Woodworker’s furniture line emphasizes rest, reflection

RICE, Minn. — Grant Kaihoi went through four major life changes in four months.

He graduated from Northern Michigan University, moved back to Minnesota and started his first post-college job. And perhaps most life-changing of all: Kaihoi and his wife, Rachel, had their first baby, Keith.

Any one of those events could be stressful by itself. All four at once was trying.

“It was a terrible way to do it,” Kaihoi said. “I mean, it was good. We learned a lot, but I wouldn’t ever, ever do it that way again.”

The stress led to an artistic venture/business project, though, that Kaihoi hopes will help inspire others to take time for themselves when life is busy.

Kaihoi, a 25-year-old woodworker, is the creator of Sabbath, a line of furniture intended to help people remember to slow down. The name refers to the religious practice of taking a day to abstain from work and chores, and reflect.

The first products that will be available in the line are a chair, table and privacy screen. Kaihoi built what he calls “the first-generation Sabbath chair” on his breaks at Wilkie Sanderson in Sauk Rapids using scraps of wood from the dumpster. (He has since left the business to focus on Sabbath and other projects.)

He created a chair because “I needed a place ... just to go and unpack the day in my head and unwind before I faced my newborn,” Kaihoi said with a chuckle.

It was hard being new in town and first-time parents. For their first two years in the area, Grant and Rachel Kaihoi mostly stayed in, under the radar, just working and learning how to be parents.

“The chair was just a place I could go to pray and read Scripture and meditate,” he said. “Life eventually got better. We made friends.”

CREATING SABBATH

One of those friends was Guytano Magno, founder of Gather Table Co.

Magno contracted Kaihoi to create tables, and Kaihoi was inspired to develop the Sabbath line. He launched a crowdfunding campaign earlier this summer and raised $3,200. Products will eventually be available on Etsy, and a website will be built.

The Sabbath motto: Rest more. Work less. Live better.

The Sabbath chair’s arms and legs are steam-bent, with seven slats on each side, one for each day. It’s ergonomic, and its fabric is blue, “the most calming color you can imagine,” Kaihoi said.

“Everything is intended as a subtle reminder to help you rest,” he said.

Magno said Kaihoi’s work is exceptional because he plans everything. There isn’t a board or piece of fabric out of place, and it’s about more than design. It’s making a piece of furniture to better people’s lives.

“He’s a salt of the earth kind of guy,” Magno said. “He loves being dusty from a day’s work.”

MORE PRODUCTIVE

And although Kaihoi’s Christian faith plays an obvious part in Sabbath, resting is just as key for health reasons and general happiness, he said. Statistics consistently show that people in the United States work far more than their counterparts across the globe.

Research shows that taking a break every hour and a half — even if it’s just getting away from a computer or going on a 15-minute walk — helps increase productivity, Kaihoi said.

“You actually get more done by taking time to rest,” he said. Sabbath is all about clearing a space, whether it be in an office or home, for one to rest.

Kaihoi insists he and Rachel, a registered nurse at St. Cloud Hospital, do well rest-wise, even though their family has grown. Keith is now 3, Caleb is 22 months and Elwood is 6 weeks old. They managed to squeeze in a date night recently to see Jurassic World.

Kaihoi said despite their busy family life, he makes an effort to get up an hour or so before the boys do, typically around 5 a.m., for solitude.

“Even though I might have lost an hour of sleep, just having some personal time without noise or distraction or any obligation really makes your day better,” he said.

Kaihoi said more furniture could follow in the Sabbath line, depending on how successful it is. When asked how long it takes him to make a chair, he said when production starts in earnest, he hopes to be making one in less than a week.

“We’ll see how fast we can make ’em,” he said.

One thing is for certain: He’ll make sure to take breaks.