We were lucky to catch up with Cavin Costello recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cavin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

They did so many things right its hard to narrow it down, but here is one specific example. When I started working as a teenager, and didn’t always like the work I was doing, my dad told me stories, specifically one about an early job he had, with the moral being that learning what you don’t want to do is just as important as learning what you do want to do. So throughout my professional career, I’ve taken the mindset when doing certain jobs or tasks that I’m not enjoying as a positive, because I am learning to appreciate what I do enjoy, and closer to understanding the work that gives me the most satisfaction.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I’m Cavin Costello, Principal Architect and co-founder of The Ranch Mine, an architecture firm based in Phoenix that my wife Claire and I have run for about 16 years. I received my undergraduate and masters degree in Architecture from Northeastern University in Boston, before heading west to create my own path. We design homes, event venues and boutique resorts, working on projects across the country and abroad. What drives our work is a simple idea, one that has been lost by many, captured in our tagline, connecting people with nature and each other. I’m most interested in how a space can harmonize the uniqueness of the people who use it with the specific qualities of its environment. More recently we’ve extended that philosophy into Fox & Kit, our short-term rental in Sedona, where guests can actually experience what intentional, site specific architecture is rather than just hear us describe it. What I want people to know is that we treat each project as a deeply personal response to who you are and where you are, and that the care we put into the experience of a space is what sets the work apart. I’m proud that after 16 years we’ve stayed focused on giving every project that level of attention, and that the spaces we design genuinely change how people live in them and ultimately how they live in the world.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I graduated with a masters degree in Architecture in 2009, excited to start working at an architecture firm. I had done everything “right” up to that point. Graduated at the top of my class, had 2 years of full time work experience before completing my studies, great references and an impressive portfolio of work. However, the great recession decimated the industry, particularly in Phoenix where I had moved. So after applying to over 250 jobs, I decided to pivot and instead of looking for a job at a firm, I started to look to get jobs directly from homeowners. That led to creating The Ranch Mine.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

We built our audience on social media slowly over time, by consistently posting images of our work, which is not that unique, but actually talking about the why behind each image and how our process and problem solving led to the beautiful image on their screen. This helped our work connect with lots of people, some projects went viral, and that helped build out audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theranchmine.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ranchmine/

Image Credits

Dan Ryan Studio, Roehner + Ryan