Sisters are doin' it by themselves at Bitters Co.

MOUNT VERNON — In a previous life, the wood planks in Amy Carson's workshop were part of a schoolhouse, a warehouse and a few pickle barrels.

But in Carson's Skagit Valley barn, the boards that once housed students, stored hops and pickled cucumbers are taking on new duties. They will become stools in bustling kitchens, lamps in hallways and tables that hide children beneath their metal legs.

Finding new life in old or traditional items is the backbone of Bitters Co., the business Carson runs with her sister, Katie Carson, in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.

Bitters, which they opened in 1993, features a variety of worldly wares, from dishes and textiles they found in Mexico, Guatemala and Indonesia to good luck charms from Chile, cork bowls from Portugal and the furniture that Amy Carson designs and builds herself.

Some wares the sisters sell in their original forms, some they ask artisans overseas to re-create using the Carsons' own designs and some they reinvent themselves at the farm.

Bitters carries beautiful decorative items like vivid blue Portuguese serving platters ($20-$60), mats made from scrap flip-flops (rug, $75), stoneware guinea fowl ($100-$150) and chanchitos or good luck pigs from Chile ($3.50).

Bitters also sells jewelry, mirrors and greeting cards.

Other unique finds: Mexican fish traps that now serve as lampshades ($240 for the lamp), plumbing pipes that have become candle holders ($180 for a set of three) and orchid pots inverted to become pendant lamps ($48).

A dining table made of reclaimed Douglas fir, designed and built by Amy Carson ($2,000), is covered with dishes and knickknacks from around the world, all tagged with explanations about where the objects came from.

The Carsons' design inspiration comes from pieces they see on their travels and from the craftsmen they meet along the way.

John Lok

Chanchitos, from Chile. The "small pigs," with 3 legs, are given as a good luck charm - $3.50 each.

"There's this bent to not just be retail for retail's sake," Katie Carson said. "It has an educational aspect to it. It has stories. There's unusual materials that come from unusual places."

Design duo

The company meshes the sisters' skills, grounded in Katie Carson's background in cultural anthropology and experience in the importing business, and Amy Carson's studies in painting, architecture, photography and furniture design.

"Both of us wanted a store," Amy Carson said. "I always wanted to create something."

Katie Carson, 41, and Amy Carson, 43, modeled Bitters — their mother's maiden name — on a business in Los Angeles that combined an art gallery, gift shop and omelet shop. Though Bitters initially had a wine bar, the store is now a gem for gifts, and many pieces in the marketplacelike store would be at home in a gallery.

Amy Carson, who studied furniture making at the Rhode Island School of Design, started making tables of reclaimed wood for Bitters in 1997.

In 2000, they expanded into a wholesale business. They sell their wares, including furniture and accessories they design such as lamps, cork bins and painted gourd bowls, to stores like Dean & Deluca in New York and wineries in Napa Valley, Calif.

Their clean designs are rooted in what they see in other countries. For example, Amy Carson's dining table, which can be purchased at the store or custom ordered, includes architectural elements seen in Japanese design and butterfly joints used in Indonesian woodworking. She's also influenced by Argentinean, African and Guatemalan furniture design.

Carson's other designs include stools ($175-$275), folding tables ($240-$280), hall and side tables ($395) and a coffee table ($480), all made from reclaimed wood. "I've always been intrigued by something that's part of the natural landscape that has been transformed," she said. "Everything I love is really more the primitive."

Amy Carson mostly works with wood and metal, and she tends to stick to simple, sturdy designs, shying away from "fussy" details like dovetails. For example, many of her tables feature a thick rectangular wood slab floating on a metal frame.

For her, furniture making is about creating something new from a piece with a history and preserving that story.

"The tabletop or piece of wood has a life to it," she said. "You want to make sure what you make of it doesn't distract from (the original life)."

The Carsons also work with clients on custom orders, whether they want a different size dining table or a completely new design. (Custom orders generally take about eight weeks, and prices vary depending on the item ordered.)

Globe-trotting

In addition to twice-yearly trips to trade shows, they travel abroad two times a year.

Amy Carson's workshop collection includes such finds as a doughnut-shaped rat guard used in the Philippines to protect elevated homes. She's unsure what to do with it, but knows it will become part of a one-of-a-kind piece at the store eventually. Other items, like hand-painted bird pottery from Mexico, won't be available again once they sell out at the store.

John Lok

Overall view of interior of Bitters Co. in Fremont.

Besides serving as the gallery for their worldly finds and Amy Carson's rustic, yet elegant furniture, the store allows the sisters to stay connected.

While they design many pieces together, Katie Carson, who had her first baby last week, lives in Seattle and runs the retail side. Amy Carson lived in Spokane until they bought the Skagit Valley farm a year and a half ago, where she now lives and works.

Despite the physical distance between their homes, the sisters are so close in other ways that they could communicate without speaking, Amy Carson said. Friends call them "Sister Double Happiness."

"It's amazing," Amy Carson said. "It's easy. It's a gift."