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Created by one set of hands. Inspired by nature. Made to become memories.
Created by one set of hands. Inspired by nature. Made to become memories.
Every piece has a story. And every story deserves to be remembered.
At Schmertz Woodworkz, Bert Woodburn creates one-of-a-kind furniture, sculpture, décor, and functional art from carefully hand-selected materials. Each piece is personally designed and crafted by Bert, allowing the natural character of the wood to guide the finished work.
But the goal is bigger than creating something beautiful.
Bert creates pieces meant to become part of your story—a table where family gathers, a chair that reminds you of someone special, a cutting board connected to generations of meals, or a sculpture that becomes the conversation piece everyone remembers.
Made by one set of hands. Inspired by one-of-a-kind materials. Created to become part of your story.
Every piece is heat-branded and/or hand-signed by Bert, making it more than something you own.
It becomes something you remember.
Delbert “Bert” Woodburn creates one-of-a-kind sculptures, furniture, and functional works from wood and steel under the name Schmertz Woodworkz.
The name Schmertz has a simple and personal beginning. It comes from a nickname Bert’s father has used for him—a small piece of family history that eventually became the name attached to his creative work. In many ways, that connection is fitting, because family, memories, and the passage of time are at the heart of everything Bert creates.
Schmertz Woodworkz is intentionally a one-person studio. Bert personally selects the materials, develops the design, shapes and builds each piece, applies the finish, and performs the final inspection. There are no production employees or outside fabricators. From the first cut to the final finish, each piece passes through Bert’s hands. Every completed work is individually heat-branded and/or hand-signed, making each creation uniquely his own.
A Craftsmanship That Began Young
Bert’s relationship with wood and steel began as a child. By the age of twelve, his craftsmanship was advanced enough that a handcrafted piece he entered in the Dade County Youth Fair was initially questioned by fair officials. They believed he had reworked a commercially manufactured item and removed it from eligibility.
When Bert returned to collect his piece at the end of the fair, he was told that, had officials known it was entirely original and made by him, he would have won Best in Show.
For a young craftsman, the experience was frustrating. Although the recognition came too late to change the outcome, the incident demonstrated the level of craftsmanship Bert had already developed at an early age. He eventually stepped away from creating altogether and spent many years pursuing other parts of life.
Finding His Way Back to Creating
Years later, during a difficult period involving a significant health challenge, Bert began creating again. What started as a return to woodworking became something much more meaningful.
Working with his hands gave Bert a way to refocus on the good things in life, reconnect with creativity, and appreciate the value of time, family, and memories. That experience became the foundation of his philosophy today.
Made to Become Memories
Bert believes the best things we create should last in two ways: physically and emotionally.
A well-made piece of furniture can survive for generations, but its real value can become something much greater. A chair can recall the people who sat in it and the stories or jokes they told. A table can bring back shared meals, conversations, holidays, and celebrations. A cutting board can become part of the traditions and stories created in a family kitchen.
The goal isn’t simply to make something that looks beautiful. The goal is to make something that eventually means something.
Bert’s furniture and household pieces are therefore designed as heirlooms. He wants each piece to become part of someone’s life—to be used, touched, gathered around, and eventually passed from one generation to the next.
When Nature Becomes the Art
Bert’s sculptures and wall art begin with a different relationship to the material.
He hand-selects exceptional woods from mills throughout the United States, searching for pieces with unusual grain, figure, color, movement, knots, cracks, and other natural characteristics. His materials include walnut, maple, spalted and curly maple, Bubinga, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Canarywood, and Katalox. Some of these woods are remarkable even before they are shaped.
Rather than imposing the same design on every piece, Bert studies what the wood is telling him. He allows its natural character to influence the form, using various techniques to reveal and enhance qualities that were created by nature long before the piece ever reached his workshop.
In these works, Bert sees himself less as someone who creates the beauty and more as someone who discovers and reveals it.
Every piece of wood comes from a once-living tree with its own history. No two pieces are exactly alike, and no two finished works can ever be precisely duplicated. The resulting sculpture is a collaboration between Mother Nature and the artist—one in which the natural character of the material remains an essential part of the finished work.
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