If I could, I wood…
My parents always taught me I was on my own and although I value my independence today, it was hard to feel secure without knowing what it was like to have someone on my side. I met Emily Pilloton the Summer of 2019 visiting my acquaintance working at UC Berkeley when her co-worker first told us about the documentary "If You Build It" and Girls Garage. I fell in love and rub off on people around me so we started volunteering for GG that year and went on to teach what ended up being the last Studio H class in the last charter school in Berkeley. Our "union" at the time worked hard to shut down our jobs and many inner city students school and succeeded. With no jobs and therefore no money, we also had no place for the newly inherited tools. By the grace of the powers that be, I ran into my manager friend from my work study job when I attended the California College of the Arts and Crafts as we were cashing our last paychecks at the bank. He said he wanted to start his own business and had savings but no tools, I said I had a design-build classroom to start a nonprofit but no money to keep it. We all agreed that we would set up his business first and then get my nonprofit up and running. As Arbulu Art Design approaches its 5th year anniversary, I am trying to gather my thoughts and savings from working construction and teaching design-build 150% time around the Bay Area for the past couple years and begin. Although a vast majority of the machinery stays preserved in a constant care of fresh oil and sawdust making sustainable high-end architectural features waiting to be shot by me, I’ve managed to retain a few elements such as a signed tool wall module by the students, some hand tools and the alma matter “Love, Grit and Action” as a compass in a my studio of my own! I've been scared and contemplated giving up many times but bravery can't blossom from pre-existing certainty.
I think it’s sad how a lot of us have been tricked into being on the internet a lot the time but I figured I might as well try to make it worth your while and bring the it back to its original purpose, to share information! We guarantee confidence directly from the field in order to preserve tested knowledge passed down through generations of professionals and always with a level of uncertainty in order to not close ourselves off from further education.
I haven’t met many people in California that like to hang out unless I spend money so, I do this project in my “free” time in effort to build community within western culture. I’ve learned a lot from the people around me who have learned a lot from the people around them and am so exited to be able share it with you all for free! Themes covered include but are not limited to how to carve a spoon to building a bomb shelter on the fly using scrap material.