Lifestyle Design With LUMBER+Salt

LUMBER+Salt’s design business in Jamesport is more than a destination for antiquing couples — it’s a lifestyle design destination. Under the Mazur&Co. banner, it was founded by John Mazur and Brooke Cantone. The methodology that they utilize is that they create one-of-a-kind spaces by reclaiming found objects, repurposing them with their unique materials and reimagining interiors and exteriors in an understated luxe way. Luxe/understated may sound like an oxymoron, but when you see the rich, textured environments they create, the viewer is transported to a place that is defies time and definition. They’re tastemakers right here on the North Fork and the LUMBER+Salt aesthetic is sophisticated yet charming all at once.

What does “LUMBER+Salt” mean exactly?

John Mazur: LUMBER is the foundation of our business and is the core foundation of building a structure, so it’s our backbone. Salt is in the air coming off the Sound, and I always think a surface is more beautiful with natural wear from our coastal environment. The patina that happens to metal when oxidized by salt water is the definition of art to me. People always ask “aren’t you worried about this metal getting damaged outside?” and what they don’t know is that I have a strategic design purpose for it being there. This can be seen most recently at Craft Hair Salon in Greenport, where we made custom mirrors framed in antique moldings from London, fabricated and cerused in black stain by Ian Love, and we finished the kicker with the metal that oxidized perfectly in the environment.

The LUMBER+Salt aesthetic is described as “RAW+REFINED,” can you explain what that means? 

Brooke Cantone: Grit with polish, high with low, worn in with a shine, roughness with softness. This has become our signature aesthetic and is the lens in which we design through. To us, it is where authenticity meets substance, and when designing a job the pieces that have a story become the unexpected narrative and heart of the project.

We just love your expansive portfolio of interior design projects, particularly with North Fork vineyards. Can you explain these projects to us and what you provided?

BC: Each project we have done is different in creative concept with one main thread tying them all together. Everything we bring into a project is reclaimed and re-purposed, which can be seen locally at Sherwood House Vineyards, Rose Hill Vineyards, and Terra Vite Vineyards and the Hound’s Tree tasting room in Brooklyn.

Most recently we completed a new tasting room for Terra Vite Vineyards in Jamesport. It was a special project because we were challenged with taking an existing tasting room that needed a face-lift without doing major demo work, all in time for a grand opening of Memorial Day Weekend last summer. We totally re-imagined this space, turning it into an authentic feeling Italian farmhouse that combined the old world with a new spirit.

JM: We were able to do this because every single piece within this space is reclaimed and re-purposed, salvaged, antique, or vintage. A vintage wooden step back cabinet from a hardware store celebrates the new owners roots who’s family owns Riverhead Building Supply. We deconstructed the drawers and units within the system and curated them on the walls as an art installation.

The top of the bar is made out of recycled copper and marble and the front is the wooden front and canvas back of a factory conveyor belt faced with a vintage iron fence welded together to create the frame. Antique and vintage gold gilded mirrors add both warmth and charm. The bronze cafe tables (with the most perfect patina) are from the Soho Grand Hotel. The grand vintage chandeliers came out of an estate in Montauk. The barn doors, entrance doors and ladders where salvaged and restored from a property in Shelter Island. The unit in the hallway is an antique luggage rack from a train car. Tobacco sticks lathed on the sky lights give off a smoky-like light from the North Fork rising and setting sun — it’s all about the light creating special mood and moments at certain times of the day!

All the wood and beams used within space where salvaged and reclaimed from a barn in Connecticut. When the design concept actualizes and our ability to freestyle is given, magic happens.

The items in the shop are very farmhouse-industrial. The vibe is almost its own original look. Where do you source all of these gorgeous pieces, that seem to work seamlessly with each other?

