We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ianthus Barlow. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ianthus below.
Ianthus, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
Starting IB Woodworks was one of the biggest risks I have ever taken. The year was 2016 and I was working in construction not really loving my job. At this point I had been building small woodworking projects just as a hobby and starting to get into pouring epoxy rivers on a small scale. I was living in Salt Lake City Utah and was really starting to become home sick so i made the decision to pack up my house, move home to Colorado city Arizona to start my business making high end live edge epoxy river tables. With a lot of studying YouTube videos on how to build them and a few years working epoxy on a small scale i went for it and sold my first custom live edge epoxy river table to a childhood friend. At that point i realized the risk i took was worth it and continued marketing my business and building custom, one of a kind tables as a full time job.
Ianthus, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As a child i helped my dad in a cabinet shop learning all the different machines, tools and tricks of the woodworking trade. I never thought i would get into woodworking at the time so i didn’t feel like i was paying much attention to what my dad was teaching me. He pushed me to think of projects to build and helped me design and build them to keep me out of trouble. i ended up going into construction learning a variety of trades from concrete, framing and finish carpentry. After starting my first business at 24 years old with my high school buddied doing remolding i soon got bored with it because it wasn’t pushing me to learn new skills and that’s when i turned my garage into a small wood shop and found a Zen type of feeling being able to craft a functional piece of art out of a rough piece of wood. A few years pass and i became home sick and moved back home, i realized then that i wanted to have that feeling of excitement and accomplishment that came with crafting a one-of-a-kind, quality heirloom pieces from a rough pile of wood. After i moved home i started my second business “IB Woodworks” and wanted to stand out from everyone else in the industry so i decided i would craft the best tables on the planet at the highest quality using only the best materials on the market and paying attention to every detail big or small so the finished product wouldn’t only look amazing but would be able to last generations for my clients and their future families. I soon adopted the slogan “Quality Over Quantity” and made sure every job i produced passed the Quality control test to assure the IB Woodworks brand would always be known for its quality products and not just a business that mass produces tables to make lots of money.
I am always studying and learning new tricks and constantly testing products/materials that i use on my builds so i can assure my client that if they buy a table from me, it will last generations. I love having the ability to work with a client to design a table to fit their every need from size, shape and even colors that will flow with their home or office and input my artistic touch on each build. Whenever there is a question of will this be strong enough to hold this top, i add more strength to the design so there is no doubt. All my tables are built from solid hardwoods, no verniers that always fail over time like all the mass-produced tables you see on the market today. I like to think I’m helping keep the real craft of quality handcrafted furniture alive like back in the old days when furniture lasted more than just one lifetime,
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I funded this business startup purely on profits from jobs. i started off with basic power tools i had purchased when i was working construction, picked up a few pawn shop nail guns and i was off. When i moved from SLC i was able to rent my house out and that paid all my bills so i was able to take all the profits from each job and roll it into the business. I used that to purchase bigger machines to speed my process up and to stock the basic materials i used on a daily basis. It made for a slow growth but it has been steady and made it so i didn’t have to go into debt to start the business.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I started my life in a secluded polygamist religion, at 14 years old i ran away from home to start a new life in the real world. At the time i only had 2 brothers that i could talk to and was cut off from communicating with my parents and remaining family because i wasn’t a part of their religion. that was my first and possibly the biggest pivot i ever made in my life. I was very sheltered from the outside world and knew very little about it. I didn’t even know about professional sports or any real history of the United States and how it was established. After i left i went right into construction working with a friend doing dirt work. After about a year i moved in with my older brother that was living in phoenix Arizona and got part time job unloading semi-trucks full of tires, that’s when i also went back to Scholl but this time in the real world learning real stuff that i had never learned about. At this point i was starting 9th grade and had only finished 1st-4th grade before that. I only lasted one quarter in 9th grade and had to move back north. I worked with my other big brother framing houses for a bit before i was contacted by the diversity foundation and they offered to help put me threw school. This was a huge change in my life for the better. I Accepted their offer and moved back to SLC and went right into 10th grade halfway through the year and behind on a lot of credits to try and graduate on time with a high school diploma but i was up to the challenge and went for it anyway. Spent the next year and a half going to high school during the year and summer school in the summer and also doing extra credit packets in any extra time i had. at the same time i was working at a pizza place, doing sports and still just enjoying my life in this new world i had discovered. With so much help from so many great people and the diversity foundation i was able to graduate on time with my class in 2008 from Hillcrest Highschool! Go Huskies!!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ibwoodworks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ib_woodworks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ibwoodwork/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianthus-barlow-85517214b
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ibwoodworks
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ib-woodworks-colorado-city-2