Keith Gorges and Kurt and Eric Faust, owners of Southwest Spanish Craftsmen, are determined to save a business whose roots extend to the 1600s and whose traditional designs and construction are associated with the birth of "Santa Fe style" in the early 20th century.

Kurt Faust and Gorges said that a perfect storm of harsh, unrelenting economic realities, including fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the recession and free-trade agreements, are forcing the sale — or if that fails, the closure — of Spanish Craftsmen, founded by R.H. Welton in 1927.

The only way they can envision saving the custom, handcrafted-furniture firm is by turning it over to someone who can develop a creative marketing strategy in a moribund 21st-century economy for a company whose wood craftsmen still use 16th-century tools.

"I feel like we owe it to the community and the great craftsmen and carpinteros" whose work dates back to the original Spanish settlement of New Mexico, said Kurt Faust.

He cited a book, New Mexican Furniture — 1600 to 1940 by Lonn Taylor and Dessa Bokides published by the Museum of New Mexico Press, that notes the arrival of carpinteros, the predecessors of Spanish Craftsmen's 10 current wood carvers, who arrived in New Mexico with Juan de Oñate and his wagon train of soldiers and settlers.

They brought with them such 16th-century carpentry tools as axes, saws and an assortment of chisels, augers and adzes, which with their curved blades could shape the wood.

Using those rudimentary tools, those first carpinteros and those who followed them built New Mexico's first churches, government buildings and homes, as well as the furniture in them. Later, they used Native American artists and craftsmen who fused Indian motifs with the European designs.

At the company's 8,000 square-foot woodworking shop in Pacheco Park, which the three own, Rick Lujan, who said he's been with the company more years than he can remember, was planing a piece for a headboard; Gene Brown was chiseling a length of alderwood for the front of an Andalusian easy chair, the likes of which may sell for $3,000 or more.

"Our furniture is expensive," said Gorges. "Other retailers might sell a piece for what it cost us in materials alone."

Most sales have been to those with deep pockets, such as hotels, some churches or well-heeled individuals, including movie stars. However, Gorges noted the sale of an expensive piece to a teacher who had saved up for years to buy it.

He also noted that his craftsmen use tools, including polished rocks to burnish a fine finish, that have long been outdated.

Gorges pointed out mortise machines from Germany that were manufactured in the late 1960s or early '70s.

"They don't make them anymore," he said. "You just have to keep them running."

Gorges hopes to sell the company in a way that preserves its historic context and at the same time contributes to the community.

"I think somebody may have an expertise in marketing that we don't have ... somebody who can do something good for the community."

The sale would also include the designs, furniture and tools formerly associated with Taos Furniture, which Faust and Gorges bought in 2000.

Two years ago, after buying Southwest Spanish Craftsman from Roger Nussbaumer, the three combined the two companies under the Southwest name, keeping the Taos Furniture store at 217 Galisteo St. as the showroom.

The Fausts and Gorges also own the custom home-building firm of Tierra Concepts.

Of Spanish Craftsmen, Kurt Faust said, "It's been a modest and good business. It's been a labor of love, not finance."

Any profits, he said, have been put back into the business.

Gorges said they are making their desire for a sale public "in the hopes that the community will get involved in helping to find the right candidate ... the appropriate steward for this business."