The origins of Nerd Wood

It began in the unlikeliest of places: Las Vegas.

I had been in retail longer than I cared to admit, and it was becoming less fulfilling and empty every day. Inspired by some friends, I began buying tools, playing around with housepaint making simple minimalist art on wooden “canvases”. Most of it was just using houspaint on some home made stencis, but it was better than coming home after a shitty day and getting wasted, and it opened up a creative door I didn’t know existed.

Those same artist friends convinced me to set up at one of their punk-rock parking lot art walk events. I had no prices, no table, no business cards, no website, hell, not even a name for my new endeavor. Everything was born that night, and while I was unprepared and humbled, I also received an encouraging response to my work, and I found myself suddenly inspired and driven. Nerd Wood Designs, est 2013 in Las Vegas, NV.

My knowledge, skill and confidence grew, and I attended more and more events that continued to excite me. Eventually, I took a massive leap of faith and quit my job as retail manager at a company I had been with for several years. I worked more, came up with new ideas, traveled to more cities for art events, and eventually up and moved somewhere that my unique brand of art might thrive. Also, I love nature and trees and people and beer, so Portland was a nice fit for me.

My art has evolved quite a bit throughout the years, and it’s probably not done yet. But now I’m in a the throes of a new chapter in my career, and that - since day 1 - has been the ever-motivating fire that led me to be something more than just a retail manager.

I was never completely married to one particular art medium or style, but I always kept it easy and only made things that I personally loved. 2d wood art tended to feature pop-culture nerddom that I never outgrew; Star Wars, video games, sci-fi, comedy, superheroes, and high fantasy. Plus I quite like beer. So I stuck with my niche, but I always wanted to try out new mediums and opportunities to make things. Like candles, and through graphic design, and real woodworking.

As my craft grew and my progression led me to more ways to make things, I discovered I really enjoyed working with real wood and tools, not just hardware store plywood and a chop saw. Again, I simply combined my interests into something I thought was fun, and other people might like too. More 3D art pieces began to interest me that mixed different woods, paints, stains and hardware elements together. Most of all I was happy to be making something that I had never seen before.

These days I have reunited with tabletop gaming after many, many years of separation. At our first game, people were bringing mismatched dice in crown royal bags, rolling dice wildly across the table, and using 2 opened up D&D books as the DM screen. That event alone sparked up a whole new level of inspiration.

“Oh this won’t do” I thought to myself. “I want our gear to be way cooler than this”. So while I played around with some cool boxes and things I wanted for myself, everyone got new Christmas gaming gifts. Granted, they essentially got my finished prototypes, but they are still great pieces. Nowadays, I get really excited to make dice boxes that look like treasure chests, exotic wood rolling towers and trays, and solid wood Dungeon Master screens adorned with decorative iron hardware and leather straps.

After several years of being able to make this work full-time and still make my mortgage payments, I find tremendous happiness in creating things for a living, with my own head and hands, that other people can enjoy for themselves. It may seem trivial, but it wasn’t until doing this for a time did I learn to appreciate that concept, and how satisfying it can be to turn a handful of raw materials into an object of another’s affection and enjoyment.

If I’ve earned yours, I sincerely thank you. With my work, it is my goal above all else for you to be pleased with my products, should you choose to acquire one of them. I like to make things that others also like, but I wouldn’t even bother if I didn’t love it myself.

Commissions and custom work

I get asked often if I do custom work, and while a normal answer would be a “yes” or “no”, I have decided to complicate things with an excessive explanation instead. So here goes.

Yes, yes, sort of and no.

Does that help? I’ll explain.

HARD YES: I often make products that allow for some customizable elements, such as the tavern signs that you can personalize with your own names. Basically, if it’s a version of something I already make, that’s a solid yes.

SORT OF: If you have a project in mind that requires starting from scratch with just a plan and a vision, that’s more of a maybe. In those cases, rates will start at $300 and be based on the detail, size and scope of the project. Essentially in my experience, custom projects that requires a design and back and forth feedback nearly always takes considerably more time than one might expect. I am a one-man operation, and time spent designing, drawing, pouring over fonts and color choices and testing layouts are all time investments before the first piece of raw material is touched. That time might normally be spent stocking up on a dozen existing product that I know will sell, so I need to spend my time wisely. I find it’s often a shock for the customer to learn that the design process alone takes several hours itself, which can cost a couple of hundred dollars before I even begin the woodwork. I’m happy to entertain any ideas that come across my desk, but I just want to be transparent with my expectations on how I spend my time, so hopefully this long-winded explanation helps convey some understanding.

(ADDENDUM): Now sometimes I get a request that comes along that I really love, whether it’s an idea directly from the customer of something they saw elsewhere and want a different version of. If it’s something that really wets my whistle, I may waive the $300 minimum in exchange for using the idea and working it into my product line. I get a lot of great ideas from customers who might say “hey what if you made this?” and I really thrive off of shared creativity, so if you pique my interest with an idea for a project and you’re ok with me evolving it into my own style of product, I may offer a discounted rate in exchange for the inspiration.

NO: I don’t like to turn down work, but if it’s not within my skill set or my realm of interest, that leans more toward a no, but I’ll always be honest about it. Also as holidays approach, my focus is shifted solely to inventory production, so the likelihood of a custom job in the 4th quarter really starts to shrink down.

Wow, did you really read all of that? Thank you! I tend to go on at length, but genuinely I appreciate you taking the time to understand some of the challenges of running a one man business. I’m always happy to answer any questions you might have, so feel free to reach out if you do. Cheers!