Andrew Woodside Carter
1116 Quesada Ave. San Francisco, CA 94124 awcarterstudio@gmail.com
Antique Restorer & Furniture Maker
About AWC
Andrew Woodside Carter
The French have always been world leaders in fine furniture design and conservation. To learn from the masters, Andrew Woodside Carter went to the source.
Growing up in Northern California, Carter became interested in fine furniture conservation and wood working while apprenticing in the restoration of an 1880s Victorian mansion in Santa Cruz. He flourished in his position and by age 21 was accepted into the École Boulle in Paris, a premier university for decorative and restorative arts.
The École Boulle credo is that in order to restore furniture to its purest and most genuine form, one must understand every aspect of woodworking and conservation—from conception to completion. As such, Carter trained under French masters for two years at the 125-year-old university in the full range of traditional and modern methods of furniture and decorative arts, design and restoration.
In 1994, he returned to San Francisco to put his education to practice, opening a studio at Pier 66 in San Francisco. Following the European tradition, Carter valued patience and meticulously-detailed quality over quick-turnaround quantity. His fine-art craftsmanship was quickly noticed.
By 2009 Carter had twice-expanded his studio to include a full range of furniture and restoration services, from touch-up detailing to complete custom fabrication. And while his client base has multiplied and staff now includes three associate craftsmen and in-house upholsterer, Carter remains adamant about retaining the traditional quality-over-quantity European approach to his work.
With over 20 years of experience, Andrew Woodside Carter is today one of San Francisco's most sought-out decorative arts restorers, having conserved thousands of pieces of fine furniture—from 400-year-old chairs to mid-century modern coffee tables.