I have been a “woodworker” for as long as I have memories. My father was a Homebuilder and a wood carver. My youth was spent picking up scraps on job sites, stacking firewood and watching Dad do his thing. In High School I was a standout student in Shop Class mostly because my Wrestling coach was the teacher and my mentor, by senior year I was working independently on projects. My deepest passion has always been Surfing and after high school I set off to make a career of it, with limited success. I was never fully sponsored and would need to work to fund my ambitions and so I worked at every phase of construction from framing, to roofing to trim between surf trips but never once cared about the aesthetics of what I made. It wasn’t until 2006 when I bought my home in Philadelphia that I began to have intense feelings for exactly the way things should look. The house needed furniture and so I set out, in my basement to make all the things I would never be able to afford . Slowly I grew my skills and client base until I needed a bigger shop and eventually conceived of my brand, Farmhaus in 2010. Having been based out of Philly for my entire career, just this month I’ve made the choice to move my base of operations to AP, NJ and build back better closer to my power source in life: the Sea. Even now it’s surprising to me that I care what things look like, it’s as though it’s a compulsive force from within almost separate from my actual personality with rules that must be followed or suffer the eternal criticism of said force. I like to think I’m just tapping into something bigger than my own ideas, channeling energy from without myself into objects of any size, shape or function.

I guess I’m not embarrassed about it really, but “Billy Elliot”is my favorite film. It is my “Rudy”. The blue collar son of an English coal miner finds his purpose in life to be Ballet. There is this scene, Christmas Eve, and Billy is teaching his queer friend to dance when his drunken father walks in on them laughing and dancing. The father runs off down the road and you have this feeling that he is ashamed of his boy but in reality his heart has been changed by the dance and he is ashamed of himself for not doing better for Billy. He gets the whole town behind him and raises the funds to send young Billy to the royal Ballet school in London where the young misfit struggles to fit into the culture. In the closing scene you see Billy, the Man, as the most captivating dancer of all time. I’m tearing up just talking about it it’s so heartwarming.

SURFING. period. If you know me at all you know that surfing is my LIFE. My business is built around the activity. I am self employed specifically for the purposes for blowing off work EVERY time the surf is worthy. I base my work week around the forecast. I am influenced by the Art and Scene of surfing and I even make my own wooden Surfboards (Alaia), and wood fins for my foam surfboards. In the future I plan to shape for myself an entire quiver of boards marrying my woodwork with my life’s work and documenting the process for posterity.

If I won the lottery the first thing I purchased would be a yacht big enough to comfortably search the earth for the most uncrowded quality waves with all my friends. I don’t actually care about $ at all. As long as I have enough to keep going it’s unimportant to me. That said if I had a grip of money I would share it to have experiences with friends rather than horde it away.

Make time , Not Money. It’s actually terrible business advice but it’s how I roll nonetheless. For me, to have the freedom to roam and an outlet for expression when inspiration strikes makes me wealthier than someone with a big bank account who is handcuffed to a desk all day. That said I am eternally grateful to my long suffering wife who puts the cuffs on daily so I can be an artist in life.