About Green Mountain Ski Furniture

- About Us -

- What We Do -

Green Mountain Ski Furniture is a small, creative, and environmentally aware company located in Waterbury, Vermont. Our business was born from the passion to reduce waste, while creating unique works of art that are functional, or what is now known as Upcycling (fancy!).

We are also passionate about design and quality construction; continually working to invent and design our upcycled ski creations to be the most comfortable and well-built ski chairs and ski furniture you will find anywhere!

We specialize in Adirondack ski chairs, benches, tables, racks, gift items, and will custom build just about anything you might want made from skis or snowboards, from birdhouses to bookcases and indoor or outdoor furniture of any kind. Due to the unique nature of our products, our focus has been on working with our individual customers to create one-of-a-kind designs to suit their needs and tastes.

Many of our customers choose to presonalize their items by including their own gear.

- Our Philosophy -

Ski White - Live Green
Gear technology changes fast, and that means more waste as you upgrade your outdated ski and snowboard gear, and that's a bummer!! By recycling your old skis and boards into functional art and giving a new life to your old gear, you are helping to decrease the waste stream by hundreds and hundreds of gear sets each year. We first learned about "ski waste" in Jackson, WY and were stunned to find out the amount of discarded and out-dated gear that gets landfilled each year. Through the repurposing of old gear we help to divert tons of ski waste each year.

Hand Crafted Quality
All of our upcycled ski furniture is constructed with unique combinations that are one of a kind, and built by hand here in Vermont. We pay extra attention to quality and detail and try and move away from novelty item to finely crafted item. Customers are continually commenting on how comfort and build quality exceed expectations. Design and detail are first and foremost in the process and we have come a long way from that first attempt.

Sustainable Small Business Practice

We are serious about being green! We use FSC certified cedar wood when we can get it. All materials used in construction are purchased locally, lots of shop supplies have come from reused and recycled materials, shipped items are often mailed in recycled bike boxes with recycled or bio-degradable packing supplies, many ski bindings are reused, and ALL scrap wood, paper, and metal is recycled.

Check the FAQ for more info

- A Short History -

2003

Mark built his first ski chair on San Juan Island, WA with some old junk he found at the local dump. It was big, it was heavy, it was clunky, it was uncomfortable, it was super cool! The idea was inspired after an earlier trip out west and discovering that ski-waste was a real thing. After a move back east, relocating to Vermont, and a change in employment, he was ready to dive in and see what happens when you try and start a niche business without any idea what you are really getting into!

2006

A For Lease sign was spotted in the front window of a slightly ramshackle old building in Essex Center, VT. It seemed perfect at the time and Green Mountain Ski Chair was born. Behind the building was a historic graveyard, but inside the building was where old skis went to die, we joked. Countless hours, late nights, 2 jobs, heavy design and development, endless ski collection, tons of creative energy, learning business basics on the fly, and handful of customers to boot!

2008

Deciding to take a chance on moving to a larger and a nice bright and sunny shop space, the business was moved to a new location at Evergreen Gardens in Waterbury Center in the spring. Right on Route 100 and in the shadow of Stowe, plus closer to home, it turned out to be a great decision. The product line expanded a bit with some cedar garden furniture and more additions to the ski furniture stock line up, and soon Mark began to focus on the business full time.

2022

After almost 3 years of planning and construction, injury and ailment, lumber shortages and the pandemic, the new shop is close enough to move into! Shifting into more of a focus on custom work largely with folks own skis and slowing down the pace a bit along with the sale of Evergreen Gardens, the new home-based shop made sense. Still not 100% finished and not as much storage space, but better work flow, close to home, and toasty warm with a wood stove. Now you can find Mark here, still at at... just off Route 100 near Cold Hollow Cider Mill, about 1 mile south of the old location, hours are by appointment or chance.

Mark Kulis - Owner, Builder, Designer

Mark has been building things for most of his life: from early projects of a vending machine made of cardboard, string, and copious amounts of tape in elementary school, to historic house renovations on the coast of Maine, and now to ski furniture. Mark enjoys the challenge of design and the satisfaction of construction, and has been professionally employed as a builder on and off again since 1998. His other passion is environmental science which he was awakened to in 1992, has studied since, and is the other driving force behind his work with the business. When he is not up to his neck in dust and skis in the shop, he can be found working on his house or someone else's, enjoying the outdoors, or spending time with his family.