Name: Chris Wilson
Age: 34
Title: Owner/Operator of Live Edge Lust
Married/Single: Engaged
Kids: Not yet.
City you live in: North Encanto Park historic district, Phoenix.
A typical day in my life includes…
waking up in the morning to my beautiful fiancé and my 2 rescue dogs, Knox and Brute! Once everyone is fed and had their morning belly rubs I check on my emails, usually returning emails from designers, or local business owners in search of one of a kind live edge designs to accommodate their spaces and projects, then of course I have to check my business social media and return any message requests or comments from curious on-lookers annnnnnd maybe spend a little too much time drooling over all the new designs I see coming out from my fellow artisan friends. Typically I knock the office work out fast as I’m always eager to head out to my shop with my unemployable shop helpers…Knox & Brute. Being the owner of a small custom artisan designs boutique style shop has its perks, I get to bring my best friends to work everyday and sometimes there’s more wood scrap throwing and fetching going on than designing. Typically I have a few projects going on at one time so I multi task from the shop to the finishing room where my pieces are undergoing final inspection and fine tuning before they head to their new homes. I’m a perfectionist through and through so at times I find myself in turmoil over a piece that I may be in the final stages of finishing up and catch myself wanting to do more that will really make this specific piece stand out from everything else around it. I’ve never been the kind of person to want to have any sort of mediocre life and that flows in to my work, I want the wood to have so much to tell, from its years as a standing tree giving life to everything around it to its new found life repurposed in to a piece of functional art that will be passed down from generation to generation. I believe in recycling and repurposing our trees, whether they’re local desert trees or trees found diseased in the rainforest, my focus as a live edge artisan is to ethically source all my materials at any cost necessary. We are partnered up with our wood supplier and sawmill in Costa Rica and are very environmentally conscious of how we conduct our business. Being that Costa Rica is the number one environmentally friendly country in the world when you purchase one of our custom pieces you can feel good about giving a once living life a second chance to serve with its beauty exposed once again in a functional art piece. Once I’m settled and happy with my progress for the day I return my phone calls and begin the nightly search for one of a kind live edge slabs to add to my personal collection for my clients and fellow craftsman that are in search of that specific piece. After that you can usually find me eating at one of the many great restaurants in central Phoenix. If I’m not out with some friends having some dinner you’ll usually find me watching a documentary on Netflix about planet Earth or some random natural disasters haha. I nerd out on the Earth, it’s just such an amazing provider for everything an artist could ever want. Then last but not least, zzzzz.
I was born…
in Prescott, Arizona. Native Arizonian baby! Moved to Phoenix in 2008 after the economy crashed in search of work.
My favorite thing about Arizona…
you really cant go wrong with our weather. Everyone freaks out about the heat but with the heat comes my favorite part of the year, MONSOONS!!!
I’m listening to…
currently in the background it’s a show on Channel 8 talking about ancient cities that the jungle has taken over and swallowed but if you’re talking about what’s on my playlist, Thrice has been pretty prominent lately!
My family…
is my rock. Coming from a past of drug addiction my family, especially my mom and dad, have been my absolute saving grace. You couldn’t ask for a more supportive and loving family.
If I could have dinner with anyone, it would be…
Jesus Christ.
One thing I cannot live without…
a good nights sleep. Without a good night sleep my life is crumbling apart, not like a little cracker crumb but like the 1960 Valdivia earthquake crumbling.
When I was younger, I wanted to be…
a professional skateboarder.
I’m inspired by…
Nature. Sounds so cliché but planet earth has everything you need to create, open your eyes and you’ll open your mind.
The one person who motivates me is…
my father. He’s 63 years young and as a small business owner himself I watch him, even today at his age he continues to work hard and goes above and beyond for his clients. If I’m struggling with any finishing techniques all I gotta do is call pops.
If I could change anything in the world, it would be…
depression, anxiety and suicide. If I could I would take those 3 diseases and completely eradicate them from this earth.
The perfect day would be…
a day snorkeling in some turquoise water somewhere warm and breezy with my family and dogs on the beach where we have a buffet of food and drinks and everyone is getting a massages and then a thunderstorm rolls in and just pours for the rest of the night as we all sleep in comfortable beds. I’m laughing at this response but that really is the perfect day in my opinion.
My first job was…
was Young’s Farm up in Northern Arizona, I worked as a pumpkin packer during October fest. I’d make $75 in tips on a weekend hauling pumpkins from the patch to the parking lot with my wheelbarrow and think I was Warren Buffett when I emptied my pockets at the end of the day!
My favorite escape…
spearfishing, being in the ocean living in a world of water for a few hours is a true escape from the “rat race” life sometimes can be.
My life…
has been an absolute gift.
I’m currently working on…
community tables for a restaurant bar in Ontario, Canada.
Always…
support your friends and family. Life is hard sometimes, man and we all can use some emotional and physical support from time to time.
Never…
limit yourself. As cliché as it is to say, you’re always going to think you cant do something, but dammit you can do anything you want…anything!
Favorite Quote…
“Make improvements, not excuses. Seek respect, not attention”.
Biggest Dream…
to own my own ranch with lots of animals, a shop with a giant glass wall that could roll open and let the breeze in allowing my dogs to run in and out while I make beautiful furniture out of an assortment of slabs from around the world that I attained while traveling with my friends and family!
My Pet Peeve(s)…
that my eyes don’t allow me to see without the help of glasses, grrr.
