A Family Legacy at the Heart of Prentis Collective

Welcome to the story of Prentis Collective, one that begins many years ago, not in a design studio or a wood shop, but in a small town that was the setting of a family newspaper. It’s a story of legacy, of craft passed down through generations, and of a deep-seated belief that making things properly, beautifully, and with purpose — still matters.

Inspired by my great-grandfather’s unwavering dedication to the art of printmaking, we’ve built something that feels both old and new: a design-build kitchen company grounded in tradition with a reverence for the art of making. At Prentis Collective, we believe kitchens are far more than functional spaces. They’re places to gather, to live, to feel something. Join us as we share our history, and the reason we do what we do. A quiet celebration of heritage, quality, and the enduring beauty of making something by hand.

A story of our heritage and the faces behind Prentis Collective.

There’s something quite unique about a business that starts not in conference rooms or branding meetings, but in something far simpler, the quiet rhythm of handwork, passed down through generations. For us at Prentis Collective, that beginning goes back to 1903, when a young boy named Louis Prentis Clapper, began his career at just sixteen working for a small-town newspaper.

He was a Printer’s Devil, an old phrase for someone apprenticing in the print trade. It meant mixing the ink, setting the type, preparing the press, and learning the discipline of careful, methodical making. Louis wasn’t just helping print the news; he was learning to craft it. The layout, the typography, the physical act of typesetting, all of it mattered. It was precise work, tactile and intimate, and it instilled in him a reverence for quality that never left him.

By 1927, after 24 years of loyal work and apprenticing under J.C. Prenot, he acquired the The Louisville Herald. It remained in our family for nearly a century, an enduring reminder of how something made with care can outlive the hands that first created it.

A Shift from Print to Place

When we began developing the idea for Prentis Collective, I found myself returning often to that story, even to my earliest memories of working at the newspaper, to the idea that storytelling could be both tangible and transformative.

Of course, we're not in the business of printing newspapers. But we are, in many ways, doing the same thing: crafting something that brings people together, that holds their stories and reflects their values. The kitchen, to us, is very much like a newspaper, a place where conversation unfolds, where daily life is laid out, where the ordinary becomes beautiful when given just the right frame.

At Prentis Collective, we design and build kitchens with that same sense of purpose. Every cabinet, every handle, every soft-close drawer is part of something bigger, a room where memory and meaning are made, day after day.

Honoring Craft, Past and Present

There’s a wonderful honesty to craft. You can’t rush it. You can’t fake it. And it’s not just about what you see, it’s about how something feels, how it lasts, how it speaks to the hand that made it.

We’ve infused that belief into our kitchen design process. Our work is guided not by trends, but by a quiet confidence in materials that age gracefully, details that serve a purpose, and designs that encourage gathering.

We partner with brands, artisans and makers who care as much about their craft as my great-grandfather once cared about the spacing of a headline. Our kitchens are not mass produced. They’re considered, made slowly and well, and with the client very much in mind at every step.

Looking Ahead, Staying Rooted

Our hope is that Prentis Collective becomes more than just a design-build firm. We see it as a kind of gathering place, for ideas, for makers, for those who still believe in the quiet magic of doing something properly.

Like a good newspaper, we want to reflect the world around us, to evolve, to stay relevant, to tell great stories. But always with our heritage in mind, always guided by the principle that beautiful things take time, and that the best things are often the simplest.

A Legacy, Carried Forward

There’s a great joy in continuing something that was begun long ago, especially when it still feels so right. My great-grandfather may have worked with ink and type, but what he really passed down through the generations was an ethic, one that values care, craft, and community.

At Prentis Collective, we build kitchens — yes. But really, we’re building spaces for life to unfold. And like the pages of that old newspaper, they become the backdrop for a thousand little stories: bustling family dinners, homemade birthday cakes, and quiet cups of coffee in the morning.

We’re proud to carry this legacy forward, one kitchen at a time.