Doug Gerwig on coming home to family and food in West Virginia.
written by TARA WINE-QUEEN
Woodworker, entrepreneur, and Braxton County native Doug Gerwig isn’t afraid to take chances, and sometimes, it pays off big. When a couldn’t-pass-up job offer came to his chef wife, they took the leap and moved out to Arizona. They made a life in North Scottsdale they were proud of, finding success in business and eventually giving birth to two children. As the years passed, though, travel became more difficult for the Gerwigs’ aging parents, so the family made West Virginia their home once more.
G2 Handwerker Designs, Gerwig’s handmade furniture and woodworking business, has become known through its relationship with the popular HGTV show Property Brothers—the result of a chance Gerwig took. “We were sitting around one evening watching TV, and I asked, ‘How cool would it be to be on Property Brothers?’” He found contact information for the WVScott Brothers Entertainment team and shot them an email offering to supply his handcrafted items for their show. They responded immediately and soon accepted his proposal of partnership. He’s since supplied pieces for four seasons of the show and become a juried artist at Tamarack, all while raising a family and traveling the country roads he grew up on.
How do you view or experience West Virginia differently having left and returned?
DG: Whenever we moved back, it was kind of tough—it took a little bit to get into a groove where we could build friendships. Things were so much different than what we were used to. We lived in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country when we were in Arizona, so that was a shift, because we went from having that to having nothing nearby and having to drive to get anywhere.
What’s special about this state?
DG: The people. Once you get settled in and get people to open up, there’s a ton of wonderful people. With my furniture company, we travel the state a lot. Pretty much every weekend we’re somewhere, and it doesn’t matter where you go in the state, you can pop into a gas station, ask where you should eat around there, and a half a dozen people will turn around and try to help you out.
One of the designers we work with out of New York City wanted to come down and visit for a couple of days. He stayed three days and wished he could’ve stayed a week! He absolutely fell in love with the area and has been back a few times to visit. We took him out to the New River Gorge and let him see that, down to Babcock—places we thought would be cool—and every place that we went in, everybody he had an interaction with was nice, and he just went on and on to us about how everybody spoke to you and how you don’t have that in NYC.
What would you say to someone curious about what West Virginia has to offer?
DG: The food! With my wife being a chef, and I hate to say it, but we’ve become food snobs over the years. We love finding great food, and we love to support local restaurants. We’re always somewhere doing something, and we have a rule when we’re traveling that we do not eat at places that we have at home where we live. We love seeking out little mom-and-pop shops that do not let you down. One of our favorite places is Dean’s Den in Frost. It looks like it’s in an old, abandoned gas station, but I’m telling you what, the food that comes out of that place rivals some five-star restaurants in this country. It’s worth the drive.
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM WV LIVING’S WINTER 2023 ISSUE
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