Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tom Forker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Tom, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
Absolutely! I am a residential architect and landscape architect. I worked for 15 years in a variety of architecture and landscape architecture firms and I felt it was time for a change. I wanted to work and live with more intention, control my own schedule and fully commit to a life as an architect. The structured 60 hour work week and corporate hierarchy no longer appeals to me. I don’t hate the time I spent working for others, I learned a lot. However, I became disinterested with chasing the upper management scheme that many firms push. I always knew there was certainly more to learn on my own instead of being a cog in someone’s machine.
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc. Please provide as much detail as you feel relevant as this is one of the core questions where the reader will get to know about you and your brand/organization/etc.
I entered design school after numerous high school teachers urged me to pursue it as a major. I practiced sketching regularly and easily understood objects in three dimensional space. My junior year of high school we traveled abroad for three months. There, I honed my sketching, painting and photography skills; documenting every location. Until only recently, I shared those sketches with the Instagram world. Arriving back, I committed to a landscape architecture bachelor program, learned technical drafting and developed myself further. Upon graduation in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, I was able to cut my teeth with a few landscape architecture firms in the mid-Atlantic area. While working for several years, I decided to go back to school and to acquire a masters in architecture. I then moved to Montana and worked for an architecture firm and soon found myself looking for more. Working from home during the pandemic, I founded tf_wrks in my free time.
My main purpose and goal of tf_wrks is to provide lasting, thoughtful modern architecture and landscape design with carefully curated craft and detail. My firm provides full service architecture and landscape architecture design for residential clients. I have multiple new custom home projects in interesting locations and a few remodel projects with tremendous clients. One of my current projects, the client and I envisioned a simple box with large carved openings. The cabin rises two levels and encompasses 1,400 square feet. The exterior walls are cedar clad treated with shou-sugi-ban or yakasugi (an ancient Japanese technique) with steel plates, which will oxidize over time to reflect the property’s agrarian past. The client and I decided to keep the footprint modest, as it serves as an effective tool to govern the design process. This technique provides additional focus on essentials while discarding the extraneous. On the south and west facades, stretches of glass provide a strong connection to the natural landscape. The other sides of the cabin were left mostly opaque in order to shield views from the driveway and dense canopy overhead. The cabin is entered on the north where a thin canopy shelters a porch, marks the front entry and provides weather cover on the way to the garage. The main floor provides a kitchen, an open-plan living/ dining area, a mud room and a powder/ utility room beyond. To warm the interior, walls are clad in white plaster and knotty cedar plywood. Most building materials will be milled on-site by the client himself. Steel will be brought in from a local source as well. Floor-to-ceiling glass offers views to the pasture below and the mountainous terrain at a distance. Upstairs resides the client’s office, a bedroom and a shared bathroom. The bedroom and bathroom both have skylights to bring in daylight and night sky views while laying in bed. As a compact home, the carved openings provide light deep into the home; intentionally making it feel more spacious than it is. The home also boasts a two garage garage, shop and a rooftop kitchen garden.
I am especially proud of the prospect of building a company from the ground up. Lending my expertise to interesting projects and devising a solution for prospective clients will always be an enthralling and rewarding experience. My advice to people on the verge of venturing out on their own would be to take the journey. Continually learn something new about themselves while also pushing the industry further.
Are you happy as an artist or creative? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a regular job?
Absolutely! I am a residential architect and landscape architect. I worked for 15 years in a variety of architecture and landscape architecture firms and I felt it was time for a change. I wanted to work and live with more intention, control my own schedule and fully commit to a life as an architect. The structured 60 hour work week and corporate hierarchy no longer appeals to me. I don’t hate the time I spent working for others, I learned a lot. However, I became disinterested with chasing the upper management scheme that many firms push. I always knew there was certainly more to learn on my own instead of being a cog in someone’s machine.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Authenticity and the quality of craft. I want to provide intentional and deliberate design work for my clients. I love to explore through sketching; using the client’s interests and the project’s constraints all while understanding the intricacies of their particular site. This process provides clarity for the client while also managing expectations and comfortability. Designing and building a home is a very significant and personal process, so bringing an authentic but objective quality will always be of utmost importance.
Also, I am creating a series of YouTube films to help architects and students. Short-form videos on sketching, hand-drafting, CAD drafting, presentation-quality graphics, physical models and how to run successful residential projects from its inception to completion. I tend to use my old-school skillset when it comes to creating client deliverables; I still enjoy creating physical models and hand-drafting floorplans. These skills have become a lost art, especially in the age of digital everything.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Architect + Entrepreneur Volume 1 and 2 – Eric Reinholdt – Great inspiration and provides an armature of key disciplines when starting an architectural business.
Any architect monograph – Provides the confidence and inspiration to pursue sole proprietorship. Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig, MacKay-Lyons and Sweetapple Architects, and Shim Sutcliffe to name a few.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tfwrks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tf_wrks/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tf-wrks/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuEIGUGvaySkFlj0qbPbg6g
Image Credits
tf_wrks llc