MY STORY

I found my calling at 21, living in a warehouse slated for demolition with a group of broke art school students. Our landlord—a madman of sorts—gave us free rein: 'Do what you want, just don’t burn the place down.' For five chaotic years, we transformed that crumbling building into a surreal labyrinth of worlds, built from scavenged parts, 'borrowed' tools, and sheer,  terrifying, improvisation.

Through this process, we discovered latent superpowers, earning us nicknames worthy of a 1920s mob ring. I became 'The Spatialist,' the go-to fixer for manifesting even the most bizarre spatial fantasies. No challenge was too outlandish. I had an uncanny ability to take someone’s seemingly impossible dream, visualize it fully formed in my mind, and turn it into a tangible reality.

What I once hoped was a supernatural gift turned out to be a disappointingly human skill: spatial empathy. I’ve spent the last 30 years honing this skill—a decade backpacking the globe, learning how to build all sorts of homes and transforming spaces—ashrams in India, earth houses in Ecuador, treehouses in Turkey, and later remodeling countless homes back in the States. But the cornerstone and joy of my work still lies in what I learned back in that warehouse: how to see the potential in any space and transform someone’s vision into reality, no matter how improbable the space or unique the dream.