The Roanoker - May/June 2014 - 93

Click for a Travel Channel video featuring
John Davis' teardrop woody trailer, or visit
TheRoanoker.com/Spaces

John Davis's "tailgater" unit, designed by Brad Ford I.D., of
New York, appeared in a Nieman-Marcus catalog.

JOHN DAVIS' SILVER TEARS CAMPERS BEGAN
five years ago when his wife, The Roanoke Times photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis, and their children Wyeth
and Aria grew tired of tent camping. Davis researched
alternatives and learned the teardrops that were popular
in the 1940s had been phased out. Inspired by older cars,
he built a camper in a Woodie design (using mahogany
on the exterior) and then sold it to Orvis. Davis's camper
designs have now starred at some of the fanciest trade
shows - including at an Architectural Digest event where
Oprah Winfrey sat and visited. For a Garden & Gun
display, Davis turned a camper into a custom dog kennel
complete with a shotgun rack - and sold the prototype
THE

R OANOKER.COM

Inspired by older cars, Davis built
a camper in a Woodie
design and then sold it to Orvis.
His campers have now starred at
fancy trade shows.
during the show. Another of his designs was selected
among the best "South-centric" creations at the same
show.
Davis's latest effort with the campers has been to
build them to a lighter weight, so they can be towed by
the smallest of vehicles. Orders continue to come in for
custom designs, such as turning a 31-foot trailer into a
traveling leather goods shop for Moore & Giles of Forest, and building a hit-the-road headquarters camper
for two chefs who want to travel but will run their restaurants using iPads on the road. The camper for the
chefs includes special storage for knives and iPads in
the food preparation area, which is located on the rear
of the campers. More recently, Davis developed a theme
camper for another Roanoke company, Black Dog Salvage, which will be featured in Black Dog's appearances
on DIY Network.
Davis has successfully maneuvered through the
world of furniture making and general design since
1989 by changing with the market. He first operated
an antiques store and established a reputation as a fine
furniture maker. His latest turn in business takes his
talents to building vintage small campers and running
Roanoke Airsoft, a shop featuring the pellet guns and
paraphernalia.
The businesses operate from a series of buildings in
the Roanoke Industrial Center at Ninth Street and Riverland Road in southeast Roanoke.
In his companies, Davis has been able to "be a little
artsy," which satisfies that side of his personality. He still
gets to do fine furniture designs in commissioned work.
A recent client had him convert a piano cabinet into a
china cabinet.
"We go where we have to go," Davis says. He and
his staff - generally five people including Tom Ayres,
who has been with him from the beginning - currently
work with a North Carolina speaker manufacturer to
design cabinetry for speakers. The market is seeing a
trend towards making technology more attractive, Davis
points out.
Along the way, there have been designs that faded
away with changing markets or became so popular many
manufacturers began making them. These include a coffee table made from factory carts.
Before William Alan Furniture of High Point, N.C.,
MAY/JUNE 2014

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The Roanoker - May/June 2014

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