Woodworker’s bespoke pieces are inspired by his faith and heritage
Kwadwo Som-Pimpong brings West Africa to Western North Carolina.
Photo by Colby Rabon
Had the Arden home Kwadwo Som-Pimpong purchased in 2015 been furnished, he might never have taken the first step on what he describes as his “exciting, incredible, and fascinating journey of learning woodworking.”
Recently graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and master’s in civil and environmental engineering, the Greensboro native came to Asheville for a job at a manufacturer. His father — from Ghana in West Africa — joined him on a house search. Having no previous exposure to the world of real estate, he assumed the homes came as they were staged.
“When we chose a house and closed on it, and I got the keys and walked in the door, it was completely empty,” he says with a laugh. “As a bachelor and fresh out of college, all I had was a folding table and a couple other small items. I realized I would need to furnish this house.”
But he wasn’t keen on anything he was seeing in mainstream furniture stores, so he took matters into his own hands, literally, acquiring some basic tools, a couple thin slabs of oak, and some wooden dowels and building two end tables on his front porch. “They were very rudimentary, but I fell in love with the process, and that was the start.”
The budding craftsman purchased more tools, sought better wood, and made his garage into a workshop. Testing the market, he put a couple of his pieces in a consignment store. “In 2017, I sold my first piece, a live-edge walnut coffee table. And the buyer commissioned me to make another piece.”
Photo by Colby Rabon
With that encouragement, Kwadwo Som-Pimpong launched his company, naming it Crafted Glory. “I am passionate about using all my gifts to glorify God, and I wanted a name that alluded to that.” The artist also says his engineering studies in college helped him develop an intuition for the right proportions, what would work and what would be structurally sound. “But as far as the particulars of woodworking, it was trial and error, experimentation, looking at videos and talking to people already doing it. Western North Carolina has a wonderful woodworking community.”
He credits his budding client base — interior designers working in luxury homes and people who lived in them — and requests for custom work with driving him to elevate his craft and use the best of materials.
But it was his wife, a fashion designer, who challenged him to dig deeper into what already existed. Som-Pimpong met Faith Princess Donani in 2018 in Ghana, where she was born and raised. His work in Asheville and her schooling took them in different directions, but they reconnected in 2021 and married in 2023.
Photo by Colby Rabon
“Faith questioned why more of my cultural heritage was not showing up in my work,” he reveals. “She challenged me to draw from my culture, and reminded me I have a unique voice, a unique perspective, and urged me to create unique pieces.”
The Ati Collection — “Ati” means “tree” in Ghana’s Ewe language — is a manifestation of that, comprising a dining table, end table, and stool. The artisan exclusively uses hardwoods — walnut, maple, oak, and cherry — and elements of Scandinavian design are also apparent. Other popular pieces are the Dormefa console, the Fia Table, and the Hame coffee table. Today Crafted Glory has a dedicated shop in Clyde, shared with muse and business partner Faith, who runs the clothing line FIAVI, and assistant Daniel Robinson.
Less than a week after Helene tore through Western North Carolina on September 27, 2024, Faith and Kwadwo welcomed their first son Dzidzor into a home with no power, water, internet, or cell connection. This past February, they unveiled a mantel and surround constructed for Biltmore Forest’s town hall from a walnut tree felled in the storm, through the nonprofit Echoes of the Forest.
“Everything I create is just drawing from the beauty already created around me,” says Som-Pimpong. “That’s what Crafted Glory holds up.”
Crafted Glory, Clyde, 828-338-8659, craftedglory.com, kwadwo@craftedglory.com.