The Divine Grain Story

In life, sometimes things happen that are completely unplanned.

As an avid woodworking hobbyist for the last 15 years, I have spent much of my time renovating our 1850 farmhouse located in Barrington, Illinois. Thankfully, the property came with a coach house which quickly turned into my woodshop. In that space, I’ve dedicated endless hours to designing and building a variety of projects. From built-in cabinets and fireplace mantels, coffee tables and sofa tables and even crafting an custom chicken coop, each project brought on a new challenge that needed to be conquered.

However, most of these projects required me to paint the wood, masking its natural character. Once I decided to start working with a variety of finish grade woods especially walnut, I began to notice the artistry that naturally occurs in each species. The differences in color and grain patterns began to stand out to me. What started out as a simple idea to craft a charcuterie board for my family using a mix of wood types turned into designing a variety of boards for family Christmas gifts. It was then I decided to build this website and share these designs with others like you.

As for the name, I wish I could tell you it was part of some brand ideation session, but it was not. While sanding down a beautiful piece of walnut, I thought to myself, “wow, this grain is truly divine.” And just like that, Divine Grain was born.

Rey Mena