Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Devaney.
Hi Ian, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Ian Devaney. I grew up the only child of New York-bred parents—a CPA dad and a schoolteacher mom—who brought their loud, tight-knit, family-first energy down to Marietta, Georgia. I was born in Atlanta, but my heart always belonged to the West Coast. Every summer, we visited my Nana in Bonsall, California. My best childhood memories were anchored to the Oceanside pier, the old San Luis Rey Downs, and “Lego’sLand.” In 1999, we finally made California our permanent home.
By the time I was twelve, my life took a major turn. My parents divorced, my dad moved to Huntington Beach, and my mom and I relocated to Portola Hills. Skateboarding around Foothill Ranch, I was a kid on the cusp of my teenage years, desperately waiting for the day I could finally drive. I lived and breathed cars, fueled by *Gran Turismo*, *Need for Speed*, and dog-eared copies of *Modified Mag* and *Tunerzine*.
The spark caught fire when my mom started dating a guy who worked at a restoration shop specializing in Alfa Romeos, Maseratis, and Ferraris. That summer, I landed my first job there. While my friends were spending their summers at the beach or Knott’s Berry Farm, I was sweeping floors, taking out trash, washing cars, and begging technicians to let me tag along on road tests. It was hard, dusty work, but it’s where my passion rooted deep.
As a high school junior in 2005, my trajectory locked in. Riding my BMX through a Lake Forest business park, I froze. Sitting in front of a local shop was an R34 Skyline—a literal unicorn in California at the time. It was undergoing custom fabrication, and I instantly knew what I wanted to do with my life. I pestered the shop’s owner, Adam, for months—showing up uninvited to sweep floors, prep metal, and run errands—until he finally offered me a part-time job.
For the rest of high school, I voluntarily worked two jobs: Unique Fabrication and the restoration shop. To make it work, I gamed my school schedule, convincing my guidance counselor to let me finish my academic classes before lunch so I could spend my afternoons in the shops. I kept my grades up, but my real education was happening on the shop floor, earning the money to build and restore my own cars.
That era of pure hustle connected me with industry legends, trackside pit access, high-profile builds, and photo shoots—long before Instagram existed, back when we were still paying per text message.
Now, I’m embarking on a new path. Alongside lifelong friends, we are building something of our own. Our goal is to influence and fuel the next generation of car culture, passing on the same spark that put a punk kid from Georgia exactly where he always wanted to be.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The challenges and obstacles in my journey weren’t just roadblocks; they were the very elements that forged my relentless drive and work ethic. Growing up in a modest household, my early dreams of becoming an artist or illustrator were constantly met with warnings about the “starving artist” path, with everyone telling me to focus on school, get a degree, and find a stable career. That skepticism pushed me to redirect my creative energy, realizing I could channel my artistic eye into cars—a path where I could apply what I was already learning in the shops and build a real future. This transition was compounded by the emotional upheaval of my parents’ divorce when I was twelve, forcing me to navigate split households between Portola Hills and Huntington Beach at a pivotal age. Instead of a care-free youth spent at the beach or the skatepark, cooling off in friends pools like my peers, my summers were defined by hard manual labor. Because my mom taught summer school and I couldn’t just stay home, I spent my days sweeping floors, washing cars, and learning the gritty basics of auto repair and maintenance. Breaking into the gatekept, high-end automotive world presented its own hurdles, requiring me to shed the label of an “overly enthusiastic punk kid” by relentlessly pestering shop owners and offering free labor just to prove my worth. Ultimately, my greatest challenge was the sheer physical and mental grind of my high school years, where I voluntarily juggled two part-time jobs while manipulating my school schedule to front-load academic classes before lunch, sacrificing sleep and leisure to ensure I kept my grades up while chasing my passion on the shop floor.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
They say, “Jack of all trades, master of none,” but I’ve always lived by the rest of that quote: “but oftentimes better than a master of one.”
I have never fit into the mindset of doing just one thing for my entire life. As a kid, my world was shaped by art—comics, album covers, Ed Roth Rat Finks, graffiti, and tattoo designs. But as I grew, I realized I didn’t just want to draw; I wanted to build. I saw cars, custom motorcycles, and metal fabrication not as mechanical chores, but as rolling canvases—a physical, three-dimensional expression of art where culture, color, chrome, and raw metal collide.
Because of this, my work doesn’t live in a single box. I am a designer, a builder, a welder, and an artist. I went to college with the goal of becoming a Creative Director, but I refused to abandon the hands-on fabrication skills I had spent years building in high-end automotive shops. Instead of choosing between the drawing board and the shop floor, I chose both.
This intersection of design and execution is what I specialize in and what sets me apart. I don’t just render a concept on paper or a screen; I have the practical fabrication and mechanical skills to actually build it. My background isn’t limited to cars, either. Thanks to my father and stepdad, I learned home building and construction at a young age. Later, working under a shop owner with diverse businesses, I helped build The 17th Door haunted house in Fullerton—a massive, 15,000-square-foot production with 21 highly themed rooms, air-actuated props, and complex central controls. That experience blew the doors off what I thought was possible, merging construction, engineering, storytelling, and high-concept art into one living environment.
What I am most proud of is my refusal to specialize at the cost of my curiosity. I chase the things that motivate and inspire me. Today, I still paint, design t-shirts, draw for my son, and render cars, just as easily as I weld, fabricate, and plan complex physical builds.
I am known for creating things that stand out—projects that use vibrant color, juxtapose unexpected styles, and force people to question ideas. By constantly shifting between designing, building, painting, and fabricating, I keep pushing my own boundaries. I don’t just specialize in a trade; I specialize in turning creative vision into physical reality.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
To me, collaboration is everything—it’s what actually shapes the culture and pushes ideas to the next level. I’m always down to work with people who want to build cool stuff, and I don’t like to box myself into just one category. Honestly, I’m open to pretty much anything. We can collaborate on art projects, dial in color theory, figure out home layouts and decor, or I can help with creative direction and project management to get a physical build off the ground. If it involves designing, building, or just pushing a creative boundary, I’m interested.
Right now, my biggest focus is bringing my next personal project to life. After a solid year of planning, we are currently in the process of securing a lease in Oceanside, with plans to open an automotive culture-based shop in the next couple of months. This isn’t just going to be a place to work on cars; the goal is to create a physical space where enthusiasts, artists, and builders can actually hang out, network, and learn from each other’s experiences.
If you want to support what we’re doing or have an idea you want to bring to life, the best thing you can do is just reach out. Let’s talk, bounce some ideas around, and see what we can make. And if you’re in the SoCal area, keep an eye out for the shop opening in Oceanside—come through, hang out, and let’s build something.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.art2motive
- Instagram: 3fldco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ian.kruk.9?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: Kruk3d_3foldco
