Austin Stone Church

The Austin Stone Community Church wanted some big industrial cabinets to fit in their St. John campus in North Austin. I drew 3 elements from the existing space; Concrete, Steel and Maple Wood, to create these beautiful, heavy and industrial cabinets. The 2 pieces combined span 12' across, but also have the capability to be pushed side by side to create a large rectangle unit. Both feature heavy duty steel doors with steel hinges with enclosed shelving for storage. The heavy concrete top and steel frame sit on top of 6" heavy duty casters. I think we were able to bring those environmental elements into this piece nicely.

See the full gallery here.

Thunderbird Cafe + Tap Room

If you want one of the best sandwiches in town, go to Thunderbird. If you're looking for a great Latte, go to Thunderbird. If you'd like to have a fantastic selection of craft beers, go to Thunderbird. Basically, just get to Thunderbird and enjoy. It was fun being a part of their facelift last year, as I worked with the owner of Thunderbird and a local Interior Designer. I had the joy of building everything out of good old heavy solid American Oak. From the various sized Tables, to the Beer + Food Menu, the Merchandise Boxes and some Shelving, all things Oak. You really have to go visit this place in person (Koenig Lane) to appreciate this material, but for now, these pictures will have to do. But seriously, go visit them soon.

PROJECT ELEMENTS
Tables + Beer Menu + Food Menu + Beer Tap Handles + Merchandise Display Boxes + Bus Shelf + Exterior Cabinet + Rope Wall

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Rescued Church Wood + Stand Up Desk

Whether it's being sat on, stored on a wall rack or being stood up against, this beautiful wood has made a long journey from its original home in West Texas, to its current residence, Dallas, via Austin, Texas. The reclaimed wood that I used for this project came from the church building that I grew up in, in West Texas. As young boy, I sat in the pews of this church building, made from this exact wood. (Probably getting in trouble or something from whispering during service.) Recently, that church decided to remodel and replace their pews with chairs, which rescuing wood is something I'm all about! I wished that I had known they were going to do this ahead of time, I would've taken a trailer back home and brought back every single board I could. But I didn't. Instead, my awesome dad rescued a dozen or so of these pews for me, dismantled them and loaded some of these beautiful Pine 4/4 boards up for me and brought them down to Austin

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I've made several pieces using the rescued wood from these pews. Projects like the Kim | Dining Table and Ingram | Dining Table, as well as these cool Stools + Podium. I've also added random pieces in other projects here and there. It's been a lot of fun using this wood. Sadly, the supply of this wood has come to an end. The last of it is used on this beautiful Stand Up Desk for an old friend of mine in Dallas. He contacted me, asking if I'd make him a new desk for his office. He wanted something simple, large and one of a kind...and I think he got it. I assembled the last few boards I had on hand and put it on a black powder coated steel frame, and then added a fun touch with the Hudson Stripes (the original Hudson here). I finished it off with a removable Computer Display Stand and sent it off to Dallas.

Dan + Melissa = Responsible Consumers

I met Melissa and Dan and their sweet newborn for the first time at my shop a few months ago and immediately clicked with them. She mentioned to me that she had been following me for about a year on Instagram and loved the pieces I was making. They are in the middle of remodeling and redecorating their home. As we walked through my shop, they expressed to me how they were wanting to use local, good quality, sustainable resources to make their home beautiful and wanted me to be a part of that process. Melissa came across my Instagram feed by searching various hashtags: #austinlocalbusiness, #localbusiness, #localatx and #madeinaustin, just to name a few. After they had bought a few small items as Christmas gifts, we discussed making them a table top. And this is what I came up with. Upon delivery, they immediately fell in love with it, which steered our conversations to more fun projects in their beautiful south Austin home. You can check out all the photos here.

This couple is inspiring to me because they encourage me to continue creating and they remind me that I myself am a client of someone else. They remind me to shop locally, shop sustainably, shop small, and shop beautifully. It pays to research, whether its through Google or through Instagram or Facebook. Find an artisan, a creator, a maker that you like and admire, save up your money and purchase that new coffee table from them, not the big corporation. Let's be honest, their stuff isn't as good anyway. Its the small artisan (or most that I know and work with) that care about you, your piece and your true satisfaction. Trust me, it pays to research and to save up, and wait.

