Madison Flitch

Madison Flitch is a Crossroads “tree-to-table” furniture and wood-art studio founded by KC native John Pryor in 2016, crafting heirloom-quality tables, sculptural furniture, and wall art from trees salvaged from around Kansas City. Every piece carries the story of the local tree it came from, and Pryor builds using joinery techniques that never rely on screws or bolts. The studio shares its 501 E 16th St workshop and ownership with the sister leather brand madison-stitch.

Description

Madison Flitch is an artisan furniture and wood-art studio in Kansas City’s East Crossroads Arts District. The studio designs and builds heirloom-quality tables, sculptural furniture, wall art, and “in-the-round” pieces from wood — often combined with leather and metal — sourced from trees salvaged in and around Kansas City.¹² Owner-designer John Pryor describes the approach as a “tree-to-table” model, riffing on the farm-to-table movement: the studio partners with local tree-service vendors to recover urban trees that would otherwise be discarded, on the principle that trees grown in open urban settings yield more characterful wood than managed timber forests.³⁴ Every design is original to Madison Flitch, and each finished piece is tied to the story of the specific tree it came from — one featured desk, for example, was milled from a roughly 200-year-old walnut that grew near the Missouri River’s Weston bend.⁴ Pryor builds with traditional joinery learned at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking and reportedly uses no screws or bolts.³⁴ The showroom is open weekdays and welcomes appointments and studio tours.¹⁵

Ownership and history

Madison Flitch is owned by John Pryor, a Kansas City native who grew up in the metro, graduated from Kansas State University, and moved to the Boston area in 2002 for graduate school before working several years in the corporate world.⁴ Drawn back by the revitalization underway in downtown Kansas City, Pryor and his wife returned home, and he founded Madison Flitch in 2016 — naming it for his family (“Madison”) and the old-English woodworking term for a slab of timber cut from a log (“flitch”).³⁴ The studio occupies a circa-1920 industrial building at 501 E 16th St that was formerly used for sign manufacturing, which Pryor positioned as an artistic anchor for the East Crossroads, calling the area “the beach head for downtown.”⁴

During the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020, Pryor pivoted the Madison Flitch studio to mask production — recruiting and connecting with hand-stitchers across the city, including refugee artisans — and reportedly produced thousands of masks.⁶ That effort grew into the sister leather-goods brand madison-stitch, which shares Madison Flitch’s ownership and Crossroads workshop at 501 E 16th St.⁶⁷ Pryor has publicly advocated for preserving the Crossroads’ artist-and-maker character amid downtown development pressures.⁷

Links

• Official site: https://www.madisonflitch.com/
• Shop: https://www.madisonflitch.com/shop
• Contact: https://www.madisonflitch.com/contact
• Sister brand: madison-stitch — https://www.madisonstitch.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madisonflitch/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madisonflitch/

Sources

Disputes

None at this time.

Footnotes

1. https://www.madisonflitch.com/ — asserts: business name Madison Flitch; located at 501 E 16th Street, Kansas City, MO; heirloom-quality furniture and wood art from urban trees; sculptural furniture, wall art, and in-the-round pieces in wood, leather, and metal; active operations, internship program, showroom in the heart of the Crossroads. ↩ ↩²

2. https://kccrossroads.org/explore/furniture/ — asserts: Madison Flitch listed as an active artisan furniture/wood-art member of the Crossroads Arts District. ↩

3. https://flatlandkc.org/news-issues/madison-flitch-brings-tree-to-table-style-to-crossroads/ — asserts: owner John Pryor; founded Madison Flitch on a “tree-to-table” model; “Madison” from family, “Flitch” from old-English for a wood slab; original designs; joinery learned at Marc Adams School of Woodworking with no screws/bolts; Pryor a KC native who returned from the Boston area. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. https://www.startlandnews.com/2017/02/listen-madison-flitch-founder-carves-furniture-firm-kc-stories-engrained/ — asserts: John Pryor founded Madison Flitch (2016); grew up in KC, graduated Kansas State, moved to Massachusetts in 2002, returned to KC for downtown revival; urban tree-service sourcing; ~200-year-old walnut from near the Missouri River’s Weston bend; circa-1920 building formerly used for sign manufacturing; “beach head for downtown.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. https://www.madisonflitch.com/contact — asserts: address 501 E 16th Street, Kansas City, MO; showroom open M–F 10am–5pm; contact service@madisonflitch.com and john@madisonflitch.com (John Pryor, Owner/Designer); appointments and studio tours available. ↩

6. https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2020-07-10/how-a-kansas-city-furniture-maker-recruited-refugees-to-make-thousands-of-masks — asserts: Madison Flitch founder John Pryor pivoted his furniture studio to produce thousands of masks during COVID, recruiting refugee and local stitchers — the effort that seeded the Madison Stitch leather brand. ↩ ↩²

7. https://www.kcur.org/housing-development-section/2024-02-19/kansas-city-royals-stadium-crossroads-business-community-benefits-agreement — asserts: John Pryor owns a Crossroads maker business near the proposed stadium site and advocates preserving the arts district’s maker character. ↩ ↩²