BC: Simply, we source from everywhere. Buying salvage from London’s Savoy Hotel to Western Spirit in Soho, to a seminary in Lloyd Harbor, to an Industrial Baking Factory in Queens, to an 1800’s barn demo in Allentown, to a trailer of hand hewn reclaimed lumber from Ohio, to the Neiman Marcus in Hudson Yards, to an estate sale of a 1920’s movie star. The list goes on and the content is unique and rare and one-of-a-kind. Which makes buying both fun, fulfilling, and purposeful to our sustainability platform.

Right now we have a lot European architectural salvage and antiques, fireplace mantels and surrounds, industrial lighting, french seltzer bottles in original wooden totes, stained glass windows, vintage frames, shutters and doors, reclaimed lumber of all species of wood, German stoneware, fire pits, bread boards, Windsor chairs, vintage cowboy boots, milk glass lamp shades, industrial factory objects, and a line of farm primitive ceramics “The Jamesport Collection” handmade by Firehouse Pottery Co.

Our “look” is eclectic and unique and it is how we put it together that makes our “lifestyle vibe” come to life.

You’re both from the design world in New York City and studied different aspects of design. Can we break down your expertise individually?

BC & JM: John served as Principle + Designer of an industrial and graphic design firm in Soho, specializing in branding for brick and mortar retail companies. John studied at Rochester Institute of Technology majoring in industrial and graphic design and spent his post-grad years working in Germany at an international branding agency.

Brooke held senior creative corporate roles in New York City in fashion, visual merchandising, marketing, and brand experience since 1998. Brooke graduated from the Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science with a BA in Fashion Merchandising.

How do two powerhouse designers/creative directors from New York City find themselves reinventing in Jamesport? What’s the story there?

JM: While working in the city, I bought 1291 Main Road in 2001 (currently the home of Sherwood House Vineyards & William Ris Gallery). I saw so much potential in the property and I wanted to do something different and made a pivot in my career in ’08 to pursue it. I focused on developing the property with the longer term vision of it becoming what it is today. In 2010, I created my company Material Objects in concert with then buying 5570 Sound Avenue, now LUMBER+Salt in 2014. When I moved out here the people where not here as they are now, so I am fortunate I saw the vision in the market and the uniqueness of the area when I did. Since Covid I realized how valuable my investments have become and how ready the world and community was to be offered up a new retail experience while being both open air and safe.

BC: I moved to the city in 1998 and worked as a Visual Merchandising Director in the corporate world of retail fashion merchandising. In 2014, I was ready to invest in a weekend home to break up the grind of city living. So I bought a home in Jamesport. At the time, it was the perfect combination of what I was looking for. During the pandemic, I left the Upper East Side and relocated full-time to the North Fork and chose to evolve LUMBER+Salt into a full brand concept. In the past two years, we’ve really brought the brand voice to life. It’s been a refreshing and creative rebirth, and a NEW retail has been born. Coming from the store experience world I knew that we had something very special to bring to life … and the pandemic happened which was a personal silver lining in hindsight that gave me the opportunity to not look back or question where I was going and where I wanted to invest my time.

Why it Works? John and I are business partners who have a visual respect and lock step creative connectivity with one another. Over the last six years we have done over 60 projects together ranging from hospitality, residential, commercial, retail, photo shoots, branding, and pop ups. We have also learned that the art of the hand drawing or sketch is long lost and we have found it wonderfully stimulating to draw on paper than on a computer to communicate with our clients. The concept drawings are often framed because of our ability to stick to the script while also being about to free style on site because the projects, as they unfold, tell us what to do. There is 100 percent client/designer trust in everything we do. 

JM: I am highly conceptual designer, and I do not want to get pigeon-holed into any one thing, as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. What we do is creative concepting and I sketch my ideas rather than try to put them into words. We offer a 360 approach when presented with a project, with or without being asked as I want to fully immerse myself creatively that will allow me to propose unique material solutions and object integration into the overall plan.

What do you love about the East End, and the North Fork in particular?

BC: We both feel like home here. We can’t explain it any other way. It is the big sky, fields and farm, water that make it a special place.

We imagine the pandemic affected different aspects of your work. How did you pivot and change the way you work, if it affected anything at all? 

