Vocation
vo·ca·tion \vo-’ka-shən\ noun
1. specified occupation, profession, or trade; 2. a special urge, inclination, or predisposition to a particular calling or career 3. Work pursued for personal satisfaction first and personal gain second
It’s easy to paint the term “welder” with a broad brush. We usually use it in reference to those professions in which the machine is synonymous with its user, such as the pipeline welder or the iron worker. But there are others for whom the welder is a vital, pivotal tool used in the pursuit of the user’s passion-turned-business. These are the craftsmen, the artists, the builders, the makers – the vocations for which welding is a means to an end, but not the end itself.
The following pages celebrate a select few of these “vocational” welders. Their chosen paths are diverse, but the passion to create — with welding as part of that creative process — is the common thread that turns their vision to reality.
STRIVING ARTIST
Davis is best known for his large-format installation art, crafted primarily from metal. The most recent and largest was a 28-foottall, three-piece, three-story steel sculpture entitled “Denver Lilly,” which is on display at Denver International Airport. Early dabbling in welding and encouragement from his shop teacher led to a full-blown career as a metal sculptor, but it didn’t come easy. He spent years as a real-estate developer, which helped him hone his skills until he could devote himself to his passion full time. This experience has given him a unique perspective and has made him determined to help like-minded artists. “We have to fight for the artist,” he says. “Artists should be paid for their work and shouldn’t be kept poor. The idea of a starving artist is no joke.”
HOLLYWOOD KNIGHT
The “need for speed” has become the cliché to describe an adrenaline addiction that can only be appeased by more miles per hour. As the guy in charge of fabricating a huge assortment of custom vehicles for movies and TV, when Underwood talks about speed, he’s referring to his daily race against the clock. Whether he’s building a vehicle designed to absorb a high-speed collision with a brick wall (and keep going) or prepping 1920s- and 1930s-era cars for a Ben Affleck movie, the only thing that’s consistent is the pace. “Someone will come to us with an idea, and we have to figure out how to design and execute that idea,” he says. “We do crazy builds in an accelerated, ridiculous time frame.”
CHAIRWOMAN
Taylor Forrest started out in fashion design but eventually transitioned to furniture. It was a leap that’s not as drastic as people might think. She believes that furniture, like clothing, should strike the perfect balance between functionality and style. Creating pieces that capture that balance is the most exciting part for her.
“You catch an idea about a piece and you can just sense that it’s super-alive, and you just have to make it, and there’s no way that it shouldn’t exist,” says Forrest. “And then you make it, and you just think, ‘Gosh, I love this so much.’ I don’t make anything that I don’t love, or that I wouldn’t want in my own home, or that I wouldn’t want to see all the time. I make a piece of furniture with the intention that I want to see it twenty years from now and still be in love with it. I think that’s what the concept of timelessness is all about. I want to make timeless things.”
OUTER BANKS IRON MAN
Seventeen years ago, Randy Hodges left behind two decades of civil engineering to pursue his passion for blacksmithing as his medium to create decorative metalwork.
“I traded in my vocation for my avocation,” says Hodges, whose blacksmithing skills were primarily selftaught. “Because I was living in a tourist area and a tourist-based economy, I knew I could make things to sell to tourists and create enough income to make a living.”
Hodges believes there’s still a place for skilled trades in the digital age. “My fear nowadays is that there aren’t many options for learning other than on a computer, and that’s not the same thing as learning a skill or a trade,” he says. “I believe that if a person applies himself to his craft, his education and his pursuit of that lifestyle, he could do just as well as he could do by going to college.”
NOBLE SCION
After 15 years in his father’s heating and cooling company, Alex Loos bid ductwork farewell and launched his custom furniture building business, Hans Noble Design, in the fall of 2013.
“I’m a perfectionist,” he says. “I try to make everything just right, because I’m trying to carry on the tradition of my family. Both sides included some very good artists. They weren’t hacks. So I’m just trying to be true to that lineage.”
Doing right by your ancestors may be a big responsibility, but Loos loves the work. “To see the finished product, I just get this great feeling that I’ve accomplished something with my life,” he says. “It’s so rare for someone to make a career out of doing something that they love.”
LIFE CYCLER
Matt Nunn has been taking things apart and rebuilding them as far back as he can remember. There were forays into construction and metal fabrication in his 20s and 30s, but he eventually returned to his first love – the bicycles of his youth. These days, he builds custom bike frames – nearly 100 a year – for a customer base that stretches from Colorado to New Zealand.
“If I had settled [for those other jobs], I might still have been somewhat happy to this day,” says. “I can tell you one thing for sure, though. I would not be as happy as I am now.”
Much of that satisfaction comes from the personal relationships with his customers: “They love the fact that they’re talking to the guy who answers the phone, writes the order, cuts and machines the material, welds the material, assembles the bike, sweeps the floor and runs the elevator. People are looking for that connection – something they don’t get when they buy from a large manufacturer.”
LOCAL HERO
Although it took him a while to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, Pajak never forgot what his father told him: learn a trade. This simple advice led to the start of his custom motorcycle shop and a starring role on a to-be-announced fabrication competition on TV’s Esquire network. When he’s not filming or working on his own projects, he helps others at Cleveland’s only cooperative motorcycle shop, Skidmark Garage, in the same location as his business is based. He tries to impart the benefits of vocational training by example. At the very least, he says, young people can develop a skill they can carry for the rest of their life – even if they ultimately decide on a different occupation. “You can always go to college,” Pajak says. “But you want to learn an everyday skill that will help you succeed in life.”
TORCHBEARER FOR THE TRADES
“A person can learn a trade and go to work at a fabricating company and make good money.
And they can continue to make good money because their skills are a scarce and valuable commodity.” This bold statement speaks to the value Cupp places on his trade as a machinist. When he applies his expertise to fabricating custom motorcycles, a more paternal instinct emerges. “Some people might say it’s cheesy,” he says, “but I think the only thing comparable is watching my children being born.” Like raising a child, the “care and feeding” that goes into his builds are evident in his meticulous attention to detail and willingness to challenge conventional thinking. These traits have earned him the respect of bike builders and fabricators worldwide, as evidenced by his winning of the Builder’s Choice award in the 2015 Handbuilt Motorcycle Show.