Logging On

Most people recycle in their homes, but few recycle actual homes.

Furniture designer Robert C. Brandegee and his partner, Jim Whisner, have launched a new line of rustic yet stylish furniture made from logs, lumber and other materials retrieved from 18th- and 19th-century log houses.

The Squirrel Hill resident, who recently sold his Brandegee Inc., a consulting and communications business, to a group of employees, sees this venture as the perfect confluence of his graphic-design experience, his interest in antiques, and his awareness of design and proportion.

Inspirational influence for the collection of tables, sofas, beds, benches, desks, consoles, bookshelves and chests first manifested itself about five years ago when Robert and his wife, Ada, bought a 1840s log cabin in Bedford County. The cabin was in deplorable condition, so they hired Whisner, who did restoration and preservation for Old Bedford Village, to do the job.

A year and a half later, the Brandegees purchased another log cabin of the same era, and decided to dismantle it and attach it to the first. Again, Whisner, whom Brandegee touts as an incredibly resourceful craftsman and good friend, was on the job.

During the second restoration, Whisner suffered a mild heart attack and was warned off heavy outdoor work and harsh elements. The two set out to pursue their mutual interest in furniture-making by merging their talents: Brandegee for design and Whisner for building.

They decided to use the log cabin materials with which they had both become so familiar. The result is a collection that uses hand-hewn logs and joists from log cabins and barns with new glass tops on tables, sails on sofas, and branches for headboards. So far, the business remains a two-man shop, with Ada serving as an "active critic," says Brandegee.

Finding and processing the required raw materials has proved to be a great challenge. Besides the scarcity of cabins, those that remain have often been abandoned and left to the elements.

Boards and logs often are filled with nails, and expensive saw blades often are the casualties. Even after carefully screening and searching with magnets, the hidden nails wreak havoc with the blades.

Despite this difficulty, Brandegee says they have been able to stockpile a sizable batch of quality materials from the Bedford area, where Whisner works in a small shop.

Brandegee, whose son Robert J. Brandgee is a famed recycler in his own right with Littlearth, has marketed directly to interior designers and architects. Now he is working to accomplish more direct sales and is accepting custom orders. Next he plans to move into retail in specialized, craft-oriented outlets. Part of his plan is to attend the craft show circuit.

His work already has been exhibited at the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, and he is also hoping to place some pieces at The Society for Contemporary Craft in the Strip District.

For more information, call 521-6099 or www.robertbran degeedesigns.com

- Dana Black

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Sleep like a log in a bed made by from a recycled log cabin. Crafted by Robert Brandegee & Jim Whisner.

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The Toy Game

Maybe a lot has changed about childhood, but one thing is still how it used to be: playing with sturdy, brightly painted toys from Holgate Toys Company.

"Because our designs are so old, many parents have grown up enjoying the same wooden Holgate Toys they buy their children," says Dick Bly, president of the McKean County toy maker. "It creates a great feeling of nostalgia when parents find themselves saying, 'I had one of those toys.'"

Chances are you've spotted Holgate's most famous creation in museum shops as well as at toy stores: a replica of the famed red trolley to the Land of Make-Believe on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

Holgate produces about 25 toys for pre-schoolers, including the rocky color cone ($16), graduated rings for Junior to stack to create a cone-shaped rainbow, and jumbo lacing beads ($11). Both were named in Parents magazine's 1997 "Best Classic Toy Search."

The times have changed a lot more than Holgate, which traces its roots to 1789, when a woodworker named Cornelius Holgate first opened a shop in Philadelphia. In the 1880s, Holgate relocated the business to Kane, lured by the hardwood forests of Western Pennsylvania.

The company, officially established in 1929, still relies on northern hardwoods. Much of the current toy line was designed in the 1930s-'50s, Bly says.

It's fair to assume that Holgate does not have a big share of the $70 billion worldwide toy market - Bly declines to reveal sales figures for the privately owned company - but the 10-employee company holds its own against Fortune 500 Mattel and Hasbro, both of which rely on foreign labor.

The folks from Kane have managed to enter the markets in Hong Kong and Germany. "The overseas markets were basically established through contacts made at trade shows," Bly explains. "The markets are small, but we hope to see them grow over the next few years. We still have the whole world to take on."

For more information, call 800/499-1929, or www.holgatetoy.com

- Jennifer Fickley

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The Numbers Game

Something's Brewing

It's another area where the region is tapped in - literally. The beer industry saw phenomenal growth in the past decade, and Southwestern Pennsylvania is home to four of the top commercial breweries in the country.

Latrobe Brewing (makers of Rolling Rock), Pittsburgh Brewing (Iron City/IC Light), Straub Brewing and Pennsylvania Brewing (Penn Pilsner) all crack Modern Brewery Age's top-40 largest commercial-brewers list.

Add to that Jones Brewing (Stoney's) and more boutique brewpubs like Red Star, Church Brew Works and Foundry Ale Works, and you can almost taste the heady success here.

How big is the brewing industry in Pennsylvania? According to figures from Washington, D.C.-based trade group the Beer Institute, in 1997-98 (the most recent figures available) the industry accounted for 49,000 jobs, with an economic impact of $2.3 billion and state and local taxes of $298 million. And that doesn't include the effects on sales of pizza, potato chips and other munchies to go with it.