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NORTHWOOD — Kevin Bishop of the Northwood area owns and operates the business Grass Lake Furniture.

He creates one-of-a-kind wood furniture, cutting boards and other goods. His cutting boards are available at a variety of local retailers, and he sells custom furniture directly to his clients.

Over the years of being in business, Bishop has had hundreds of customers and made thousands of furniture pieces and cutting boards.

It is a great creative outlet, Bishop said, but even more than that, it allows him to build relationships with people in the community and cultivate skills he may not have done before.

Woodworking was in Bishop’s DNA from a young age as his grandfather was a carpenter. Bishop grew up with a combination of woodworking and working on the family farm in Manchester, Iowa. He made woodworking projects for 4-H every year.

Toward the end of high school, Bishop experienced a tragedy when his father passed away.

“His funeral was my first day of my senior year of high school,” he said.

At that point, Bishop was in a senior woodworking class at West Delaware High School in Manchester. Because the course was for upperclassmen, there was no classroom work and instead, students spent all class time creating projects.

Bishop said that year, his woodworking teacher Ron Struble “took him under his wing.” He taught Bishop the importance of making things of high quality.

“He … made me learn what high-use furniture looked like and what it took to make it,” he said.

That year for his senior project, Bishop made a table with drop-down leaves and a drawer. The table had no metal mechanisms.

After high school Bishop worked in retail management. During that time, he bought himself some woodworking tools and began creating projects for himself and his friends. He said his knowledge of the craft grew from there.

In 1993 Bishop moved to the Northwood area and worked at the Albert Lea Tribune doing sales, sales management and circulation management. At this point he also had a successful side woodworking business.

He decided to pursue a career in furniture making full time when his wife had a career change, and he decided to stay home with their young son.

“It kind of came out of things happening at the Tribune, my wife’s career, our son,” he said. “It was just a combination of a lot of things in my life that it just worked out.”

He named the business Grass Lake Furniture after Grass Lake Wildlife Management Area, which is near his home.

Bishop said from the start, much of his clientele came from the Twin Cities. The natural next step, he explained, was to rent a space in the Twin Cities for his business.

However, looking at overhead expenses, he realized he would be better off setting up shop in a small town.

“When you start looking at costs of doing business, it’s a lot easier to buy a building in a small town and pay the taxes and all the expenses associated with that building versus going to a metro area and paying a much higher price for the building,” Bishop said.

He purchased a building in Northwood two years after beginning his business full time. He must travel when meeting with customers and when he delivers a finished product, but other than that, he enjoys a 5- to 10-minute commute from his house to his work space.

Having a building in Northwood also allows Bishop to work with other local businesses in the area such as North Woods Cabinetry. He also frequently visits the local lumberyard and hardware store for supplies, making him a familiar face around town.

“Everything’s kind of close-knit,” he said. “You know who to talk to, and you know who you are talking to.”

Recently, Bishop began working on a project like nothing he has taken on before: restoring an antique art deco bar in downtown Northwood. He had never done furniture refinishing before, but the details of the project interested him. As of publication, Bishop said the main part of the project was almost complete with the bar scheduled to open in March.

“Every year, every week brings up new opportunities that you weren’t expecting and so [I] just continue to be flexible, look at all the opportunities,” Bishop said.

Bishop gets most of his customers through a combination of Facebook and word of mouth. He used to go to home shows but has since switched to doing juried art shows.

He can be reached by phone at 507-383-4203 or by email at kevinmbishop82@gmail.com.
When he is not working, Bishop enjoys taking road trips, camping, eating good food and drinking good beer and spending time with his new grandson.