ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Ronald Trapasso has run Attwill Furniture Company for 40 years.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
Attwill Furniture Company is marking 90 years of furniture making and restoration.
Today owner Ronald Trapasso, a skilled woodworker, runs the show on his own. His greatest tools are his own two hands and the invaluable knowledge he got from working beside the best. Trapasso has spent 48 years building and restoring antique pieces.
Sanger Attwill bought the company in 1927, changing its name from Postar Furniture. It was originally located downtown in a three- or four-story building that had housed a shoe factory, Trapasso said. At that time, the focus was on building furniture more than repairing it. With more than 25 employees to work at different stages of creation and heavy machinery to assist with the job, the company was constructing at its highest volume.
But the stock market crash of 1929 put a damper on business, he said. All but three employees were laid off. During the Great Depression, Attwill was forced to sell the machinery. By the ’50s and ’60s, business picked up and the company was producing its best quality of products by hand.
Shortly after graduating from the North Bennet Street School in North Boston in 1969, the master craftsman apprenticed under Atwill and Mario Torto, a cabinet maker who wished to cut back his hours when Trapasso was hired. He learned the art of refinishing from the late Letterio Ingeme, who specialized in refinishing pianos, and about upholstery from the late Fred Elwell.
“(Ingeme) kept a book of formulas,” said Trapasso. “It wasn’t like today when you can go to a store and buy stain. He made his own. In fact, I still do.”
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Trapasso, who bought the firm in 1977, also creates and sells his own furniture cleaner and polish that contains pure gum turpentine, an ingredient no longer sold in the United States. Customers bring him old furniture from around the country to restore to its original glory. He’s currently working to remove the shellac from an antique dresser, made in Salem, that he estimates dates back to the 1820s. He’ll repair the splitting wood, sand it while preserving the patina and character that has built up over the years. He will complete the project using finishes that reflect its preexisting style.
“People come to me because they don’t know what to do with these pieces,” he said. “They think they’re hopeless, but I can see the potential of what they can be.”
But his creations come at a price. A pair of end tables recently sold for about $8,000, he said.
Trapasso said he hopes for the opportunity to pass on his knowledge to interested youth who want to carry on the trade.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.