About

Hey, Porter is a new design studio based in Nelson, New Zealand. We design and make solid wood furniture and objects for the home.

Our product line is small, simple and straightforward. We design and make every piece to meet a high bar: it improves the home, is made to last and is designed for daily living.

  • Wesley Dining Table in Walnut - detailed view of leg joinery. Designed and made by Hey, Porter.
  • The Mikal DiningTable in White Oak - detail view of bridle joint. Designed and made by Hey, Porter.
  • Mesa Bedside Shelf in White Oak pictured with detailed view of the joinery and two books. Designed and made by Hey, Porter.

We’re trying to do something different

Furniture is ubiquitous. It’s in homes, offices, cafes and landfill. Cheap furniture that falls apart is a familiar site, but “luxury” brands are often poorly made. When you pay for luxury you’re often paying for years of design time, large offices and unwieldy organisations.

Hey, Porter is a small furniture studio. In every way. In fact, it’s just one person: Jeremy. The product line is small. Our lead times are small. Our inventory is small. Furniture is made after it’s ordered. There’s no big warehouse full of furniture waiting for someone to buy it.

This is all based around the idea of “less furniture”. We don’t want to encourage consumption, but when we gratefully receive an order we make it the best we can. We don’t rush it out of the door to move on to the next order. We take the time to make it with a high level of craftsmanship. We back it with a lifetime guarantee.

We don’t want repeat business

There’s a lot written about “brand loyalty” these days. Many of these “great brands” release updates to their products every year no matter how much or little the product has changed. And some people buy them every year.

We want the opposite.

We only want to sell a dining table to a customer, once. We design and make furniture to last for the life of the customer. And truthfully it should last beyond that.

Large product lines are designed for one thing: consumption

Companies have large product lines because it expands the potential audience. We don’t want to encourage consumption. We want to offer a discreet line of thoughtfully designed and well made furniture.

Our current product line consists of only six products. We have more in the works but they will only be made if they meet our criteria of furniture that improves the home, is made to last and designed for daily living. That’s the bar every design has to meet.

Small means less and more

Small means less. But sometimes it can mean more. By being small we’re clear what we can offer:

  • responsive, knowledgeable support because you can talk directly with the person who designed and makes the product,
  • ability to adapt to tighter timeframes if you need something in a hurry and
  • openness to customising existing products to your needs.

As Hey, Porter grows this won’t change. Everything is made and designed in-house so you always have access to the right people.

Who is "we"?

“We” is Jeremy Porter. I am a designer and maker of
fine furniture. I attended schools in Melbourne (RMIT University) and
the United States (Center for Furniture Craftsmanship). In those
settings I learned everything from the history of furniture to product
design, from traditional hand-cut joinery to modern digital processes.

I briefly ran a small product-based business in the United States and a
commission based business in Australia. I’ve worked for others as a
joiner and team lead in furniture production.

I design and make all Hey, Porter products.

How we got here

Hey, Porter had its beginnings 2021 in a rundown antique workshop in Nelson. Built as pie factory in the 1950s it had a storied life as various businesses operated there: a motorcycle mechanic, radiator servicing and antique restoration.

By 2021 it was in a sad state. Broken windows, a sagging ceiling, black mould, a missing wall and disconnected water supply meant it was a shell and not much more.

Hey, Porter was scheduled to launch later that year. That didn’t happen and what followed was two years of renovation. During this time machinery was acquired, Jeremy’s family grew and the product line developed.

Hey, Porter will begin trading in 2024 with a small product line consisting of a bedside table, a coffee table, a record holder and three dining tables.

  • The Hey, Porter studio restoration begins
  • The Hey, Porter studio after restoration

From the collection