Amish and Mennonite craftsmen build a following at Pittsburgh home show
Ervin Yoder, the owner of Twin Locust Furniture, has fielded lots of questions in his first year at the Duquesne Light Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show. Many are about being Amish.
Do you really not have electricity at home? Do you use power tools?
Yes and yes, he replies. “We’re not using chisels and hand tools,” he said on Wednesday. “We use belt-driven tools and air power,” all powered by a diesel engine. But at home, most Amish do not use electric lights and appliances.
Mr. Yoder’s Fredericksburg, Ohio-based company is one of about 20 show exhibitors whose owners are Amish or Mennonite, said John DeSantis, executive director of the home show. Many return year after year because sales are strong for their custom-made furniture, sheds, barns and other products.
Mr. Yoder said he decided to take part in the Pittsburgh show because his Pennsylvania customers and dealers asked him to. Often drawn by word of mouth, they make the 2½-hour drive to see and buy the work of his family of eight brothers and their employees in Holmes County, Ohio, the country’s largest Amish community. This year, customers can find them on the second floor of the home show, which ends Sunday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown.
Two rows over from Twin Locust’s booths is The Cabin Store of Mount Hope, Ohio. On Wednesday, Gladys and Dan Yoder, no relation to Ervin, were talking to show-goers about their rustic sofas, tables, chairs and other furniture, most made from reclaimed barnwood. One impressive 6-foot-long table incorporated two old wagon wheels and sells for $5,000. A matching bench was priced at $379.
Mr. Yoder said the furniture is made by 35 Amish families in Holmes County. They come from different sects with different beliefs and rules, he said. All use power tools.
“This helps preserve our culture,” said Mr. Yoder, an Amish man who uses a cell phone and has solar panels on his house.
“You would be surprised how many solar panels you see as you drive through Holmes County,” he said.
Matt Miller, sales manager for Weaver Barns, has been exhibiting at the Pittsburgh show for five years. This year, the Sugarcreek, Ohio-based company was responsible for the Cabin in the Woods, a 26by-20-foot modern cabin that is at the higher end of its product line. The Aspen model shell is priced at $44,000 for the show; backyard sheds range between $3,000 and $15,000.
Also at the home show is Weaver Furniture, a company owned by the same family that makes and sells furniture and other items crafted from oak, cherry and walnut. Though the
craftsmen are Amish or Mennonite, the installers are usually not, since they have to drive.
Amish churches and leaders make a clear distinction between what members can do at work vs. their homes. Moses Miller — no relation to Matt — does not have a home laptop but is the IT expert for Weaver.
“He is self-taught,” Mr. Miller says. “Mose is our Excel guru.”
Matt Miller, who is Mennonite, dresses conventionally and drives to seven or eight home shows each spring in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“Not too different from anyone else,” he says, laughing.
However, like his Mennonite and Amish brethren, he does not work Sundays. At the home show, Weaver Barns and Weaver Furniture’s local distributor, Amish Yard, staffs its booths on Sundays.
Neighboring exhibitors often do that for other Amish-owned businesses, Mr. DeSantis says. When kids were climbing on bunk beds at The Cabin Store last Sunday, “our neighbor got them down,” Dan Yoder says.