My name is Josh McClary. I'm the founder of Vine & Branch Studio, a custom cabinet and furniture shop based in Nashville, Tennessee.

I didn't set out to be a cabinetmaker. In fact, I resisted it for a lot of years.

I came into this trade in my early twenties. I was living aboard an old Catalina sailboat in South Carolina, renovating it as I went, when a fellow liveaboard offered me a job in his millwork shop. For my first year there, I spent my days on the arse end of a rip saw with a gruff old man named Willie who never had a nice thing to say about anybody. I remember him smiling maybe once the entire time I worked there.

Later I apprenticed under Tom, a veteran cabinetmaker who taught me the fundamentals. Milling lumber, building doors and cases, finishing, installing. All of it. And the crazy thing about old Tom was his last name — Inabinet. I mean, come on. If there was ever anyone destined to make cabinets, it was Tom Inabinet. I'd like to say I understood the value of craftsmanship back then, but I didn't. In fact, I got fired from that job for writing "drinking coffee" on the task line of my timesheet. At the time, I had my mind set on a music career. That appreciation for craft came later.

From there I traversed nearly every facet of the cabinet industry, from dusty shops to design showrooms. Over time I built the skills that eventually led me to start my first company.

It grew quickly. Too quickly. I let the business get ahead of me. Fear and insecurity led me to over-hire and over-invest until I couldn't feed the monster I'd created.

The company didn't survive. But that season exposed my blind spots and taught me something I carry with me now. More is not always better.

Vine & Branch Studio was built on the other side of that lesson.

We're a small, skilled team based in Nashville, and we like it that way. Not because we're afraid to grow, but because our size allows us to work the way we believe work should be done. Close to the details, honest with our clients, and accountable to a standard that doesn't fluctuate based on schedule pressure or margin.

Our work tends toward the quiet and considered. Clean lines, natural materials, and pieces that don't demand attention but reward it when given. Cabinetry and furniture that fit the way people actually live. Functional, lasting, and at home in the space.

I started this company with two convictions.

The first is that good work is an act of care. It shows up in everything we do. Not just in the finished product, but in how we treat people, how we communicate, and how we carry a project from start to finish. There's a way of working that says, "we respect you, your home, and what we're building together." That standard doesn't disappear when things get difficult.

The second is that the people who invite us into their homes and businesses deserve that care at every stage. A beautiful finished product doesn't excuse a frustrating process, and we don't treat it like it does.

The name Vine & Branch comes from John 15:5. It's a reminder to me that creativity and craftsmanship aren't mine to claim. They're gifts, and this work is an opportunity to steward them well.

That's what we're building here. One project at a time, in a city we love, for clients we're proud to work for.