Our Story
Born in the Southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, Maria Yee grew up dreaming of studying physics and the home and furniture she would have. Little did she know she would become an eco-design pioneer and established her namesake furniture company in Scotts Valley, California in 1988.
Her design journey began in the early 1980s in Beijing. Maria studied classical Chinese joinery with a master craftsman who restored furniture for the Forbidden City. Throughout the exploration of antique furniture, she was amazed by the creativity and the craftsmanship of solid hardwood joinery. The three-dimensional interlocking techniques would enable architecture with wooden structures lasting for thousands of years.
Through her visits to museums and treasured collections Maria fell in love with the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) elegant and timeless furniture art forms. She was proud of what the old masters had achieved.
After moving to California in 1988, Maria decided to introduce antique reproduction furniture from a small Beijing workshop to the US.
Her first customer was Gump’s San Francisco. Founded by Gertrude Gump and her husband in 1861, it attracted the attention of the then newly minted millionaires from the 1849 California Gold Rush. Gump’s proffered old-world artifacts with exotic and new world designs.
Simultaneously Maria started to modernize the Ming designs to complement the California contemporary life styles. Her comfortable, ergonomic furniture became sought after items not just in San Francisco, but throughout the US and Canada.
Over the course of 3 decades, she would operate her own factories and nurture her own design studio. Her tables and chairs would become best sellers, be they handcrafted in solid hardwood, BambooTimbre™ – the first industrial strength furniture grade bamboo, or the state-of-the-art steel and leather.
In 2006, she successfully introduced a large BambooTimbre™ furniture collection to the North American market. She was also among the first to offer rich and beautiful water-based finishes in 2008.
Maria’s commitments to the environment and society propel her pioneering efforts to certify her companies in China and the US, thus for the FSC® Chain of Custody in 2008, ISO 9001 in 2008, ISO 14001 in 2010, and SA8000® in 2018.