A Day in the Life at Resiklo Miami's Workshop

Behind every Resiklo Miami piece is a workshop where sawdust flies, wood gets transformed, and craftsmanship happens daily. While customers see finished furniture in our showroom, the real magic occurs in our production space where raw materials become refined pieces. Let's walk through a typical day at our Miami workshop, meeting the team and witnessing the processes that create sustainable furniture.

7:00 AM - Workshop Preparation

Our lead makers arrive early to prepare the workshop for the day's work. This involves checking equipment, reviewing the day's project priorities, and ensuring all necessary materials are accessible. Wood that's been acclimating gets moved to work areas. Tools get sharpened and organized. The space gets swept clean from yesterday's work.

This preparation time also allows checking works-in-progress from previous days. Glued assemblies that clamped overnight get inspected for proper joint closure. Finished pieces that received final coats yesterday get examined to determine if they're ready for delivery preparation or need additional attention.

Morning light through our workshop windows provides excellent illumination for inspecting surfaces and checking color consistency. We use this natural light to spot imperfections that artificial lighting might miss.

Coffee brews in the workshop break area as team members trickle in. These early morning moments involve casual conversation about projects, sharing weekend activities, or discussing techniques team members are learning. This informal knowledge sharing strengthens our collective skills.

8:00 AM - Team Meeting

The full team gathers for brief morning meeting discussing the day's priorities. Carlos reviews progress on current projects and identifies any challenges requiring group problem-solving. Maria discusses finishing schedules — which pieces need next coats and timing for final inspection. David shares updates on incoming projects and material deliveries expected.

This meeting also addresses any quality issues or learning opportunities from recent work. Perhaps someone discovered a more efficient clamping technique worth sharing. Maybe a client requested modification teaching us something about how furniture gets actually used. These discussions ensure everyone learns from each other's experiences.

We also coordinate any showroom activities intersecting with workshop operations. If clients are visiting for material selection or to see works-in-progress, we prepare accordingly. When finished pieces need moving to the showroom, we schedule that coordination.

9:00 AM - Primary Production Time

With priorities clear, everyone disperses to their stations for focused production work. The workshop comes alive with the sounds of careful craftsmanship — saws cutting precise components, planers surfacing wood, hand tools refining details.

Carlos works on joinery for a custom dining table, cutting mortises with precision accumulated over decades. He checks fit repeatedly, shaving tiny amounts until tenons slide into mortises with satisfying snugness. This joinery will hold the table together for generations, so rushing is never option.

Across the workshop, another team member mills wood for a credenza project. Boards get planed to exact thickness, ripped to precise width, and cut to specified lengths. This careful milling ensures components fit together properly during assembly and the finished piece maintains proper proportions.

Maria spends morning hours applying stain to chairs that received surface preparation yesterday. Each chair gets consistent application, with careful attention to ensuring color penetrates evenly across all surfaces. She works systematically, maintaining wet edges to prevent lap marks.

David splits time between monitoring production and working on design for an upcoming project. A client requested a complex conference table with integrated cable management and unusual dimensions. He's developing solutions that achieve the client's vision while ensuring structural soundness and beautiful aesthetics.

11:00 AM - Material Delivery

Mid-morning, a delivery truck arrives with reclaimed wood from a local supplier. Several team members help unload, examining each piece for quality and potential. These deliveries are always exciting — you never know exactly what treasures might appear.

The reclaimed wood gets stacked carefully in our material storage area for inspection and cleaning. We note particularly interesting pieces that might suit specific projects or become showroom display pieces demonstrating reclaimed wood's potential.

During unloading, we chat with the supplier's driver who shares stories about where materials originated. This beam came from a Coconut Grove home built in 1940. Those boards were part of a Wynwood warehouse. These narratives become part of furniture stories we'll eventually share with clients.

12:30 PM - Lunch and Community

Team members break for lunch, some bringing food from home, others walking to nearby restaurants. This break provides mental rest from concentrated work while maintaining team community.

Sometimes lunch involves work-related discussion — perhaps solving a technical challenge someone encountered this morning, or discussing new techniques seen in woodworking publications. Other times conversation ranges widely across life topics, strengthening personal connections that make our team feel like family.

The workshop stays relatively quiet during lunch, though someone might use this time for tasks requiring undisturbed focus — perhaps final sanding that demands complete attention to subtle surface variations.

