We were lucky to catch up with Phillip Fiuza Lima recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Phillip, thanks for joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss? What did you learn from them? Maybe you can share a story that illustrates the kind of boss they were or maybe you can share your thoughts on what you think made them an awesome person to work for?

“Keep punching!!” That is what Mr. Pearson always tells me after our talks. The best boss, yes! Perfect? No! But who is? At first he was my boss then became my mentor, but till today I consider him a good friend and we stay in touch since 2006 after I made the worse decision to leave his company. That was my 3rd and last regret in life. The first two were giving up on going to the Naval Academy and working for the State Department. However, everything happens for a reason and if I did those first two things I would have never met him.

The story of how we met changes a little every time he tells it, but the gist of the story is that we met on a flight to JFK in 2003, and me being polite, I started to introduce myself and we talked about technology and websites. He asked me to look at his company’s website and let him know what I think. “It’s crappy”, I said in a voice mail a few days later, but with more words as to the technical and layout issues. The next thing I knew I was taking a train from DC to Trenton having dinner with him at some famous mob boss restaurant in a snow storm! Soon after I was hired and move to Bucks County, PA.

A very successful international business man, he is the smartest man I know when it came to business and how one conducts themselves in business. There was no problem he couldn’t handle and he would handle really cray stuff without breaking a sweat. Now, don’t confuse his calm demeanor as a sign of weakness because his strength came from his calmness, and that is a lesson that I learned the hard way. He would say to “compartmentalize” your issues and find your critical path in solving those issues one at a time. Also, when you spoke with others never say your honest but just be “Frank”. I preferred to be Phillip and honest, but you soon realize his point. You never have to say your honest if you are. Your actions will show that, and actions speak louder than words.

Now, me being from a family from Brazil and he living there many years, he once tried my “caipirinhas” andloved it and would always have me make one when invited to his house. When I told him that I was really good at doing “churrascos” (Brazilian style BBQ) he asked to do one for him and some friends. I told him that I needed a grill, but not just any grill. A real brazilian style “churrasqueira” made with bricks. He said sure go ahead, but after I came to realize that he didn’t understand that I meant to built it, and I did just that! I then prepared dinner one night and from that the rest is history! I think I did at least 5 other times with about 50 people each time! I didn’t realize what I got myself into, but I loved every minute of it! Though I dare not forget to make his caipirinhas! To this day the grill still stands in the back yard of his main office next to the pool!

Many years later I was back living in Georgia and started my own business with projects making things out of laminated bamboo. My first project was making a children’s bicycle that would “grow” and adjust in height. He was the first to help me by investing in me so I could buy more materials and start building. Sometime later I started in the high end home decor art work using the same bamboo material. He’s given me good pointers and I even made him a custom designed floor lamp. Today we still keep in touch and hopefully after this pandemic passes we’ll do another churrasco for old times sake!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often better than a master of one.”

International Business and Computer Science major, worked for the government and international business to now be an entrepreneur making high end home decor artwork. Yes, it doesn’t make much sense, but that is the path that I have walked, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. Every experience has brought me to where I am now. I am a problem solver and inventor with a vision to make things better with a functional and artistic appearance. That is why I now have my home decor artwork line of products that started with a simple bowl design using simple geometric shapes. From my bowls I can make lamps and light fixtures to coffee to end tables. I not only use a sustainable material, but I use a sustainable building process made from my bowl designs. If I need bowls, I make bowls. If not, I make something else from that bowl. I love being creative and making different things out of my bowls. Sometimes, I’m not thinking about any specific thing, but after stacking some of my bowls on each other to make room for something else I was working on I saw something new in the stacked bowls and voila, I had something new! Sometimes, it is not the idea but the path that took you to that idea that is important.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process./

I hand craft all my work from laminated bamboo. Since the laminated boards are only 5mm thick they are a bit fragile to cut with a saw, even with a scroll saw so I used a CNC laser cutter that cut out the pieces. Then I clean and sand each piece and glue each ring for the bowls, eyeballing to line them up.

So, how does one learn how to do this? Well, it started when I used to build speaker boxes for car audio systems or before that when I would build tree houses with my friends with our father’s tools and then get in trouble because we didn’t put them back. I also loved watching the TV show “This Old House” and learned quite a bit from watching that and other shows.

Though I do all the work myself, my idea is to start a paid apprenticeship program where I can hire high school or college kids that want to learn craftmanship with woodworking or in this case, “bambooworking”. They will also learn what it takes to be an entrepreneur and start their own business. The one thing I don’t want to do is send this off to China and have it made there in a low-cost method because working conditions and pay there are horrible. I also want to bring back the craftmanship of products made here in the US. People now-a-days appreciate more the value of handcrafted.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I do my sales either online or at art events. The problem is shipping is so crazy expensive for my products and art events are outside and the weather seldom cooperates. I recently tried doing pop-ups at local retail stores that offer, but I didn’t give it much faith since the first few times it was a bust. The good thing is that it’s an exceedingly small cost investment and I get to be inside! However, last December I had my best single day sales of $3,000!! And it was from a customer who saw my work from thew window, loved my work, came inside, and bought $2500 worth of my products! It was a guitar stand, lighted end table with a color changing bulb, center piece rectangle bowl and four smaller bowls. The funny thing was when the client said they would pull up back to load the items in their car, which was a McLaren sports car!! Let’s just say the truck only held the small bowls and the rest had to go in the passenger seat. This kind of customer is called a “unicorn”, which is self-explanatory. Lesson here is not to give up and don’t think less of something or somewhere.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bambooarticulation.com
• Instagram: @bambooarticulation
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/bambooarticulation