Host & Toast

host & toast, co-founded by husband and wife creative entrepreneurs, is both an online brand and an independent design and woodworking studio in Atlanta, Georgia, collaborating with customers both locally and around the world. Both self-taught, David and Carlen explore the dichotomy between time-honored woodworking techniques and cutting-edge design in their self-coined “Relaxed Minimal” aesthetic

and lifestyle. At host & toast, our mission is to design and build high quality pieces with aesthetic, conscious consumerism, and quality as the heart of our brand. Trends will come and go, but timeless pieces designed and manufactured with thought, care, and precision will withstand the test of time. We currently predominantly design and produce smaller scale items to ship globally, but as we grow, our vision is to expand into larger scale furniture pieces that can be passed down for generations. We desire to offer a full line of high-quality household pieces that focus on the importance of buying once. We believe that timeless design focuses on simplicity and highlights the beauty found in nature. To fully capture and describe our aesthetic, we’ve coined the phrase Relaxed Minimalism, which marries organic textures and materials with the clean lines found in traditional minimalism. We consider it our job as designers to ensure the natural materials we use have a voice and enhance their movement and texture, resulting in one-of-a-kind pieces where no two items are exactly alike. We believe in the power and freedom of “buying once,” which means investing in timeless pieces that will last for years to come. Many equate sustainability with green or biodegradable materials. While that is an important factor in protecting our planet, we seek to encourage conscious consumerism, where buyers are mindful and thoughtful about the products they invest in, resulting in less waste overall. To learn more about the movement behind conscious consumerism, you can find several great articles here. We believe in designing items with function and durability as a top priority, which is influenced by each stage in the design and building process. We’ve not only devoted countless hours to learn and experiment with new methods to increase quality in our construction, but we’ve also invested in top of the line tools to ensure that we provide the best for our clients. We oversee each piece as it is made and shipped out of our studio, and you can find out more about who is making your items on our website.