1:30 PM - Continued Production

Afternoons often focus on tasks requiring sustained attention. Assembly work happens frequently during this period, as morning's prepared components come together into three-dimensional furniture.

A bookcase that's been progressing for several days reaches assembly stage. Team members carefully apply glue to prepared joinery, position components precisely, and apply clamps with practiced expertise. Getting everything aligned perfectly before glue starts setting requires coordination and experience.

Elsewhere, Maria continues finishing work, applying second coats to the chairs that received stain this morning. Each coat builds protection and depth, transforming plain wood into finished furniture with beautiful appearance and durable surface.

Carlos begins hand-sanding assembled table components, working through progressively finer grits until surfaces feel silky smooth. This hand sanding reveals any slight imperfections requiring additional attention while creating the exceptional surface quality that distinguishes our furniture.

3:00 PM - Showroom Coordination

Mid-afternoon, David coordinates moving a completed desk from workshop to showroom. This involves careful wrapping to protect finished surfaces during transport, navigating doorways and corridors, and positioning the piece attractively for customer viewing.

Seeing finished furniture in showroom context provides satisfaction and motivation. The desk that existed as rough wood and technical drawings days ago now shines under showroom lighting, ready to serve a customer beautifully for decades. These moments remind everyone why we invest such care in every piece.

After positioning the desk, David photographs it for our records and website. These images document our work while providing content for marketing and client proposals. Good photography captures both overall impressions and detail shots showing joinery, grain patterns, and finishing quality.

4:00 PM - Client Visit

A couple furnishing their new home visits the workshop to see progress on their dining table. We love hosting these visits because they help clients appreciate the craftsmanship involved and build excitement for their furniture.

Carlos walks them through the project status, showing how carefully chosen boards will become their tabletop. He explains the joinery method and why it provides superior longevity compared to simpler alternatives. He demonstrates how perfectly the joints fit, with just enough friction to require light taps for assembly.

The clients ask questions about grain patterns, finish options, and expected timeline. They appreciate seeing their furniture in process and leave with deepened understanding of quality furniture creation. These visits strengthen relationships while educating about craft value.

5:00 PM - Workshop Cleanup

As the workday concludes, everyone participates in workshop cleanup. Tools get returned to organized positions. Sawdust gets collected and bagged for donation to community gardens. Work surfaces get swept clean. In-process pieces get covered to protect from dust overnight.

This daily cleanup maintains workshop organization essential for efficient, safe work. It also provides mental conclusion to the workday and opportunity to reflect on accomplishments. Looking around at projects advanced, problems solved, and quality maintained brings daily satisfaction.

Final checks happen before locking up. Clamps holding glued assemblies get verified for proper pressure. Pieces receiving finish coats get checked to ensure they're positioned for optimal curing. Equipment gets turned off and secured.

5:30 PM - Evening Notes

Before leaving, team members make notes about tomorrow's priorities. Perhaps a piece needs next finishing step first thing in morning. Maybe materials need preparing for upcoming project start. These notes ensure smooth morning starts without wasting time remembering where everything stands.

David reviews incoming emails and messages, responding to client inquiries and coordinating with suppliers about material deliveries. This communication ensures projects continue flowing smoothly and clients receive responsive service.

Evening - The Workshop Rests

As everyone leaves, the workshop settles into evening quiet. Glue cures in clamped assemblies. Finish coats harden and gain depth. Materials acclimate to humidity levels. Even at rest, the workshop is working — transformations continuing invisibly until tomorrow's team arrival begins the cycle anew.

The day's sawdust settling in corners, the familiar smell of wood and finishes, the organized chaos of tools and materials — all evidence of meaningful work creating furniture that will serve Miami homes and businesses for generations.

Visit Our Workshop

This glimpse into daily workshop life illustrates the care, skill, and attention behind every Resiklo Miami piece. While processes might seem technical, they're really about people devoted to craft excellence and sustainable practices.

We welcome workshop visits for clients considering custom projects or those simply curious about furniture making. These visits reveal why handcrafted furniture costs more — and why it provides value that mass production never achieves.

Contact Resiklo Miami through resiklomiami.com to schedule a workshop tour and experience sustainable craftsmanship in action. We'd love to share our process and discuss how we might create exceptional furniture for you.