About Erik Organic

Erik Organic is dedicated to providing high quality home furnishings that are designed to last, contribute to a healthy and safe home, and sustainably support the rural Midwestern communities where the pieces are made.

We specialize in modern hardwood designs with clean simple lines such as Mission, Prairie, Green & Green, Arts & Crafts and Shaker. Most of our pieces are custom-designed by Robert, Erik and the individual Amish craftsmen that we partner with.

W8432 Webb Creek Drive -- Trego, WI 54888 -- 715-466-4360.

High Quality Home Furnishings

Most of the furniture available today is created entirely with laminates, pressed boards, plywood, and other engineered 'wood'. This artificial wood furniture is impossible to repair, as the outer laminate layer is a manufactured material.

Our furniture is made from solid hardwoods, joined together with strong Amish wood joints and high quality hardware. All pieces are made individually by hand.

This is no simple marketing assertion. We offer very detailed product descriptions and photographs of our furniture (just browse around our website), lots of photographs, and our 100% satisfaction guarantee.

A Safe and Healthy Home

Erik Schimek, the founder of Erik Organic, became very ill due to solvent exposure several years ago. This made him acutely aware of hidden toxins in the home which served to retard his healing.

We offer solid hardwood furniture, organic cotton and wool mattresses (which are naturally fire-proof and do not require added flame retardants), safer wood finishes (all natural oil & wax, and a variety of water-based varnishes), and other accessories (like air filters) to make your home safe for you and your family.

Sustainability

We offer heirloom quality furniture that is designed to outlast the owner. Much of the furniture available today is created with 'fake' woods that last only 5-10 years. Assuring the planned obsolescence of your furniture may be a good way to make money, but it leads to the accelerated depletion of our forests.

The hardwoods used in our furniture are locally grown and harvested in the upper Midwest. Most of the wood used in our furniture does not travel more than 100 miles from cutting, then to the sawmill, and finally to the Amish workshop. Almost all of the businesses involved are small, family-owned operations. Therefore, your purchase of furniture from Erik Organic helps to directly support the rural Midwestern economy.

All of our furniture is created to last for generations if cared for properly, which is longer than the time it takes for the renewable resource (hardwoods) to regrow. In addition -- much of the wood used in our furniture is certified origin, meaning that it is guaranteed to be replanted at the same (or greater) rate than it is harvested. As we work with Amish craftsmen in small workshops throughout the upper Midwest, and most of the wood is harvested locally, certified origin wood is not available in all locations. We stress the importance of certified origin woods with our Amish partners, and will continue to do so until we achieve 100% compliance with the certified origin wood standard.

Our History

Erik Organic is owned and operated by Erik Schimek and Robert Schmid.

Our company was founded in 2007 as in order to provide safe, high quality home furnishing options. The initial focus has been on the two most important rooms in the home: the bedroom and the baby's room. This is important because a safe, nontoxic sleeping environment allows the body to heal.

The other conception for Erik Organic is that we believe that it is possible for two environmental activists to run a business successfully and ethically. We strongly believe that a business must uphold its end of the social contract by being responsible to its customers, to the land, and to the community at large.

Although we live in different states now (rural Wisconsin and rural Texas, respectively), we were both born and raised in southern Minnesota. We were both reared on Midwestern values that stress the importance of doing right by other people.

Erik Schimek

Erik has been offering custom home improvement products through the Internet for nearly a decade, including custom countertops and cabinetry, cedar chests and dining room tables.

Erik's has a diverse educational background, focused primarily on the social sciences. He graduated from an alternative high school in South Saint Paul, where he returned to teach technology classes and assist in the writing of a successful grant to fund transformation of the school towards student-centered learning. Erik earned a BA in History from Hamline University, where he won several prestigious writing awards. He is (slowly) working on completion of his masters degree in public administration. Along the way he has been active in politics with the Green Party of Minnesota, writing on issues of toxicity and climate change, and has done more than his fair share of gardening.

He began working with Minnesota's Amish community in 2001, helping to provide work (directly and indirectly) for independent craftsmen, small delivery companies, local sawmills, and landowners with stands of beautiful hardwoods. Although not formally trained in web design or product development, he had the benefit of being a voracious reader and an unrepentant computer geek. Erik learned to put pen to paper (figuratively speaking) and create a very detailed website. This has resulted in a design philosophy that respects the customer and their desire for copious details about every product.

Robert Schmid

What do you get when you mix together a physicist, a lawyer, a political activist, a computer programmer and environmentalist? You get Robert Schmid. Robert supports Erik Organic's business infrastructure and provides advanced technology support.

Robert received a BS in astrophysics in 1990 from the University of MN and JD in 1996 from William Mitchell College of Law. Since obtaining his license to practice he has managed an internet service provider, run a law office, developed medical software for donor tissue matching and spent a lot of volunteer time supporting Last Chance Forever (the Bird of Prey Conservancy).