Founded more than 20 years ago by Robert Cagnetta, Heritage Restoration Inc. has played a part in some of the major restoration projects across Rhode Island, including the 1723 Phillip Walker House, the Valentine Whitman House and many others.
To finish the antique wood found on the floors, staircases and bedrooms of these homes, Cagnetta has relied on a specific clear coat finish from Sutherland Welles, a Vermont-based company, for more than a decade.
So, when Cagnetta heard that the company’s owner may be retiring, he saw an opportunity. Cagnetta and his wife Mara are the new owners of Sutherland Welles and recently moved the company to Rhode Island.
Cagnetta has been using Sutherland Welles’ finishes for more than 16 years after searching for a clear coat alternative to polyurethane and linseed oils, which can yellow, mold and contain a lot of toxic ingredients. After a flooring contractor introduced him to Sutherland Welles’ polymerized tung oil products, he quickly became a convert, using the finishes exclusively at his company, according to Mara, who is the new president of Sutherland Welles.
“Rob developed a relationship with the owner Mary Goderwis over the years, and Mary was vacationing in RI and invited Rob and myself to dinner where she mentioned that she was getting ready to retire and wanted to sell the business to her employees. Rob told her that if that did not work out, he would be interested,” she said.
Over the last year, the Cagnettas have relocated the company from North Hyde Park, Vermont to Providence, Rhode Island. Sutherland Welles was founded by Frank Sutherland Welles in 1965, a wood finisher and visual artist, as a result of seeking an environmentally friendly replacement finish for a French polish.
Tung oil is extracted from the nuts of tung trees, which are native to China, and were a significant U.S. crop until World War II. The oil has been used for centuries to preserve and finish wood, metal and paper. Some of the Sutherland Welles lines are Greenguard certified, and all of the finishes are made with the highest quality tung oil and the lowest toxicity ingredients, Cagnetta said.
“The process of making our finishes is fairly straightforward, where most are crafted and batched by hand, so there was not a lot of machinery,” Mara said. “We had space inside of Heritage Restoration to store and mix while we were waiting for our production space to be ready, which required some engineering and construction to set up the space right.”
Sutherland Welles sells direct to consumers through their website and currently has clientele in all 50 states and Canada. Mara said the company also has private labeling agreements for some of our products, as well as very loyal and ardent customers.
“We also work with a handful of small independent retailers throughout the country, where we are looking to expand into the boating industry. So far business has been good,” she said. “We have been taking and shipping orders from our new home since we moved in January 2022, using a bit of finished product we acquired from the sale. Production began once we executed the plans from the engineers and architects. We currently are producing and shipping exclusively out of our Providence location.”
Cagnetta said that like Heritage Restoration, Sutherland Welles will continue to be a family business, but growth is on the horizon.
“We had some very savvy business people in our family who helped us finance the purchase of Sutherland Welles. At this time, we are not raising funds, but do foresee the need in the near future,” she said.
