Meet GARIE CHAVEZ

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Sed ut perspiciatis unde.

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful GARIE CHAVEZ. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with GARIE below.

GARIE, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As an artist and musician, the most meaningful project or art I’ve created is the live edge guitar hanger fractal art. The creative design behind each guitar hanger is based on the musicians I admire in my life that made an impact and inspired me to play the guitar. It’s my token of appreciation for creating great music of my generation. Also, it’s always a great feeling when you give back to community and invest in its future by helping our teens of today. I give 10% of the proceeds for every guitar hanger sold to Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers in Arizona. I believe in their mission statement; “to make a difference in teens’ lives.” As a teenager growing up in Southern California in the 70s, I frequently visited music stores after school or on the weekends. Learning to play an instrument was a vitally important part of growing up. It helped me gain self-esteem and confidence, while definitely keeping me out of trouble. We didn’t have programs like Alice Cooper’s Teen Centers back then. You had to create your own teen center by forming a rock-and-roll band in the garage.

GARIE, 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?

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.

It all started when I was 19 years old in 1982 and had just moved to Glendale, Arizona. I was in a small apartment with no furniture, so I decided to build my own coffee table, dining table, chairs and entertainment center. Fast forward to 2015, a good friend, who is an executive chef in a local Italian restaurant, was kind enough to give me the restaurant’s empty wine bottles to repurpose. I began designing candle holders and centerpieces using the bottles, then I realized I needed a base. So, I began recovering logs from weathered down trees during monsoon season from individual homeowners and tree services. This allowed me to create 100% sustainable, repurposed live edge wood and upcycled glass art designs. The best part … I found a way to combined live edge wood and upcycled wine bottles and turn them into functional art. My creative works include: live edge dining tables, coffee tables, front entry tables, sofa tables, accent tables, floating headboards, floating shelves, wine bar cart, charcuterie boards, magnetic knife and firearm holders, guitar hangers, guitar stands, fractal wall art, fractal standing art, liquor flight boards, wine bottle centerpieces and candle holders.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

First, I thank God for giving me the talent and the ability to be creative and make something unique, and it brings joy to my heart seeing my clients’ smiles, enthusiasm and contentment. I enjoy participating in local art shows, meeting different people and hearing them admire my work. Being an artist has taught me to treat everyone the same -regardless of race, religion, gender or political beliefs. Spreading kindness goes a long way in today’s society.

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

My goal and mission is to have my art be part of every household all over the world. Since all of my art is made from repurposed wood and glass materials, it’s vital to remember that recycling is crucial to the future health of our planet Earth. The benefits of having repurposed art helps conserve natural resources, protect our ecosystems and wildlife, reduce demand for raw materials, cut climate-changing carbon emissions and save energy. I am very proud to be able to contribute in any small way to allow our next generation to enjoy life here on Earth.