Ramon's Workshop was created by Ramon Ramirez in 1991. Since its inception, the shop has been recognized as one of the leading innovators of the Arts and Crafts movement. Customers have included home owners, builders and collectors throughout the West. All have come to the shop on the strength of the superb reproductions, original designs and custom services that we offer.  Starting in 2004, Ramon's Workshop has begun working in the Monterey style, adding this distinctive California line of furniture to its existing product.

The shop is very active in the Arts and Crafts revival and has participated at many invited shows including the Pasadena Craftsman Weekend (since 1999), Arts and Crafts San Francisco, the High Desert Museum Rendezvous Arts and Design Show and others. As we always have, we continue to meet customer needs through one-and-one consultation and crafting of custom designs. However, to meet demand in several areas of our shop - lighting, doors, and furniture, we now offer a line of standard products. Throughout this website, these items are noted with a catalogue number. 

For over 15 years, I have dedicated myself and my workshop to the preservation and extension of the Arts & Crafts aesthetic. A second-generation artisan, I learned the basics of my craft from my father, Ramon Ramirez Sr. I honed my skills over a lifetime of experience in and around Pasadena’s vibrant Arts & Crafts community. Having lived for years in a classic Pasadena bungalow, I was inspired by my surroundings to seek out true Arts & Crafts style, methods, materials — and results. As time passed, my appreciation for the aesthetic became all-consuming. Soon, it would become my passion.  Today, I feel fortunate to be working in a field I love, sustaining an aesthetic that must never be allowed to vanish, and assisting clients and homeowners who share that belief.

The original Arts & Crafts movement was born of a period in history when the beauty, craftsmanship and utility of the style was successfully applied to the needs — shelter, furniture, lighting and accessories — of the day. As times changed, the aesthetic survived, but the needs of people evolved.

Today, I create furniture for which there was no call in the early 20th century, including coffee tables, computer desks, home entertainment centers and contemporary-sized beds. All are painstakingly designed and built to meet the needs of modern homeowners in a manner true to the Arts & Crafts movement, with material, methods and detail that serve to reincarnate pure period character into each new piece. These original pieces functionally extend the Arts & Crafts aesthetic into the new millennium.

The romantic Monterey Style of furnishings is truly a unique expression of California. To tell the story of it, we must journey back to the earliest days of the territory.

From its establishment with the port city of Monterey in 1777, the early territory of California was graced with Spanish-influenced architecture. Adobe structures were the norm on ranchos, and in the affluent towns, Spanish architecture reached its ultimate expression in the beautiful 2-story homes known as Monterey Colonials. By the mid-1800's this style was being replaced by New England American Colonial and  Victorian stylings. But in 1915, with the prominence of the Panama-California International Exposition in San Diego, the public's attention once more turned towards the Spanish style in an architectural revival that crossed paths with and sometimes intermingled with the Arts and Crafts movement.

By the 1920's, many of California's burgeoning neighborhoods had been built in the Spanish Revival style, but what remained to be created was a furniture style that complimented the architecture of the homes and the life styles of the inhabitants. That gap would be filled by the Monterey style.

In 1929, executives from the Barker Brothers furniture company of Los Angeles approached the Mason Manufacturing Company with the proposal for creation of a style of furniture unique to California. They brought with them a poster from the movie "In Old Arizona". Drawing inspiration from the rustic look of the movie, the Mason team quickly drew up the initial pieces of furniture. They named the line to honor California's first territorial capital.

Produced until 1942, the line was marked by the unique details that gave each piece a feeling of warmth and age; deep wood grain, aged finishes and rounded profiles. The construction of each piece was time-consuming and complicated with details such as hand-wrought hardware and painted panels playing a prominent role. Today, the relatively few pieces of surviving Monterey furniture command the admiration and enthusiasm of collectors. Numerous exhibits and shows are now re-introducing the public to this style.

Our shop began with the simple intention of restoring antique Arts and Crafts furniture.

From there, we moved into producing flawless reproductions of those period designs. And today we offer custom designs of our own. Our experience with restoration using Arts & Crafts methods allows us to create the most authentic reproductions available. We are able to reproduce distress and color, and naturally use only the finest material and techniques: quarter-sawn white oak, blind and through-tenon construction, dovetailed drawers, hand-hammered pulls, and pinned joints. As with the construction, so also the finish. With true “original finish” becoming ever more rare, it is critical to apply historically accurate techniques to faithfully restore and renew period pieces. In our workshop, we use the same methods and materials to restore furniture as was used to create it: water-based stain, dewaxed shellac and hand-rubbed paste wax.

Although furniture building and home finishing has become the focus of our shop, we still offer restoration services today. Our years of experience have allowed us to develop a blueprint of original construction methods, as well as a palette of original construction colors, so that furniture can be restored with aesthetic integrity. I have also become intimately familiar with the effect of time and wear on these pieces, so that when restoration proves impossible due to the condition of the piece, I am able to apply new finishes that blend seamlessly with their antique counterparts.

Due to the aging population of Arts & Crafts houses, we have been called upon to expand our restoration services beyond simply furniture. To that end, we provide whole-house restoration services that faithfully restore original woodwork and construction down to the last screw. When you enter a house that we have restored, you will find yourself transported to the beginning of the 20th century. We also tackle projects of new Arts and Crafts construction, teaming with the home builders on a single room or entire houses. Photos from some of our kitchen and bath projects can be seen on the Cabinetry Gallery page.

Please contact us with questions or inquiries into any of our services.