Santa Clara Woodworks was born on a small ranch in western Montana in 1977. It's humble beginnings in a restored log outbuilding saw Gordon West, ranch handyman, carpenter and engineering student, setting out to build everything from furniture to cabins. His dream was to make fine products by hand in the old way, using traditional methods and tools. He spent a good deal of time hanging out with other craftspeople, including violin makers and blacksmiths.

Moving to northern Idaho in 1982, Gordon homesteaded on 8 acres in the country. Operating his own sawmill and logging small quantities of standing dead trees, he supplied his one man business (then called Gordon West Joinery) with enough rough lumber to build 8000 square feet of shop and storage space in timber frame style. Lots of custom work for local people and contractors, from furniture to log cabins, was cranked out in his 14 years there. Gordon also honed his environmental ethic, serving for six years with a grassroots conservation group working toward better forest stewardship. He was also a charter member of North Idaho Woodnet, an organization of local woodworkers seeking to improve their lot by finding common ground and working together where possible.

Now in Santa Clara, New Mexico, Gordon is continuing to expand upon a lifetime of experience. In order to secure an ethically sourced supply of timber for Santa Clara Woodworks, he co-founded Gila WoodNet, a nonprofit R&D corporation with the mission of finding appropriate uses for small diameter timber, the stuff that is causing the ecological and fire problems today. Together with Todd Schulke, of the Center for Biological Diversity, Gila WoodNet has raised almost a million dollars to perform forest ecosystem restoration projects. Those activities are ecologically motivated, no commercial interests influence the project prescriptions. Light-on-the-land equipment has been developed and value-added products are being created to try and fully utilize the residues from forest restoration work. A small percentage of that material is suitable for processing into the lumber that Santa Clara Woodworks uses in its furniture and other products.

In 1999, Bruno DeMarco (a transplanted Aussie) became a partner with Gordon in the growing business. By the spring of 2000, they had secured a contract with The Nature Conservancy to do part of the renovation work at the Conservancy's Bear Mountain Lodge and to design almost all of the furniture that would outfit the 1930's Mission-style bed and breakfast. Gordon and Bruno, with a crew of four, built 250 pieces of Southwest influenced Arts and Crafts furniture for the place, all of it from forest restoration byproducts and recycled lumber.

Santa Clara Woodworks is now actively seeking other woodworkers and craftspeople to collaborate in future projects (reminiscent of the Roycrofters) and to locate their businesses near to "The Hotel". John Hill, a local furniture maker and designer has joined with Santa Clara Woodworks, and a blacksmith, a glass artist, and a bronze founder are looking at the possibility of weaving in their crafts. It is an exciting future for the little Village of Santa Clara!