i
didn't
just
drop
out
of
the
skY
I'm pretty sure I can fix anything. I'd rather make something than buy something. I would rather fix it than replace it. In life and in design, when I'm faced with a challenge, I'll research it to death, learn how to pull it apart, figure out how each piece works, and teach myself how to put it all back together again.
Originally from Downriver and residing in Detroit on-and-off for nearly two decades, I'm the guy who just seems to naturally be able to figure stuff out. With stops in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Ferndale, and Oakland, California, I've built a weird and wonderful life of experiences ranging from Zamboni driving to being a touring musician. I've been a press writer for USA Hockey, a medical coordinator at a group home for the mentally ill, a maintenance man, a landscaper, and a project manager on a construction site. Never having a drum lesson, I've performed hundreds of shows as a drummer from Seattle to New York. I'm a fledgling self-taught bass guitar player. I'm currently building a computer from scratch for the first time (as well as the desk to put it on). I just figure stuff out.
The only thing that didn't come naturally to me was design. Drawn to design by my work designing websites, merch, and CDs for the bands I was playing in, I took a chance at the College for Creative Studies at a later stage in life than most, trading in all the weird jobs and lives I was living for a steady education. For the first time in my life I was actually challenged. CCS was hard, it wasn't something I could just DO. It was an insanely rigorous design program that reeled me in and taught me a focused process to design that seemingly applies to everything I do now. Everything always came easy to me. Design was hard, so I made it my career.
The only things I'm afraid of are flying and public speaking. I believe "immersion therapy" is the best way to beat my fears. So in 2015, I jumped out of an airplane at 14,000 feet, on a whim. In January of 2021, I began teaching Foundation Drawing at College for Creative Studies, throwing myself into publicly speaking to a group of jaded college kids and I absolutely loved the experience.
See? I really can fix anything.