My name is Blake and I am a builder at heart.
I have been building, tinkering, assembling, making and creating ever since I was a toddler whose favorite preschool toy was the wooden block set. Soon after preschool I was introduced to Lego’s and was captivated with their endless potential. By the end of my childhood years had graduated to modifying pedal-power bikes and go-carts into choppers and hot rods. It wasn’t long before the pedal-power machines faded out and I yearned for some actual horsepower. My teenage years consisted of wrenching on minibikes, motorcycles, and trucks which lead to an interest in the engineering industry. Following high school I began my college years at Oregon State University studying Mechanical Engineering. During my freshman year I realized that my dreams of the tangible rewards associated with building weren’t going to be fulfilled as a Mechanical Engineer while concurrently being introduced to the Construction Engineering Management (CEM) program at OSU. Soon after I changed my major to CEM and never looked back. Since graduating, I have been working as a Project Engineer for Hoffman Construction in Seattle and have been involved in several large, complex, challenging, and rewarding construction projects. My time in the industry has reassured me that I am in fact, a builder at heart, and always will be.
Why Do I Love Wood So Much?
There is so much to love about wood…. Each piece of wood is unique, and each piece of wood has a purpose – whether it be as a simple wall stud or an exceptional dining room table. Each piece of wood has a unique color, smell, feel, grain structure, pore size, hardness, stability, figure, and workability. My favorite part about working with wood is matching the characteristics of a piece of wood with the intended application to create functional art. The mix between beauty and science for every given piece of wood is intriguing. If you stare hard enough at a piece of wood, it will tell you what it wants to be…