Going Against the Grain

An Israeli-born woodworker crafts his share of the American Dream with his custom-made furniture business.

Standing in his tastefullydecorated Fells Point furniture showroom and surrounded by his masterpieces, ShlomiAbukassis says he feels most blissful and at ease when working in his woodshop.

“When I’m working, I’m inheaven,” says Abukassis, a custom furniture designer and owner of KayaFurniture Design Gallery on Fleet Street. “From the smell of the wood to thenoises of the machines, I feel connected to it all. I feel like it’s a part ofmy veins.

“Sometimes, I leave my homeat 4 a.m. just to be in my shop,” he says, beaming. “I can’t wait to get towork.”

Born and raised in the smallIsraeli town of Beit Shean along the Jordan River Valley, Abukassis, 51, sayshe spent much of his childhood in and out of bomb shelters. Still, Abukassis,who is one of 15 children, remembers his younger days as filled with love,happiness and art.

“I had a wonderful childhoodin Israel,” says Abukassis, who now lives in the Annapolis area. “Even with allthe rockets and going in and out of bomb shelters, it was wonderful. I’m verysensitive, and art, drawing and dancing have always spoken to me.

“I’ve been a dreamer and artistemotionally all my life, and that is what I would do at night growing up. Iwould draw and dream.”

That passion for creating iswhat helped Abukassis pursue his version of the American Dream. He moved to theBaltimore metropolitan area with his daughter, Kaya, and then-wife in 1995 shortlyafter the first suicide bus bombing on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street.

“After the bombing, I felt itwas too hectic to raise a child in that area, so we moved,” says Abukassis, whoas a U.S. citizen voted in his first presidential election in 2016. “When wecame to the States, I worked as a set designer for different theaters in FellsPoint. But when my green card expired, I needed to find something else to do andthat’s when I started apprenticing under a woodworker.”

After about a year of apprenticing,Abukassis’ mentor, woodworker Dennis Burns, left the field and turned over thebusiness to him.

“I started doing furniture onmy own without really knowing how to make furniture,” Abukassis says. “Everytime I would get a commission, I would go to Barnes & Noble to look atfurniture books and get visual ideas. I would then go back and make thefurniture, and slowly my business took off.”

Since opening his own shop, theamiable Abukassis has sold hundreds of pieces of his custom-crafted furniture,cabinetry and built-ins. His main inspiration for his designs comes from thewood itself, and he travels all over the country to gather the perfect pieces heneeds.

“I’m obsessed with the grainof trees and the grain of wood,” Abukassis says. “I want the wood to be thesubject of my furniture. Once I look at the wood, I then decide what to makethat will be beautiful and practical. But the wood is always the initialattraction.”

Abukassis says his favorite piece of all of his works is what he calls “The Gigi.” A sideboard and desk named in honor of his mother-in-law, “The Gigi” took him 250 hours to complete, has 52 tiny drawers and is made up of multiple woods including rosewood, quilted mahogany and Caroline maple.

“All of my furniture is namedafter family members,” says Abukassis, who remarried a few years after comingto the United States and has two daughters — the aforementioned Kaya, now 24, aKrieger Schechter Day School graduate and current law school student, andShoshi, 8, an artist who spends her free time writing and painting. “‘The Gigi’was a challenge for me, but with its completion came the realization for me andmy wife that I really can make furniture.”

While there have been timesof struggle and adversity for Abukassis and his family in the U.S., he says hewouldn’t change anything about his American journey and couldn’t be happier withwhat he has accomplished professionally and personally.

“I love Israel, but Americahas the American Dream and it is strong,” says Abukassis. “In Israel, it wouldhave been so hard for me to achieve what I have been able to achieve in thiscountry. Here, if you believe in yourself, you are honest and work hard, youcan fulfill your dreams.”

Kaya Furniture Design is located at 1900 Fleet St. For information, visit kayafurnituredesign.com.

Aliza Friedlander is a Baltimore-based freelancewriter.