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They had some fun too when I delivered it. (:

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Clark Family Farmhouse Dining Table

I grew up with the Clark family in Dumas, Texas. My dad went to work with Clark Farms when we moved to Dumas when I was only a few months old. The Clarks had a really cool half section of land just outside of town, where they had their homestead set up on the one of the corners of this 320 acre half circle of farm land. This farm, this house, this piece of land was really a major memorial for me as a child. The Clark family was extremely involved in many areas of my upbringing and my feet ran on this soil quite a bit in all the years I lived in Dumas. From the snowy winters of getting the snow mobile out and riding it around, to the church wide functions like the Annual Corn Boil or the Sunday afternoon football games on the "football field", this was a place that many knew very well. The house that sat on this piece of land was built in 1965 and lived in by Wayne Clark and his family. Several years later, his son, Brent moved into this house with his wife and two daughters. One of those daughters, years later, grew up, got married and had a kid, and eventually took over the family home and made it hers, a 3rd generation home.

Last year, the family unfortunately discovered black mold in the home and had to make the decision to tear the home down. It was a sad time for entire family as they watched their home of 50 years being leveled to the ground.

My client's grandfather, Wayne, lived in this house for the longest, also grew up in a small town near Lubbock. On that farm, a couple old barns stood for many years and protected farm equipment, hay for the cows and other things used on the farm. As the Clark family discovered they were going to have to tear down the family farmhouse in Dumas, they also learned that these barns, near Lubbock, were going to be taken down as well. It was then, that Emmy decided she wanted to preserve these 2 iconic structures somehow, so I got a phone call.

We discussed building a very large farmhouse dining table that would sit in her her home, in the same place that the old family home was being taken down. She wanted this table to feature both the old house and the old barns from the farm her papa grew up on. And that's exactly what we did. She and her husband drove down in September with a trailer load of rescued wood, both from the house and the barns.

The table top is made entirely of the rescued barn and house wood from the Clark family. The steel base are made from mild steel. It measures 12' long and 4' wide. It was designed to seat 14 people comfortably. Features 2 - 6' Benches to that line one side of the table.

Made Here

Many of you already know the above image and where it leads. The amount of support shown to me in the Martha Stewart American Made contest was above and beyond anything I ever expected when signing up. When my artist friend sent me the link to sign up, I never imagined myself as even having a chance. And maybe, in reality I didn't, but one thing that signing up confirmed, yet again...is that I have amazing fans, family, friends and clients that support me and love my work. Despite having one of the highest totals for Social Media shares/likes in my category, it just wasn't in the cards for this one. Not really sure how the finalists were chosen, but I guess those shares weren't really a factor anyway. But they mattered to me. And I will also say, that even being considered for this contest, up against absolutely amazing artisans all across this country, was very humbling. I lost out to some talented creatives.

So, I want to say...thank you. Thank you for clicking on the link. Thank you for sharing my profile on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. Thank you for voting for me with your clicks. Thank you for taking a second out of your day to support me. Thank you for sharing my work with your friends...and your friend's friends. It means a lot. So, thank you.

Okay, now a sales pitch attempt...ready? Here goes! 

To be honest, I'm not a salesman. I never have been. I never really will be. It's not a strength of mine...especially when it comes to selling myself. I cringe a little at the thought of having to do that to keep my business running. But I'm not going to throw you a typical "Buy from me" sales pitch here. Because the reality is...many of you won't buy from me. And that's okay. Many of you are going to end up going to a big furniture store like Ashley Furniture or you will run to Wal-Mart to pick up something cheap that you can lean your iPad against or even to save money at Ikea to buy a chef's knife and mass produced cutting board to chop your veggies on. And you will do that mostly likely to either (1) save money or (2) because it's more convenient. But I'd like to ask you to do something before you go those places, or an equivalent. This might something that's extremely small to some of you. It may be something revolutionary to others. But for all, it's simple...and amazingly impactful.

Buy from people you know.

Buy from someone that you know of.

Buy from someone that lives near you.

Buy from a person, not a machine.

Buy from the small guy/girl, not the corporation.

If you decide not to buy your next piece of furniture or cutting board or piece of art from me, that's okay. At least, if nothing else, make a decision to support a small, little, no name artisan, who is just trying to make it while following his/her passion. Think of the impact you will make with your purchase. Not only will you receive (I know from me at least) a high quality, sustainable and beautiful piece of art, but you're directly making an impact on a person, maybe a few people, right in your backyard. Not overseas. Not someone that you will never speak to or know. Someone here. Someone that you share a city/town with. Make that important decision to shop small and local and check out the artisans and artists near you.

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With that said, when you buy something from me, please know that sweat and sometimes blood go into your piece...and it's made by us. With most of my pieces, there's a story lying in each grain of wood and ready for new stories and memories to be made. You will get a beautiful work of art that you can show off in your home. Check out my store and see if there's anything in there you need or would to have on your countertop or rest your iPad (tablet) on.

And as always, it's MADE HERE.