Today we’d like to introduce you to J. Drew Silvers
Hi J. Drew, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I actually started working when I was fourteen years old (now 39) and have had a whole bunch of jobs in that time, eventually working my way through school as a Theology major. I worked in the golf industry between 2007-2011 in a management role and never felt fulfilled because I always had an interest in making music and artistic type things. That held me back in a way and led to a pretty awful alcohol addiction. I was part of a mass layoff in 2011 and struggled financially between that point and 2015. The best thing that came out of it was becoming sober in 2012, getting my life back because of it, and learning carpentry from my dad who is also a career woodworker.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
That patch between 2011 and 2015 was really rough for me. My job leads I had prior to 2011 all dried up by the time I was laid off, my addiction was causing me to spiral, and I was running on a tiny and incredibly inconsistent income, trying to figure out life. I was working with my dad, but he couldn’t afford to pay me much in that time, so I was using it as more of an experience of knowledge. I worked with him a bit in college doing cabinetry and home renovation, but never enjoyed it. But when I finally made the decision to get sober in 2012, it unlocked this part of my brain that I had been drowning in alcohol for the better part of a decade. It took me three years past that point to actually stabilize myself financially, but it was a really important growth experience.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
When I started trying to carve a spot for myself in woodworking, I was doing simple things like wood finishing, furniture repair, and then I also started building furniture from reclaimed woods when that was trendy. I put a lot of effort (and what little money I had) into a local handmade weekend event and sold only one piece of furniture. That showed me I wasn’t on the right track and I regrouped. A friend of mine in 2013 thought there would be a market for me to make display pieces for people with rock and crystal collections. I had been a collector of those on a small scale since I was a child and had access to my dad’s workshop, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to try. I would do a full day with my dad and hang around after to make triangles, hexagons, and rectangle boxes out of his wood scraps for people’s rock collections and it started to build momentum. Eventually I was splitting time in my dad’s shop and working overnight there making my designs and cleaning up before he started work the next morning. This eventually led to me being able to slowly acquire my own tools (while also getting his hand-me-downs) and move my operations to the garage of the house I was living in. After that I bought a small laser engraver and taught myself to work with CAD, which then led to a small CNC, years later to a full-size CNC, years after that into the shop I have now with all of those tools, and two more high-powered lasers, as well as a full shop of more traditional woodworking tools. I share that new space with my dad now, actually on the other side of a wall. He is semi-retired but still takes jobs as they come.
I still make displays for people’s collections of crystals and rocks, so that is definitely what I’m known for overall. But I have expanded my design language to include things like intricate lamps, wall art, clocks, mirrors, and other types of home decor-centric pieces. I have people send me messages all the time saying they saw a specific thing in their friend’s home, or that someone they follow online took a picture and they immediately knew they saw one of my designs in the background. That feels good to know that people who are interested in my work can see something hanging up or sitting on a table and immediately know it’s something that I created.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I have this weird obsession with Atlanta. There is something about it that just screams “home” to me. Every weekend as a teenager and into my early 20’s I was downtown going to a show at the old Masquerade on North Ave. or down on Luckie St. at The Tabernacle. Watching local acts or bigger bands do their thing. I did a lot of volunteer work in that same era of the early 2000’s all over the city and can navigate it really well because of that. It’s one of those places where you can find anything you’re looking for and find a setting where it feels like you can belong and always come back to. The fact that my work/art has been and is currently in a few different stores in the city makes me really happy as a creative. Because the city has helped me grow.
The big criticism I have isn’t IN the city so much as the NIMBY folks outside the perimeter who are terrified of letting the MARTA trains come into their neighborhoods. I think that’s holding back a lot of good things as opposed to their fear of public transportation causing issues. I would personally rather hop on a train and navigate Atlanta than drive around downtown. It’s so much easier to get around and the people in the suburbs don’t understand what they’re missing by holding back that progress.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.jdrewsilvers.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jdrewsilvers
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jdrewsilvers
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGt0332VS3TFzzuj7tkplg
