We recently connected with Joel Elwood and have shared our conversation below.

Joel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

What is unique about my story as it relates to art and creative work is that it was a later development in my life. Growing up I always enjoyed design and architecture but I never felt like an artist. I couldn’t draw or paint well and in my mind those were the two main artistic paths. About 11 years ago my wife and I purchased our first house. Every surface in the house needed work and armed with a couple years working in the trades I began to fix it up. Eventually, we were designing our living room and I wanted a unique tv cabinet. So I researched and decided to build a walnut console. I remember being out in my garage and taking forever to build this simple piece of furniture because I wanted it to be perfect and I distinctly remember thinking, “I really like this, it’s too bad you can’t make a living doing this.” When I finished that piece and put it in our house friends would come over and comment on it and their encouragement prompted me to decide to venture further down what I thought could be a fun hobby. As that hobby grew and I began to take commissions it was a slow 4-5 path for me to realize I could actually turn it into my work.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started building furniture for myself and our home. That evolved into pieces for friends and family and ultimately that spread beyond my network to new to me clients. As my skill set grew alongside my confidence I began to charge more and to desire to do more unique and expensive work. I started working with epoxy and wood slabs and began to take on some larger commercial work. After 4-5 years of running my custom furniture as a side business I left my job and took the company full-time in 2021. We’ve been running hard ever since and blessed with incredible clients and opportunities. We build higher end custom furniture that inspires joy, sparks conversation, and brings people together. To me great furniture is more than just a visually appealing piece. I want it to help people connect, feel comfortable, and sit around a table for a warm meal. We have grown organically and have put a lot of effort into giving clients a great experience from the minute they reach out to us about a project. We love helping people who have a specific vision for a piece of furniture but they can’t find it on the market. We get to come alongside them and fulfill their vision. We continue to grow and work with larger and larger brands and a greater network of clients.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think one of the things both non-creative and creative people don’t see is how much it takes to run a business and make a living wage doing creative work. They see me and my team building pieces of furniture and assume that it must be so fun to do that all day. What they don’t see are the hours and hours poured into things like website maintenance, quotes and invoicing, back and forth emails with clients changing their minds on designs, hours cleaning the shop, or paying tax bill after tax bill. I think a lot of people who go into creative work miss this aspect of running your own business. I think non-creatives often see the high cost of a piece of custom furniture and assume we are making a fortune off it when in fact we make a very small percentage of the overall cost.

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

I think what I find so rewarding about creative work is that it feels like you’re bringing beauty into a world that often feels broken, shattered, and full of pain. It’s a really enjoyable feeling to see a pile of boards turn into a beautiful piece of furniture and then to watch the client react to their piece of furniture for the first time.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.elwooddesignco.com
• Instagram: Elwooddesignco
• Linkedin: ElwoodDesignCo
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/elwood-design-co-orange