Opening our Doors to Seattle Stair & Design Friends and Clients

Our annual party was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with so many friends, clients and partners. Great music, drink and food made for a warm welcome as guests entered our showroom home… checking out our works-in-progress, like this staircase you see Shawn standing in front of.

A View from Above

Here, Bamboo Grass practically waves in the breeze in our Eco Resin panels.

Tradition Shines

Sometimes it's all about tradition. Here's one of our staircases with crisp white paint and dark handrails. Striking.

Traveling with a Master Stair Builder? Naturally, Our Eyes Open to Stairways Everywhere

As a jewelry designer by trade, I have a great love of beauty, design and craft and use of quality materials. I see a beautiful stair as, similar to jewelry, the final accessory that completes the outfit, or in this case, the mystique of a building. In many cases, stairs, like jewelry, can become the primary expression of beauty and uniqueness that completes a design or a look.

Looking to be inspired? Head to Iowa. On a recent business trip there with Shawn and Marilyn Christman, owners of Seattle Stair and Design, we detoured to the local university with its historic buildings and Iowa’s original capitol building, circa 1856. We strolled through the buildings, discovering grand stair after grand stair of wood, cast iron and steel, and tile. The capitol building itself has the most beautiful spiral stair.

It was fascinating to watch Shawn, a master, measuring and examining each detail of these creations. He jumped into master teacher mode and used it as an opportunity to share with me detailed explanations of the design and building techniques that were used, what is changed from today, code issues, craftsmanship, materials, and more. I felt incredibly lucky to have this first hand, apprentice like training handed to me as I too was taken by the beauty and craftsmanship of these historic, grand staircases.

–Phoebe, Seattle Stair
Photo from Old Capitol Museum, Iowa.

Dilemma Leads to Invention: a New Way of Building Stairs

Back in 1982 on a project nearing completion on Whidbey Island, Shawn Christman arrived on the jobsite to find a staircase substructure framed with the kind of warped, wet scrap lumber leftover at the end of a job. Nothing was true. Absolutely nothing was plumb. It was nearly impossible for Shawn and his small team from the then four-year old Seattle Stair to come in with their hardwoods and finesse a usable and attractive stair out of the mess.

This maddening experience propelled Shawn to invent a better way to build a stair.

Research led him to an old-time stair-maker whose work had landed in the Smithsonian. Shawn studied the century’s old technique of designing a theoretically perfect construct to fit the hole (here, a stairwell). He spent years perfecting the process where he and his crew would come in and measure that hole then “disappear” back to their studio for a few months to create a hand-in-glove structure that would be brought back to the job site, installed, and best yet fit perfectly and be pleasing to the eye. When factoring in the complicated geometry and artistic rigors this is no small feat.

Modern Beauty























We are proud to have been part of the design team on this fantastic project in Makena Beach, Hawaii. The essence and beauty of true modern design - In visual perception becomes - what is not there. Seemingly floating tread design, invisible glass hardware, all capped with a simple ribbon of stainless steel. This project is an excellent example of this, and our stair while seemingly simple – is an exercise of countless critical relationships and tolerances and utilizes new glass engineering technology.
While we have dealt with bent glass on other projects this particular piece was quite a challenge. Many of this country’s finest glass fabricators declined to quote on this project due to its complexity. We ultimately searched all over the country and found the best fabricator for this critical section and in the process learned that even the best can fail.
We were forced to reject the first two attempts due to significant quality imperfections in the glass (both technical and visual.) Further interactions and questionable customer service, necessitated us finding another “best” in the country fabricator. All in all - the glass was made about 4 times and on one version underwent many hours of precise polishing by one of the worlds greatest glass artists. The things you learn when it all seems so simple, is a journey of enlightenment. Having been through this – I truly can say "I can do nearly anything with glass."

And for this design – it is all in what you do not see.
See additional pictures on our website.

Wyoming Grandeur

Wow – I am so exited with an e-mail I just opened. Some time ago we completed a stair for a “reproduction” vintage 100 year old stair for a farmstead in Alta, Wyoming. The scenic setting could not have been grander. Just outside of Jackson Hole this new construction represented a natural farmstead organic development over a 100 year period. Each of the buildings are period based and while there is a little bit of Disney to the design interpretations – it was so well thought out that it all makes sense and creates a magical environment.

Our role was to build a grand stair for what would represent the main house. This stair was to look and feel as if it had been built by craftsman over 100 years ago (and last for 100 more.) We started out with rough-sawn reclaimed black walnut, salvaged from a 150-year old country house in Indiana. All of this rough material was then milled in Seattle into parts that we met out on site. Our team then installed this grand stair to act as a “construction stair” for the remainder of the build. The natural and unnatural abuse this stair endured during the construction process became the patina that now gives such warmth and comfort to the entryway of this home. While the design is somewhat simple the visual impact of the newel and execution of the joinery gives a strong feel of old-world grandeur. We are quite proud to have participated on this wonderful project for such passionate clients.

I have a few more pictures on our website to share if you wish.