Five vans a year, each one built like a small house.
A design studio in an old sail loft on the Port Townsend waterfront. Oiled oak, wool, linen and brass, fitted into a new Sprinter by three people.
From $142,000
Van included. Eleven months from deposit to keys.
Ask for a first design meeting
I drew houses for eleven years before I drew a van. I still draw them the same way.
A van is about sixty square feet. That is a small kitchen, and nobody would accept a kitchen made of laminate and carpet glue at this price. So we build the way a good joiner fits out a house: solid wood, natural fibres, hardware you will want to touch in twenty years.
We finish five vans a year because that is what three people can do properly. Forty-one so far, since 2017, and we still know every owner by name.
Signe Aurell, founder
Walk through the van, from the cab to the back doors.
This is the layout most of our owners start from. Choose a part of the plan to see it finished and read exactly what it is made of.
Sprinter 170 extended, seen from above. Driver side at the top. Not to scale.
Galley
58 inch counter
Along the passenger side, facing the sliding door, so whoever cooks can see out. Two induction rings, a deep stoneware sink and a drawer fridge low enough that the counter stays clear.
- Wood
- Solid white oak counter, glued up from boards we choose together
- Fabric
- Washed linen curtain across the open shelves
- Hardware
- Unlacquered brass pulls and a brass rail for the knives
- Finish
- Food-safe oil on the counter, re-oiled at every service
Oak, wool, linen and brass. Nothing in the van is plastic you can see.
White oak
Quarter-sawn, so it stays flat through a summer in the desert and a winter on the coast. We buy it green, stack it in the loft rafters for two years, and every van gets boards from one tree where we can manage it.
Wool
In the walls as insulation, on the seats as boiled wool, on the bed as a blanket. It holds warmth, it handles damp, and it does not smell of anything after a week of wet dogs.
Linen
Washed linen for curtains, shelf covers and bedding. It softens every time it is washed and it dries overnight hanging in the van.
Brass
Solid and unlacquered, turned by a machinist two streets from the loft. It will darken where your hands touch it, which is the point.
Eleven months, from the first drawing to the keys.
Weeks 1 to 3
Two design meetings, before any deposit
The first is about how you travel: who, where, for how long, and what you will not give up. The second is a drawn layout and a box of samples. If it is not right, you owe us nothing.
Month 1
Deposit, and the Sprinter is ordered
We order a new Sprinter 170 in your colour and hold your place in the year. You choose your oak boards the next time you are in town, or on a video call from the rack.
Months 2 to 7
Drawings, and your van waiting its turn
Full joinery drawings, the electrical plan and the upholstery cut list. Samples come to you by post. Nothing is cut until you have signed every drawing.
Months 8 to 11
Sixteen weeks in the loft
Insulation, the power system, then the joinery, the plaster and the upholstery. You get photographs every Friday and are welcome to visit any Thursday.
Handover
Two days, and the first night in the van
A day going through every system with Ansel, a night parked on the bluff above town, and a morning with coffee to write down everything you want changed.
The last five vans, and where they live now.
Same Sprinter, same four materials, five different floor plans. The layout above is where a conversation starts, not where it has to end.
| Van | Built for | What changed | Lives in | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 41 | A potter and her whippet | Wet bath, a wheel bench in the garage | Taos, New Mexico | 2026 |
| No. 40 | Two retired teachers | Twin beds that make a king | Bozeman, Montana | 2026 |
| No. 39 | A cellist on tour | A padded cello locker where the bath would go | Asheville, North Carolina | 2025 |
| No. 38 | A family of three | A child-size bunk over the cab | Bend, Oregon | 2025 |
| No. 37 | A photographer | A dark bench and blackout linen | Moab, Utah | 2025 |
Three people in a sail loft, and no production line.
The loft sits over the water on the Port Townsend waterfront. One van is inside at a time, with the next one waiting on the drawings pinned to the wall. Visits are by appointment, usually on a Thursday.
Signe Aurell
Design
Drew houses for an architect in Seattle for eleven years. Draws every van at the same scale she used for kitchens.
Ansel Coyne
Joinery and systems
A boatbuilder by training. Builds the cabinetry, wires the power and does every handover himself.
Clemence Farrant
Upholstery and textiles
Cuts and sews every cushion, curtain and blanket edge in the corner of the loft by the big window.
$142,000, with the van already in it.
Most of our owners have never bought a van before, so we buy it for them. The price below is for the layout on this page; a wet bath swapped for a cello locker costs about the same.
- From
- $142,000, including a new Sprinter 170
- Wait
- Eleven months from deposit to keys
- Before a deposit
- Two design meetings, at no cost
- Deposit
- $30,000, refundable until the first board is cut
- Power
- 600Ah lithium, 400W solar, 3,000W inverter, diesel heat
- Water
- 25 gallons fresh, inside the insulated floor
- Warranty
- Three years on the build, lifetime on the joinery
A letter from an owner
The brass has gone dark where we open the fridge drawer and the galley counter has a ring from my morning cup. After eighteen months it looks more like our kitchen at home than our kitchen at home does.
Start with a conversation about how you travel.
Tell us a little and Signe will write back within two working days to set up the first meeting, in the loft or on a video call. There is no deposit until after the second.
- Telephone
- (555) 014-0505
- The studio
- The old sail loft, Port Townsend waterfront, Washington
- Next open build
- Van No. 47, keys in August 2027