1925Workbench is a family business founded by husband and wife team Rock Huynh and My Le Nguyen (that’s us!) in 2012. Like many family businesses, our origin story came from transformative personal experiences. 

When we moved into our current home near Toronto’s Bloor West Village in 2011 to start a family, we saw so much potential in our little house that we decided to renovate the whole place. Because of our passion for woodworking and design, we decided to take on the renovations ourselves while holding day jobs with a newborn baby (believe it or not, Rock was an IT engineer and My Le was a registered nurse). A turning point came when we wanted a sliding barn door for the powder room. A regular hinged door just wouldn’t work in our little space. Since the hardware wasn’t readily available we made the hardware ourselves. We loved the process so much that we took a chance and placed an ad on Kijiji to see if others needed our help building and installing sliding barn doors. Surely enough they did!

And that’s how it all got started. A year later we both quit our day jobs to set up shop full time. Since launching in 2012 we’ve expanded beyond barn door hardware to create fully custom doors and furniture—we realized this was what we were meant to do.

Portrait above taken by Janet Kimber

 

BELOW IS OUR STORY IN VIDEO TOLD BY Motioneer. 

Our Values

We know that there’s an enormous amount of trust involved in creating custom pieces for clients. That’s why it’s important to us that you know what we value as a husband and wife duo. In a nutshell, we work from these core principles: (1) workmanship, (2) use of top quality materials, (3) local production, and (4) exceptional service. 

Everyday we work hard to ensure that our clients receive the best service and product, with the added peace of mind that they are being cared for by committed craftspeople. 

At 1925Workbench, we strive to understand our clients’ needs and to come up with creative design solutions. The result, we hope, is to bring to life unique pieces built to provide you with a lifetime of use and enjoyment. 

Our Home

1925Workbench all started when we renovated our Toronto home. Have a peek into our home through this image gallery to see for yourself the charm and thoughtfulness that we strive to impart on all pieces we create for you. Photographs are taken by Virginia MacDonald (for House&Home Fall2015) and My Le Nguyen.

Our Home
We love the way light fills our kitchen just around noon. We did all the wood millwork, including the walnut open shelving. You can also see our Z-pattern barn door from another angle. The splash of lime green really makes us happy every time we see

We love the way light fills our kitchen just around noon. We did all the wood millwork, including the walnut open shelving. You can also see our Z-pattern barn door from another angle. The splash of lime green really makes us happy every time we see it.

In the corner of our living room is our console table. We love that it's mounted to the wall, saving space, and giving the piece a floating-on-air appearance. It's our space to get some work done while still keeping an eye on the kids.

In the corner of our living room is our console table. We love that it's mounted to the wall, saving space, and giving the piece a floating-on-air appearance. It's our space to get some work done while still keeping an eye on the kids.

Our solid walnut kitchen table makes a statement as soon as you walk through the door. It's simple, sturdy, and modern. 

Our solid walnut kitchen table makes a statement as soon as you walk through the door. It's simple, sturdy, and modern. 

We love the whimsical touch that this lime green door adds to our home. We installed it out of necessity (our space was just too small to accomodate a hinged door), but we found that it's just perfect for the space.

We love the whimsical touch that this lime green door adds to our home. We installed it out of necessity (our space was just too small to accomodate a hinged door), but we found that it's just perfect for the space.

In this picture you can see the original French door that came with the house when we moved in, which we then painted black. The bookbench serves as a bookshelf, storage area, baby playstation, and even extra seating.

In this picture you can see the original French door that came with the house when we moved in, which we then painted black. The bookbench serves as a bookshelf, storage area, baby playstation, and even extra seating.

Here you can see two style of doors we built for the kids' room: one is a barn door and the other is a hinged door. Our two young kids love the built-in chalkboard.

Here you can see two style of doors we built for the kids' room: one is a barn door and the other is a hinged door. Our two young kids love the built-in chalkboard.

We find having stools around the house to be really handy. You can see two of our handcrafted stools in this photo, as well as our oldest running around. 

We find having stools around the house to be really handy. You can see two of our handcrafted stools in this photo, as well as our oldest running around. 

We love how functional yet playful our closet is. Everything is readily accessible—great for when we're dashing out the door to take the kids to their grandparents' house. 

We love how functional yet playful our closet is. Everything is readily accessible—great for when we're dashing out the door to take the kids to their grandparents' house.