BC: The last two years have been break out years for our brand. In the downtime, we put a business plan together around how and what we wanted to offer and what we loved doing. We love to buy and create spaces. And so we did. There was no score card, there was no risk of failure, there was nothing except doing what we wanted to do, there where no parameters anymore, so it was creatively freeing.

We hired a manager, Kenneth Montusi, another corporate New York City transplant who loved the North Fork. We set hours of operation and updated all our information as we show up online, grew our social media platforms @lumberandsalt and now we communicate to our customers in new ways, by highlighting client spotlights, taste maker events, new product deliveries, design projects. We finally created a website so customers can get in touch with us if they don’t have a social platform. All simple stuff that the down time allowed us to focus on. 

We also recognized that the word commUNITY was essential and most needed during that time and still is. We all needed purpose and something to look forward to. So we tapped into our creative world who where now transplanted on the East End.

We collaborated with artists, artisans, and designers seasonally that included a roster of creatives in the commUNITY. LUMBER+Salt hosted special event pop ups in theSTUDIO (located at 1291 Main Road in Jamesport), a creative commUNITY Series by LUMBER+Salt: The Taste Makers, which include thesalting, Fire House Pottery Co., Solstice Garden Co., Double R Design, Ian Love, Disset Atelier Chocolate, Hound’s Tree Wines, NoFo Roasting Co., Herricks Herbs & Heirlooms, Sasha Samuel Jewelry, Eduardo Amorim, The Holy Black, MarcoArt, and Isadora Capraro.

This “commUNITY” platform also gave us a chance to give back, as Sheri Winter Parker and LUMBER+Salt collaborated on an Archive Collection with Adrienne Landau by curating a line of one-of-a-kind product that was available for purchase in December with 25 percent of all sales donated to Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital.

How has business been and where do you think it will go for 2022?

JM: Because our business is built upon reclaimed material and objects, we haven’t been directly impacted by the current supply chain disruption. Our retail and design businesses are stronger than ever. We look forward to sharing our new projects we have on deck.

How has the evolution of LUMBER+Salt changed since its inception? Do you have any plans coming up that we should know about? 

BC: I come from a world of doing seasonal floor-sets and marketing campaigns, so keeping in-syc with this calendar of change, LUMBER+Salt will transform this spring and will include a new horticultural experience in our greenhouse. We are collaborating with Solstice Garden Co. this spring. Think plants and fresh flowers in vintage vessels, balled trees for live scaping with landscape design services available by appointment.

What are some trends you’re excited about?

JM: I spent today at the scrap yard, and I got excited about what I am going to introduce this spring at the store. So I am not one to even know where to find “a trend.” 

What inspires you – travel, artists, books, people? Are there people or brands that you look up to?

BC: There is a quote by interior designer, Kelly Wearstler, that really sums it up for me, “Rawness and refinement are not opposite ends of a luxurious spectrum they are two complementary features with which to populate a luxe environment.” 

JM: Good design.

What do you like to use for inspiration or guidance in your work?

BC: As a teenager I would collage and create mood boards without knowing what that was. I just liked to do it and I spent hours with my scissors, poster board, and glue making them. Not much has changed, other than my swipe is now electronic. Both John and I like to photographically articulate our story line so we search for the one right image to evoke “that emotion,” when we find it it’s like finding “the one.” My favorite part of the process is building our creative pitch back presentations and seeing the inspiration match up in execution.

JM: I am consistent – scrap yards and live auctions inspire me.

To learn more, visit LUMBER+Salt here, or visit their Instagram at the @lumberandsalt handle.

Ty Wenzel

Co-Publisher & Contributor

Ty Wenzel started her career as a fashion coordinator for Bloomingdale’s followed by fashion editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine. She was also a writer for countless publications, including having published a memoir and written features for The New York Times. She is an award-winning writer and designer who covers lifestyle, real estate, architecture and interiors for James Lane Post. Wenzel is also a co-founder of the meditation app for kids, DreamyKid, and the social media agency, TWM Hamptons Social Media.