This week I will start off with something new, something difficult. I will tell my story. In pieces. Kinda like Tarantino it a bit.

Photo by Niba Delcastillo

Without them I would not be doing what I do today, Building beautiful, sustainable furniture.

Phoenix Public Market

Lets start at the Phoenix Public Market where I learned the importance of sustainability while helping set up “The Community Exchange Table”.  In between checking in/out the produce of local gardeners, small farmers, urban foragers etc., we dug into Permaculture, Sustainability and Community at its very core, and explored how everything we did impacted our environment. Both good and bad.

Riding up to the market with freshly foraged prickly Pears.

Coronado Neighborhood

The burgeoning Coronado neighborhood as community was growing, so were connections, opportunity, and idea. I had stumbled on this gem of a neighborhood while registering people to vote in 2004, only to return in late ’07 and buy a house.  A beautiful neighborhood just outside downtown Phoenix proper, where neighbors are friends and community is strong. With lots of new homes being remodeled I would bike through the alleyways foraging for wood and steel, I would “dumpster dive” and find beautiful hard woods. I even found the Stickley Table that is now in my own living room.

The Hive.

While volunteering on an art installation at the Shemer Art Center, I connected with a wonderful man I call “yoda”.  Yoda and Julia had an amazing art space on 16th street or as we call it “Calle 16”.  In early 2013 Yoda invited me for a sort of residency where I would tend a Cactus nursery and build some things out of my dumpster scores.  It was a 20’x30′ space that had formerly been the parking lot: no roof, no shade, just an endless supply of time and creativity.  This would be know as “My Chaos” or officially as Zoo Micro Nursery.  Which is where my story begins. 2013 The Hive

Welcome To My Chaos