legendary poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is slated to open this fall and will mark the first independent, full-service hotel to open in Portland in 20 years. The Post Company is designing the five-story, ground-up building in Portland’s historic West End neighborhood.
The interiors will feature paired-back minimalism and traces of rugged elements in a nod to Portland and American craftsmanship, and are blended with a warm ambiance for relaxation and restoration, says Spencer Fried, lead designer for the hotel at the Post Company.
Dorpfeld, 33, runs his business out of his Ridge Road home. His online posts of his custom-made furniture on Etsy caught the eye of the designers of the hotel.
When choosing the interior furniture, “it was important we used American craftsmanship and a lot of wood,” Fried says. “We saw Jacob’s Etsy shop and were impressed with his pieces, which convey a modern aesthetic but with styling of times past. His work was perfectly transitional in our eyes.”
The Post Company provided design materials including a Shaker stool and asked Dorpfeld to design a bench with a profile that was more streamlined and modern. The resulting sample “was lovely and just as we imagined,” Fried said.
Dorpfeld is making 7’6″ wooden benches for 42 rooms, and 87 smaller round and rectangular stools for the hotel.
He has handmade and sold more than 400 Danish Modern style benches for customers around the country during his five years in business. In addition to making other custom furniture such tables, chests, and dressers, Dorpfeld also designed and installed custom closet cabinetry, library bookshelves and wet bars.
Dorpfeld’s designs and furniture typically include mortise and tenon joinery and other traditional joints, and he enjoys collaborating with consumers on custom furniture as well as working with designers on commercial hospitality and restaurant projects.
You can view his work at www.jacobdorpfeld.com and purchase items from his Etsy store (click here).
