Thursday, March 24, 2011

Made to Order...Finding True Talent!

Don't you just love and admire great talent? Aren't you awed by people that have imaginative ideas that they can bring to life? Talent can take several forms: those that can come up with the great idea, but can't build it; those that can build it but can't come up with the idea; and that very rare person who can come up with the idea and build it! That unique person we normally call an "artist." Think Michelangelo...

Take this humidor for instance: the guy that built this was in his late 30's when he made it. Thought up the concept and made it with his own two hands. The box is made of seven exotic woods, all inlayed carefully on to the main frame of the humidor. How in the world did he do that? Dallas based Paul Labadie is probably one of the most talented guys I know! He is also responsible for coming up with our company jobsite signs and our logo (up in the corner of our blog), both modeled after an old wood block stamp. Paul represents the whole package - great ideas that he builds himself!



My youngest child Whitney has introduced me to some absolutely incredible blogs.  The twin sisters, Erika McPherson and Darby Stickler whom I mentioned in an earlier blog have Urban Grace Interiors and "fly through our window" respectively - both of which have wonderful ideas! Their creativity is refreshing. I have spent way too much time trying to figure out how so much talent is concentrated in one family... Apparently Erika is working on some interiors with a local Plano talent Catherine Clay because she links to her site CatherineClayPhotography. I just couldn't resist the temptation to see who Erika was shadowing so I too went to the website. In a different venue than the world I normally work in, Catherine is one of the more talented photographers I have ever seen. Since these ladies can both conceive of the idea and get them produced, does that make them artists?

Some people have the talent to recognize and create wonderful ideas but choose not to use their talents to produce them. Ah...we normally call them Architects! Most of the work you have seen throughout this blog has been designed by one of four enormously talented architects - Robbie Fusch, Richard Drummond Davis, Paul Turney and Wilson Fuqua. With an extreme eye for detail and a tremendous sense of creativity, their work stands out in the architectural community. Beside that, they are really nice guys!

The craftsmen we work with the most are the ones that take the wonderful designs of these great architects and others and make them come to life. Normally they do not have the ability to conceive of the wonderful idea or design, but they sure know how to work with their hands to get the idea built!

In the old style of building from hundreds of years ago here is a post and beam timberframe under construction. The walls are literally formed out of timber. We have Denshield vapor barrier installed in the middle of the timber to prevent moisture transfer to the inside of the structure.

Finished, the pool cabana turned out looking like this. Note the split brick nogging laid in a herringbone pattern in between the timber verticals. The same splits are on the inside so you have back to back herringbone patterns with a moisture barrier in between. Now that is real talent!

Truly talented people who are architecturally correct with period authenticity (and a budget that allows for their efforts!) come up with wonderful designs that talented genius' who work with their hands then build.

This walnut bar picks up the cross buck design of the floor.  The curved front corner of the cabinet requires a specially talented hand to make it look right! The handmade leaded glass panels were actually conceived by the interior designer and produced by yet another set of talented artisans.

Finding true talent is not easy. Through the years many have thought that they can design and/or build wonderfully detailed and intricate plans but missed the mark with the finished product. Something pleasing to the eye ends up being the custody of the beholder. Recognizing God's gift of talent and applying it in your chosen craft kind of makes your heart sing!





No comments:

Post a Comment