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

William, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

It was a fantastic moment the day I sold my first cutting board. Having gotten all the supplies, doing all the work and putting a labor of love into it, it became a part of me when it was time to give it away.

Up until that point I had just been giving away my cutting boards for free to family and friends. I also have been trying to spread the word that plastic cutting boards are extremely bad for our health. For years was telling me to try selling them online and I just disregarded it.

When I finally started selling them online it was such a rewarding process. Doing so gave me so much joy to be able to share my passion and art with other people

William, 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?

The entire reason I got into woodworking was genuine curiosity. Going to a lumber yard in Xenia where they had natural edge lumber, with bark along the edge of the wood, and just going to go look at what the selection was. As I walked through this amazing lumber yard seeing over 20 different varieties, colors and smells – it instantly started to brew something inside of me that I didn’t know existed.

Right then and there I used my phone what types of wood were good to use to make cutting boards. And upon grabbing a couple pieces I took it home and started messing around, stating this venture in 2023.

Soon after, it became a quest to spread the word on how much better it is to be using a natural material such as wood instead of plastics and synthetic materials to cut our food on. I found videos and other resources online talking about how harmful it was to our health when we cut our food on plastic.

I soon figured out I had to find a way to set myself apart which was to buy a laser engraver. I found different kinds of designs per requested by the customer that was receiving the cutting board. Messing around with QR codes, quotes, and even putting a laser engraved leaf of the wood that it came from it was my way of setting it apart from everybody else.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Non-Creative people may not understand my overwhelming need and desire to stay busy at all times. My passion for following the ways of the old life we had before the internet, and doing things in a way that is rewarding and productive instead of just sitting in front of a screen every night. My realization was why not do something that’s fun, creative, make some money, and helps people when you’re bored after work.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

 Society can start looking a little harder to small artists and creative people instead of the big chain stores. It doesn’t take that much more work, we all have this expansive piece of knowledge in our hands called a cell phone. We have more knowledge at our disposal than all the great minds of the ancient past and yet we barely use its potential. If you want to figure something out then look it up, if you want to buy something that’s more creative and better for the economy, your health, and the ecosystem, look it up. This journey is all about not being lazy. Not going to the easiest thing or the cheapest option. It might end up hurting you in the end

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sites.google.com/view/naturaledgecuttingboards/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steadfastwillprotector?igsh=MTYwNGpuNjQxY2N6aA==

Image Credits

They are all my photos