By James Kent
BRIDGEWATER — There is a quote written as you come through the door of ShackletonThomas, from namesake Earnest Shackleton:” Optimism is true moral courage.” For nearly four decades, ShackletonThomas has stood true to that quote. The furniture and pottery makers are a testament to craftsmanship, creativity, and perseverance. Nestled along Route 4 in Bridgewater, the high-end furniture store, manufacturer, and pottery studio has weathered more than its fair share of storms—literally. Since its founding in 1987, the business has endured Hurricane Irene, a second flood, the pandemic, and, most recently, a fire in July 2024.
Yet, each time adversity strikes, ShackletonThomas comes back stronger. “We’ve done it four times now,” said co-founder and master furniture maker Charlie Shackleton. “Two floods, Covid, and a fire.”
“The mill’s on fire”
ShackletonThomas’ co-owner and master furniture maker, Charlie Shackleton, provided a tour of his factory office on April 17.
On the evening of July 19, 2024, Shackleton and his wife, Miranda Thomas, were sipping tea, reflecting on past challenges, which seemed to be in the rear-view mirror and recent triumphs—including their daughter’s wedding—when the phone rang.
“One of the ladies who lives in an apartment by the Bridgewater Mill said the mill’s on fire. And that was all I heard,” recalled Shackleton.
Racing to the Mill, where ShackletonThomas is located, Shackleton was met with smoke pouring from the top floor. “The fire’s tiny—I’ll show you, it’s a black mark on the floor,” he said. “But the sprinklers went off… and there was an inch or more of water on the top floor. It came down through the workshop, it came down through here, all the ceilings started falling down.”
Thanks to recent upgrades made after previous flooding, basement pumps and barriers kicked into action. Still, the damage was extensive and forced the business to close for four months. Insurance delays added to the hardship, but Shackelton made a familiar decision: to turn disaster into opportunity.
“We used this as a chance to say, okay, let’s rebuild this better… this will set us up for the next 30 years,” he said.
A handmade philosophy
ShackletonThomas shop manager Shae Rodgers demonstrated some of the handcrafting techniques that go into making a chair.
ShackletonThomas is one of the rare places where the term “handcrafted” is not just a branding slogan—it’s a way of life. Every item, from ornate high-back chairs to sturdy four-poster beds, is built on-site by a team of dedicated craftspeople.
“Our pieces have a slight variation among them… it’s because it’s being done by hand,” said workshop manager and master furniture maker Shea Rodgers. “There’s something about when it’s done that way that feels like there’s more life invested into those pieces.”
Furniture at ShackletonThomas is not mass-produced. Each craftsperson sees a project through from start to finish—selecting the lumber, crafting the joinery, and applying the finish. “That’s the big difference,” Rodgers noted. “We’re not manufacturing—we’re craftsmen.”
Even as modern tools like CNC routers find limited use in the studio, the team is constantly debating what to automate and what to keep entirely handmade. “We take a lot of pride in the fact that we are doing it traditionally,” Rodgers said.
A home for craft
The business employs about a half dozen full-time furniture makers and several studio artists on the pottery side. Many of them, like Rodgers, sought out ShackletonThomas as a rare place where artistry and function still meet.
“I moved across the country to be here because there’s a certain character to this furniture that you only get by hand,” Rodgers said.
That commitment is embedded in every element of the business, from how pieces are constructed to how they’re priced. “We just barely make money,” Shackelton said with a wry smile. “We’re always saying, we’re gonna make money… and we will be successful. And we’ve been saying that for the last 37 years. But we’ve grown. And we’re still here.”
Art meets utility
Potter Megan Gray demonstrated how to “throw”pottery at Miranda Thomas’ next-door pottery studio.
Much of ShackletonThomas’ charm is the marriage of utility and artistry. Miranda Thomas’ pottery studio, located next door to the showroom, produces elegant, bespoke pieces, including the coveted honey pots gifted to guests at Twin Farms Resort and gorgeous hand-thrown pieces available online and in the furniture showroom.
Meanwhile, the furniture—built from sustainably harvested cherry, walnut, and maple—is designed for generations. “These objects in here are obviously functional,” said Shackelton, “but they also represent my wife and my passion for people expressing themselves through making things by hand.”
While the cost of a $14,000 bed or a $2,500 armchair may be out of reach for the average IKEA shopper, Shackelton sees each piece as a legacy item. “If they perceive it as art, and something they’re going to hand down, it’s a whole different thing.” And the furniture, to the eye, is sexy as heck.
Looking ahead
Despite the challenges—and perhaps because of them—ShackletonThomas remains committed to the ideals it was founded on: craftsmanship, creativity, and community.
“I believe in the philosophy so much,” Shackleton said. “This is important in this day and age… there needs to be some soul to objects that make people’s lives not only more functional but also ones they love.”
Building furniture isn’t just a job for Charlie Shackleton and his team. It’s a calling. As the embers of past setbacks continue to fade, the legacy being carved—one chair, one table, one plate at a time—endures.
