It is the sole mission of Inked Woodworking to create high quality, unique woodworking products that touch families and manifest memories for generations to come
Inked Woodworking was officially founded in 2015, and it has shown a huge transformation in popularity and recognition because of people like you! Honestly, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the support and feedback from all of our loyal customers. Their stories of how our products have been intertwined within their own lives has been exactly the purpose of why this company was first founded. At the end of the day, to hear how happy a child was to receive their Rocking Horse and to receive a picture as a review is payment enough on our end. Truly, we are blessed to touch lives through our woodworking and interactions with our customers. We cherish these stories, and we work extremely hard to make sure that you will receive the same experience!
My name is Paul Hlabse Jr., and I founded, own, and handle all of the woodworking here at Inked Woodworking. I have a unique background, but my true passion has been to create high quality woodworking that is affordable to the customer, and products that they will be able to have for their lifetime and beyond. The quality alone here at Inked Woodworking is second to none, and the precision in which we finish each piece is a testament to our mission.
It all started for me as a hobby over 20 years ago. My father taught me the basics that I still use today! I can still hear him say, “Measure twice, cut once!” He taught me shop safety, organization, and little tricks that I often find myself showing others. Over the last 20 years, I went to college, obtained multiple Master’s Degrees, spent 10 years in manufacturing as a precision machinist, 5 years in supervision, but something always felt missing. I began to tinker around with some things in the garage after work and on the weekends. One thing led to another, and I found myself tinkering ALL of my free time! But I didn’t mind. It was so much fun, and I began to share my projects on Facebook and Instagram. People were liking and commenting like crazy! They kept telling me that this was my true calling, but I always shrugged them off thinking that I had to go to work for someone else. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
I opened an ETSY shop in 2015 to just sort of see what would happen. At the time, I was a Manufacturing Manager, but I thought if I tested the waters in my free time, we could see if Inked Woodworking would be something that we could run with. It was a nice time filler at first, but then it started to gain momentum. Inked started with a few products, and then we added as customers had requests. I found that I had weeks of backlog, and that I was spending every available minute filling orders. It was great! But then in 2017, things began to change!
Inked Woodworking started to take off! We had our own designed Whimsical Leaning Bookcases purchased for schools in Texas as well as items to be auctioned off at the San Diego Zoo Gala in which Dr. Seuss’ wife herself was there to see them! How exciting! A small town guy in his spare time was creating pieces of woodworking that was being shipped all over the country and featured in fancy Galas for charity. It was in this moment, that I knew that Inked Woodworking could make it.
Soon after, I quit my career in which I spent 9 years of college for. I loved working with my team, but my passion wasn’t in scheduling, producing, and shipping someone else’s products. I wanted to ship my own products! All of my time was in creating new products, pushing my current ones, and becoming competitive in the industry. I was, and Inked continued to gain notoriety. DIY Network’s The Treehouse Guys had 2 of my leaning Bookcases in their Ann Arbor episode of the Paul Newman House for kids. Inked had finally made it!
Now is an exciting time for Inked Woodworking, and it is thanks to all of you reading this! None of this is possible without your support and help in developing your visions. Inked Woodworking has dedicated space for the shop, my father has been brought back into the fold to help with orders (full circle), we’ve launched this new website, and we continue to create new products for large companies based on their requests. There isn’t anything that we can’t build, and we are definitely up to the challenge!
The key difference between Inked Woodworking and other woodworking companies, is that YOU will be involved in the entire experience.
You’ll be emailed, talked to, and consulted along the project so that you receive exactly what it is that you had pictured in your mind. In fact, it will almost feel as if you built it! Also, the clean finish of the projects is something that is a staple at Inked Woodworking. We’ve always disliked the screws and nails showing, so our mantra is to take the time to engineer our designs to ensure that those annoying fasteners are never seen! It takes much longer, but it is just one example of how much quality means to us.
I thank you for taking the time to read about Inked Woodworking, and I cannot wait to build something incredible for you! Please browse the products, but if you want something unique, use the contact us form or send me a message to start your very own piece of woodworking! I guarantee that you will have something made with care, love, and attention to detail that you won’t find anywhere else. Give us a chance, and let’s make memories together!
