Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Conner Grimes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Conner, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I grew up working with my hands a lot. I enjoyed making things, drawing, and any sort of creating. I also worked with my family’s landscape company. Starting out the jobs were tedious such as weed picking or mowing, but as I got older I was given more responsibilities with the “fun” projects. I would mainly help with the carpentry work. While in college I continued working in the family business, while also slowly starting Playscapes on the side. I built a large playhouse in the free hours I had after work. Once finished I put it on a trailer in a local parade with a sign, and my number. Shortly thereafter I started working on this new company full time. My time with the family business helped tremendously to get a baseline understanding of building, and carpentry. Even with that experience, the first playhouse I built was an incredibly large learning curve! I made many mistakes during the process that taught me a lot. Since then I have learned so much through years of unique and fun projects, but even now I feel I am learning something new on each project. I don’t think there is any real way to speed up the learning of a craft. It needs to be practiced, mistakes need to be made, and experience needs to be gained. I have found that with patience, hard work, and a lot of youtube, I have been able to increase my skills and knowledge as a creator.

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 back background and context?

I am the owner of Intermountain Playscapes. We build creative structures and ship them all over the country. Some of our products include custom playhouses, treehouses, themed elements, large sculptures, water features, and more. Locally we also build landscape structures and other timber structures. All of our projects are unique and designed with the client to allow total customization. We pride ourselves on being able to tackle a variety of projects and requests. We also provide the logistical services to deliver and install these large structures all across the US. We pride ourselves on attention to detail, creative designs, and a wide array of skills in different fabrication methods to bring every project to life.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Seeing the end product of all of our work is always very rewarding, but I find just as much enjoyment in the process of the build, and the problem solving that it requires (although I may not agree with that statement when in the middle of trying to solve a frustrating problem). Every project is so different, so we are constantly working to find and come up with the best ways to deliver to our clients. I also find it very rewarding to build up the tools, and knowledge necessary to create things. I love looking back on what we have done and built, and what I have learned from all of it.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am striving to push both mine and my teams abilities and craftsmanship to the highest level. I want my team to be the very best at what we do. I am naturally a competitive person, and find a lot of joy in the process of getting better. Whether it is saving up to invest in the latest tools and equipment, or watching and learning from other creatives, my goal is to keep getting better and keep delivering the highest quality products we can to our clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: intermountainplayscapes.com
• Instagram: playscapes.studios
• Facebook: Intermountain Playscapes
• Linkedin: Conner Grimes
• Youtube: Playscapes Studios

Image Credits
Josh Jackson