Nick Bowman Features Editor | 770-718-3426 | life@gainesvilletimes.com
She (Times
gainesvilletimes.com
Friday, October 26, 2018
Wooden furniture and decor done well by Gainesville locals at O Sleeper MFG Co.
BY AMBER TYNER
atyner@gainesvilletimes.com
Custom woodwork is popping up
all around Gainesville thanks to
OSleeper MFG Co.
“We basically design and build
furniture,” said Graham Williams,
co-founder of the business. “We
pride ourselves on being able to
give someone a custom piece,
exactly what they want. ”
The company launched three
years ago, and it’s been booming
ever since.
“A few years ago we were just
getting started,” Williams said.
“Someone would have a dream
piece that they wanted to have in
their home, and we would design
and build it for them.”
And while they still make resi
dential pieces, they have moved
into commercial work now, too.
“Just recently, we built out an
entire boutique wine shop up in
Suwanee called ‘Sip Happens,”’ he
said. “We’ve been really involved
in Midland Station. We did all the
tabletops at Midland Station and the
barn doors and the mountains that
go on the wall.”
He said they’ve also helped with
a couple of restaurants in Buford
and Atlanta, and they have even
done work with the Cathy family of
Chick-fil-A.
“With furniture it’s such an awe
some and unique thing because
oftentimes, especially in a home,
they’re the pieces people are gath
ering around making memories at,”
he said. “Even in a business, like a
coffee table and a conference table,
those are where decisions are made
and those are where people’s lives
are changed. We love that we get
the opportunity to build pieces that
can hopefully and hypothetically
transform communities and lives
and people.”
And while custom woodwork has
made the company a success, CEO
and founder Jerry Channell said
there is more to the business than
that.
“Our goal is to use the company
to somehow make an impact in the
world that is more than just making
a profit,” he said. “Anything that we
do, we give a percentage of our rev
enue to people in need.”
Channell said inspiration for the
business came from his childhood.
“My parents are in the ministry,
so I grew up in the church world,”
he said. “My parents worked at
Eagle Ranch in Flowery Branch for
a long time when I was growing up,
and I was introduced there to enjoy
ing working with my hands.”
Channell said he worked at a
cabinet shop while in college and
then got a job at a furniture shop
after graduation before launching
his own company.
“I just felt like I really wanted to
own a business that was for-profit
but also could try to do some good in
the world, try to help people along
the way,” he said about his plans.
“So we started a company building
custom furniture.”
He said his faith helped him
decide on the name for the business.
“I am a Christian, and so I study
the Bible,” he said. “There’s a
Bible verse, Ephesians 5:14. It says,
‘Awake, 0 sleeper, and arise from
the dead, and Christ will shine on
you.’ That’s kind of in our mantra,
saying we want to use business and
the pursuit of excellence in what
we do as a way that we can glorify
God and that we can impact people
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS
The Times
Top left: OSIeeper’s
Graham Williams
touches a piece of
furniture Wednesday,
Oct. 24, at the shop in
midtown Gainesville.
Top right Employee
Ryan Davis attaches a
rope to a large swing
Wednesday, Oct. 24.
The swing was recently
manufactured at the
Gainesville shop and will
be used at a hotel on the
coast.
Above right: OSleeper
MFG Co. creates
custom woodwork
and decor for homes,
businesses, restaurants,
coffee shops and
churches.
Left: OSleeper MFG Co.
founder and CEO Jerry
Channell, right, started
the woodworking outfit
with co-founder Graham
Williams.
around us.”
OSleeper MFG Co. is located in
the midtown area of Gainesville,
but it’s not a retail space just yet.
“Right now, it’s just purely a man
ufacturing shop,” he said. “We have
goals and visions of one day having
a storefront attached to our shop.”
They also have a few more plans
for the future, too.
“We’re actually completely redo
ing our website in the next five
months, and we’re going to be intro
ducing a line of furniture through
Osleeper Manufacturing on our
website,” he said.
Hurricane Michael brutal on
Georgia’s agriculture took a
giant hit when Hurricane Michael
slammed into Florida’s panhandle
and entered our southern border
with winds over 110 mph.
Anytime a hurricane hits any
populated area and causes harm to
humans and damage to property,
there is a need for concern.
Georgia farmers are facing an
estimated $3 billion in losses from
this massive storm. That is a b as
in billions.
Georgia is the largest producer
of pecans in the world. According
to 2016 Farm Gate report, Geor
gia’s pecan crop was $356 million.
This year’s statewide losses on the
pecan crop are estimated at $100
million and $260 million in lost
trees. The lost trees will add an
additional $200 million in future
lost profits until new trees can be
planted and mature enough to
produce.
Dougherty, Lee and Mitchell
counties produce 30 percent of
Georgia’s pecans and they lost
CAMPBELL VAUGHN
ecvaughn@uga.edu
30-40 percent of their pecan trees.
Gone. No more. Laying on the
ground uprooted.
As if 110 mph winds aren’t
destructive enough on anything
they encounter, Hurricane
Michael hit at just about the worst
time.
Most of the field crops were
primed to be harvested, and har
vest time is usually when the plant
is most vulnerable.
Cotton fields that were possibly
primed to have record harvests
were destroyed by the hurricane.
When the cotton is out of the boll,
the high winds rip the fibers off the
plant and render the crop unhar-
vestable. Some fields in Georgia
have been declared a complete
loss. Estimates on cotton crop
losses range up to $800 million.
South Georgia’s late season vege
table crop was also close to harvest
or in the process of being harvested
when Hurricane Michael arrived.
The damage varies significantly
across southwestern Georgia coun
ties, but the loss is estimated at
more than $480 million.
Because of the long growing
season, southwest Georgia farm
ers are able to produce spring and
fall crops of vegetables like toma
toes, sweet corn, eggplants, green
beans, peppers, cucumbers and
squash. Harvest occurs in June
and October for spring and fall
crops, respectively.
According to Timothy Coolong,
vegetable specialist at the Univer
sity of Georgia, “a lot of farmers
were just starting their main har
vest for fall crops when the storm
Georgia agriculture
hit.” Plants that were fully loaded
with produce were pushed down
by 60 mph winds and gusts from 80
to 100 mph.
This phenomenon, known as
lodging, not only makes produce
hard to harvest, it exposes the fruit
to the sun, which causes sunburn,
a condition that makes the fruit
unmarketable.
Mitchell and Decatur counties
are the largest producers of the
state’s fall sweet corn, and much of
the crop was destroyed. Tall corn
stalks don’t stand a chance against
sustained wind in excess of 100
mph.
The Georgia Forestry Commis
sion reported that the hurricane
destroyed about 1 million in acres
of timberland, valued at $1 billion.
One million acres is 1,560 square
miles.
The poultry industry losses are
estimated at $25 million in lost
birds and houses. Soybean grow
ers suffered a $10 million to $20
million loss. Peanut crop losses are
expected at $20 million, but it’s not
as much about losing the crop as
the peanut houses having suffered
such heavy infrastructure losses
that the farmers don’t have any
where to take their peanuts once
they are dug.
Livestock and dairy farmers
suffered infrastructure losses,
like fencing and forage, but UGA
Extension economists have no real
estimate for livestock losses. Dairy
farmers lost milk production due
to power outages, which prevented
them from milking cows and stor
ing their milk safely.
Hurricane Michael has been
brutal to Georgia’s agriculture
industry. It is going to take a long
time and a lot of work to build
back what Georgia farmers have
worked so hard to build.
Campbell Vaughn is an agriculture
and natural resource agent with
the University of Georgia Extension
in Richmond County. He can be
reached at ecvaughn@uga.edu.
