Vintage founder David Daugherty has a knack for acknowledging such wills. Combined with his high energy, deep faith and persevering spirit, it's a trait that has kept him moving forward along a curvy career path that today finds him designing and manufacturing furniture, home accents, iron work and pottery in hand-finished Old World styling.

It's also resulted in some life-changing events.

Like the time Daugherty was driving down the road as a high school senior and got his first glimpse of a young girl identified by his fellow passenger as Tonya Moore. “She was driving north, I was driving south, our eyes met, and I went 'Wow!'” he said. “The guy in the car with me said 'she's way out of your league so don't even think about trying.'” This month David and Tonya will celebrate 21 years of marriage.

And the time, a few years later, when a chat with a co-worker at the University of Kentucky medical center motivated him to go into business for himself. Daugherty, who had recently graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in biology and chemistry, was finding his 40-hour-a-week job to be less than challenging. “The turning point was when I talked to an older guy who said his life hadn't gone the way he wanted it to. I thought, 'how you can get in a comfort zone where 25 years pass and you realize it's too late to do what you really wanted to do?'”

Daugherty began considering other lines of work and found a custom frame shop that was for sale. “We had no experience but with some creative financing, we bought the business.” Success followed with expansions to three locations, a strong designer business and a move into custom work and importing.

“We were selling anything and everything,” he said. “Then in about 1998 or '99, a sales rep friend of mine came in right after the October High Point Market, saw our big vases and said, 'that was one of the hottest things in High Point … and you're retailing them for less than they were selling at wholesale.'”

Thus willed to try his hand at wholesaling, Daugherty called Americasmart's Kathy Bovey and got on the showroom waiting list. In 2001, he got a call about two weeks before the July show and signed for 800 square feet on the 13th floor of Building 1. “The first show did pretty well but I had a lot to learn about packaging and shipping freight,” he said. A year later the Daughertys decided to sell the retail business and go into the wholesale business as Vintage Imports.

Today, 90% of Vintage's products are manufactured in Kentucky and the company has dropped “Imports” from its name.

“Several years ago we looked at China and decided against it,” Daugherty said. “Maybe it's the area I'm in, where labor and warehousing is a little cheaper, but my true cost per piece is actually less.” Keeping it local also gives him more control over what goes out. “I have the ability to change on a dime. The cost of steel has gone up 100% since Jan. 31, but wood is down from what it was, so I can switch my design focus from metal to more wood for a while.”

A few years ago, Daugherty's design talents were revealed when the purchase of a new welder for workshop repairs led to some experimenting. The result, a set of four wall sconces, has become one of the company's best sellers. Now he designs every Vintage piece and builds the first model of each by hand. “In order for me to teach someone how to make it, I have to know myself,” he said.

Daugherty cites his parents as his greatest source of inspiration. “My mother went back to college when I was in the 6th grade, took a full course load, ended up with a 4.0 GPA and a Masters in Art Education, and taught for 22 years.” Daugherty's father marked his 50th year in the ministry last year. “Being a pastor, he really taught me how to deal with others. You can't grow up a preacher's kid and not have a pretty good understanding of people. My mother taught me how to deal with myself.”

Lancaster, Ky., is the company's headquarters and home for the Daughertys and their three children. That he decided long ago to take responsibility for his own destiny may be why Daugherty now finds himself living in the comfort zone.

“If I succeed or fail it's because of me or my shortcomings; I can't blame anyone else,” he said. “You can't be afraid to try. I've certainly had my share of failures but I've learned more from them than my successes… I can fool anyone into thinking I know what I'm doing.”