We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Max Vasher a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Max thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story with us from back when you were an intern or apprentice? Maybe it’s a story that illustrates an important lesson you learned or maybe it’s a just a story that makes you laugh (or cry)?

There are so many stories from my apprenticeship with Bart Prince Architect that it’s hard to choose just one but the ones with the most impact on me all revolve around the same theme of creative determination. Bart was the only Architect I knew of that had designed and built his own studio at the start of his practice – he embodied a lifestyle that I call creative determination and I wanted to work for him in spite of the steep competition I faced for a position in his studio. Persistence paid off and I found myself working in an environment that I very much wanted to create myself. Bart’s designs, including his studio, are all imbued with architectural harmony, integrity and beauty. He made an entire small business catering to a niche but passionate crowd of clients that wanted creative design. For a couple of years I worked my day job for Bart for all the while retaining my work as a tattoo artist at night. My wife and I eventually bought a piece of property with the intention of building our studio/home on it. Obviously building a house and working two full time jobs wasn’t going to work out. I needed Internship hours to get licensed that would have taken forever to accumulate working for Bart. It became clear that I’d have a vastly better and more rapid Internship if I quit working at the studio and built a house from the ground up. So that’s what I did. I tattooed at night and built my architect studio/home until it was done and we could move in. Bart was so impressed with my progress and accomplishment that he signed off on all the remaining hours I needed to apply to take the Architect Registration Examination. My wife and I had no money from family or any other source than ourselves. We wanted to create and build a life and lifestyle that was exactly of our choosing. We had to work our asses off early on to make it happen – I guess we still do work that hard – but when you’re doing it you’re own way the rewards vastly outweigh the efforts required to achieve them.

Max, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I work in the medium of Architecture and Design but essentially what I am is a creative problem solver. I specialize in creative architecture for clients that want original, bespoke, creative designs that harmonize their construction intentions with the piece of earth they want to build upon. From both a creative design and environmentally conscientious standpoint, I create work that celebrates the needs of the client as well as the needs of the surrounding land. Prior to design, I have an interview process that I continue to improve after every client. I learn as much as I can about what the client wants from this project. Then I engage in a thorough study of the landscape, climate and environment of the building site. The resulting design is as much a portrait of the client as it is an expression of the landscape.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Yes! My goal is to create architecture and living spaces that celebrate the land they are on in an effort to create appreciation for nature and the world we live in. I believe strongly that architecture has the ability to change one’s perception, to create an awareness of one’s surroundings as much as it can box us of from their existence. Too much of our built world exists in spite of the world around it. My goal is to create architecture that looks like it belongs on the landscape, that makes the landscape better for it.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Social Media. Social media has been the great democratizer that it was meant to be. It used to be the case that your work was subject to them whims of outside publication sources that may or may not publish your work. With Social Media, I am in control of publishing my own work. Social Media gives every artist an opportunity to get their work out in front of the public’s eyes. Yes, it’s more work and yet another thing a small business owner has to work at, but the reward makes the effort worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maxvasherarchitect.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxvasher/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-vasher-65352a35/

Image Credits

Max Vasher & Razin Khan