Today we’d like to introduce you to Seth Jiles.
Hi Seth, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello, my name is Seth Jiles; thank for having me. My story begins when my family moved to rural North County San Diego to live on my grandfather’s orange and avocado ranch, far away from sidewalks, grocery stores, and freeways. When I wasn’t working on the ranch, I was working for my father – who owned and operated a custom cabinetry and woodworking business with a shop on the ranch. Growing up, my family home was full of the furniture and cabinetry that my father had built over the years, and I was fascinated to see that someone could imagine and create something entirely from their own head. When I wasn’t in school, working, or scrambling around the mountains that surrounded the ranch, I was in the shop making things. Eventually, in 2019 I made the decision to pull my father’s company out of mothballs, it having lain dormant for almost 8 years since my father took over running the ranch and renamed it – Jiles Woodworks. I had been working full-time for the ranch for years, and after trying a different job for 4 months that drained the life and creativity out of me, I wanted to pursue a career where I could use my love for designing and creating. I had my imagination and some tools (borrowed)… and zero or prospective clients. So for the next 10 months, I split my time between working for the ranch and telling people that I was a woodworker – letting the details work themselves out. Over time some jobs came my way, a few small tables for my wife’s company, a little cabinet job here, and a mantle there. Finally, a wonderful opportunity to build multiple artistic pieces of furniture and built-ins for a local company. The business was getting off the ground just in time to take a global quarantine order to the teeth. I took the sudden increase in free time to work on designing, build some furniture for myself, and to practice and learn new skills. The last few years have been the classic self-employment story of trying to figure everything out all at the same time and taking work where it could be found as I grew the business. I no longer live on the ranch these days – my wife, Emily, and I moved to Escondido, and I rent shop space in Vista. These last two years, I have been focusing on my ultimate goal for Jiles Woodworks and myself as a artist – to narrow the scope of my work and to create beautiful and original pieces of furniture.
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?
Definitely not, and I wouldn’t say it’s particularly smooth now. I have found that part of the pursuit of artistry and craftsmanship as a career can include a lot of time on pretty bumpy roads. Navigating the growth of a business in the midst of the Covid shutdown and the year + that followed was very difficult. Moving off my family’s ranch, where I had lived for over two decades – a place that, in many ways, inspired my creativity and shaped me into who I am – has been difficult. Acknowledging myself as an artist and the identity shift involved in that was an unforeseen struggle. Even now the move away from certain projects or jobs so that I can focus on exclusively designing and making furniture can be hard. The intertwinement of artistry, craft, business, and “self” is a balancing act that I wasn’t prepared for, and some new learning curve always seems to be there.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a furniture designer and maker. I work mainly with wood to create custom and bespoke hand-built pieces. I specialize in Danish-inspired and modern design styles. I am probably the most proud of my own developing personal style and when that style is what a client wants. Each piece that I make is an original, either built from a past personal design or from working with the client to understand what they are looking for and creating the solution.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I am excited to see how things develop going forward as the business grows and I continue to learn. Something I have enjoyed is the opportunity to partner with other creatives, so I am always searching for others in the interior design industry to partner with and create new things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jileswoodworks.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jileswoodworks/?hl=en
Image Credits
David Hutchinson
