Future Folk Supply Co. joins past and present in artful form
Story and photos by Drew Myron
In a world of fast shipping, fast food, and fast fashion, Tiffany and Jason George are slowing the quick-fix factory by building things that last.
In 2014, the entrepreneur couple founded Future Folk Supply Co., a business that designs and fabricates custom metal and wood furniture with heritage and heft. If you eat, drink, or shop in the Columbia Gorge, you’ve likely encountered their work—signs, tables, handrails, lighting, shelving, planter boxes, doors, and even bathroom stalls—at such places as Everybody’s Brewing, pFriem Family Brewers, Frontier Farms Cannabis, and Analemma Wines.
“Anytime we have the opportunity to create something where we get to see it in everyday life, that is really cool,” Tiffany says. “When we finished Everybody’s and got to take our families there to eat and see all the things we had designed and built, it gave us a sense of validation for all the hard work it took to get there.”
Future Folk Supply Co. started with a small coffee table built for pFriem Family Brewers in Hood River, but the partnership began 20 years ago when Tiffany and Jason were students at Texas Tech University.
“I feel like so much of our life has been one serendipitous moment after another,” Tiffany says with a laugh. “I tell people, ‘Don’t get tunnel vision. You never know, one thing could lead to the next.’”
Eager to experience the bigger world, the couple departed Texas in 2003 with plans to finish college in Colorado, until they were pleasantly derailed.
“Once we got there, we found ourselves driving to the mountain to go snowboarding all the time and figured we would just move closer to the snow,” Tiffany says.
The couple moved to the mountains and landed jobs in the ski and tourism industry.
As a child, Jason was close to his grandfather—a carpenter and homebuilder—who taught the young boy how to work with his hands. In school, Jason took a class or two in welding, but it was while working at two Colorado ski resorts, Keystone and Copper Mountain, that Jason really honed the craft by fabricating metal rails for terrain parks.
Tiffany, who studied art, design, and public relations, worked at a local brewery, where she managed special events.
“I think having experience working in restaurants and bars has helped me be a better designer for the food and beverage industry,” Tiffany says. “When I design a piece, I’m not only considering that it will be aesthetically pleasing to customers, but it also has to be functional for the staff.”
While living in Colorado, the couple took a vacation to Oregon and promptly decided to move west. Jason went to work at the terrain park at Timberline Ski Area. Tiffany waitressed at pFreim, and her side hustle of handcrafted candles started drawing attention at local art markets.
While they both enjoyed their jobs, they were eager to chart their own course.
“We wanted to support our own dreams,” Jason says.
“Future Folk Supply Co. was born as a modern approach to folkcraft—the idea of wanting better, not more,” Tiffany says. “Fast furniture and fashion have a negative impact on our planet. We design our furniture to last generations. When we started out doing the maker markets, we used repurposed materials found at local rebuilding centers, thrift stores, and estate sales and turned them into modern functional art for the home.”
Deftly matching Tiffany’s design concepts to Jason’s calculated precision, Future Folk quickly outgrew its cramped two-car garage and upsized to a 2,400-square-foot shop just off Parkdale’s main street.
“Jason and Tiffany are really chill,” says pFriem co-founder Rudy Kellner, who commissioned the couple to create signage and lighting of a new production facility in Cascade Locks. “We love their use of heritage materials, but in a modern, updated design language. They spent a lot of time looking for the right raw materials and fabrication techniques that would match our needs, and which would deliver on their design aesthetic. It’s great that we have so many skilled craftsmen in the Gorge. It feels really good to support the local community.”
The Future Folk ethos resonates with Farmers Conservation Alliance, too. In 2019, the nonprofit enterprise moved into the 100-year-old Sheppard’s building that previously housed one of Hood River’s oldest family-owned businesses.
“When thinking about furniture, we wanted to work with someone whose designs and craftsmanship honored the traditions of the past and yet married their designs with modern, clean lines,” says Julie Davies O’Shea, the company’s executive director. “Jason and Tiffany have an incredible vision for furniture. The beauty. The quality. The functionality. It was such a great fit for our office, combining locally sourced reclaimed lumber with the smooth lines of steel.”
While the world sometimes seems a whirl of quick production, there is beauty, Jason says, in the solid piece with a history.
“There’s soul in having somebody create something by hand,” Tiffany adds. “We create with intention. When you support a local maker, you are supporting and investing in your local community. And when you choose a maker that is creating with intention, then you are supporting the planet as well.”
Closer to home, the couple is building a future for their two daughters: June, 8, and Wylie, 2.
“I’m excited,” Jason says, “for our kids to be able to say, ‘My dad built this.’”
Future Folk Supply Co. is at 7253 2nd St. in Parkdale. Go to the Future Folk Supply Co website for more information.