Self-taught through watching his father, Jacob developed a different approach to the craft. He\u2019s meticulous and a bit of a perfectionist, whereas his father \u201cshoots and lets it rip, and it\u2019s for sale.\u201d He envies Roger\u2019s quick creativity. But nodding to the portal his father praised earlier, Jacob says, \u201cI can see the lines that the wire made in that circle, but to him, it\u2019s not even there. I would have put at least five more hours into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although their styles differ, they agree about sourcing the boulders. They are rock hunters first and sculptors second. The sculpting is the easy part \u2014 the work is in the hunt. \u201cThe moment I see the right size and shape, I get excited and want to buy it because it\u2019s rare to find these shapes,\u201d Jacob says.<\/p>\n
The hunt takes them to quarries all over California and Mexico in search of \u200athe perfect rounded stones. \u201cThe process itself \u200ais several days, but we don\u2019t just go look for one rock at a time,\u201d Jacob says of\u200a their regular expeditions. \u201cWe\u2019re out there buying a truckload. It\u2019s like an Easter egg hunt; you gotta know what you\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a primordial feeling with these big boulders,\u201d Roger says. Rarely will they take a stone home not already knowing whether it will be a hot tub, firepit, or portal. \u201cI\u2019ve sliced up boulders where I got five or six firepits out of\u200a them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
This is why they don\u2019t advertise or seek out clients. \u201cI spend my time making a product that doesn\u2019t have a shelf life,\u201d Jacob explains. \u201cEventually, someone will want it \u2026 I\u2019d rather do that than [try] to find a sale.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to watch, because no two people are alike,\u201d Roger says of their customers. \u201cSome are overwhelmed, but then I had one guy come in here, and he picked out a whole trailer load for his place in Hawaii.\u201d <\/p>\n
For now, customers encounter the studio as it is \u2014 open land dotted with stacked stones, finished pieces, and works in progress. But Jacob has big plans for the future. As he and Roger discuss his eventual takeover of\u200a the business, Jacob hopes to build out his own \u201cfield of dreams\u201d concept. \u201cThe place will get a lot more organized, and I\u2019ll put some money into the appearance, make it nicer to spend time in,\u201d he says. \u201cLike, if \u200ayou wanted to just come and be with the rocks.\u201d <\/p>\n
No matter the condition of the space, it\u2019s the ebb and flow of chaos and order that enables this father-son team to chisel a legacy of their own \u2014 one stone at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Self-taught through watching his father, Jacob developed a different approach to the craft. He\u2019s meticulous and a bit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-412341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}