Today, we’d like to introduce you to Steven Reyes.
Hi Steven, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story… It’s still being written. Still being lived through. Yet to be experienced completely. I’m still not 100% sure what my story is yet. Right now, I’m still in a phase of taking it a day at a time. Simply put, I’m just a man here on this earth trying to explore the limitations of where my mind, dreams, and ideas can take me. I am obsessed with self-improvement, learning, being a father, creating, designing, and ultimately striving to be the absolute best man that I can become so I can be that to my kids and the people I love. Born and raised in the beautiful city of Fort Worth. I am a father to 2 beautiful, incredible, amazing daughters, Elena Gray, and Ella Sol; a son to my mom, Maribel, and father, Mike; and a brother to Eric. As far as this rug thing, I started this business in the midst of recovering from a pretty crazy shoulder surgery due to a mountain biking incident. I was in a very dark place with myself doomed scrolling on TikTok until I came across a page, @imakerugs, and saw that he made a Kid Cudi rug. Cudi is my favorite artist. I remember thinking to myself, “I would buy that.” Then I thought to myself, “How can I make that?” I did some more research, and next thing you know, I purchased my rug gun, in my sling, still recovering and all. From there, it was weeks of nonstop YouTube videos and forums trying to figure out how to do this when my tool arrived. When the rug gun finally got here, I was so excited. Little did I know that I was soon to be faced with the reality that I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I faced WEEKS of trial and error, making holes in my cloth, not being able to feed the yarn through, wrong colors, bad technique, lots of curse words, I can go on and on. Then, I finally put together my first rug; it was pretty bad, too. But in the middle of it all was a white patch done perfectly. Everyone saw outside that white patch; I only saw that white patch. That motivated me to keep going with this. From there, I made my second rug, opened customs, and created other designs that interested me along the way. To be completely honest, the entire time, my only perspective was that I was a depressed *ss dude in the back of his dad’s house making rugs in a shed, trying to escape and find himself. I didn’t think people would cling on, and I didn’t think people would value me much less than my work. I didn’t even value it at first. Not until recently, really. I’ve been able to make the things I’ve made because of my determination to get the best result, following up my ideas with action, wanting to show my daughters that anything and everything in life is possible, and having a want and will to go through the journey of self-improvement.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, no, no. It’s been far from a smooth road for me. I’ve faced all sorts of challenges in my life during the last three years. Family deaths (RIP to my Tio Gabriel, Grandma Cuca, and Tia Alejandra), divorce, being a father to my kids, being a student and graduating, still being a student, having a whole new baby, working an unpredictable full-time job in heating and air conditioning, self-doubt, feeling incompetent, lack of creative confidence or confidence in general at one point, not feeling enough, I can go on and on but then it’ll sound like I’m complaining. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to just quit this craft completely because everything outside of this craft was so hectic for me. I’m really glad I pushed through. It took me a while to accept the fact that challenges are just going to be something that I face along the way. It’s part of the process. It’s almost an expectation for me at this point. I’ve learned NOTHING goes how you plan, but having a plan is a great thing to do so you have a general direction to head towards. One thing I’d say is that it is kind of cool to look back and see everything that has been overcome so far and what you allow yourself to push through. These challenges are ongoing, but they are not a reason to quit. The biggest challenge I’m currently facing right now is finding balance and peace within all the moving parts and chaos.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I do two things actually. My full-time job right now is operating and working in a heating and air conditioning company, Mike Reyes, Heating and Air Conditioning, alongside my dad. And then there’s The Rug Laboratory; that right there is my baby, haha. I would say Rugs and HVAC are what I’m most known for. I like to make the joke that I do HVAC by day and become a Rug Dealer at night. I’m proud of both of these crafts because they’re both so different. 2 totally different worlds. Both of them are challenging to learn, and both of them taught me a lot about different things outside of the crafts themselves. The thing that I would say sets me apart from others is my attention to detail, and I’m trying to emphasize quality work. I try to do everything one way across the board with anything that I do. Easier said than done, but that willingness to try to do that and be that is what sets me apart.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I liked to think I was the black sheep of the family. I was always doing my own thing. Everyone could be playing a game together, and you’ll most likely find me wandering off trying to dig up some worms or observe ants or trying to find me a pet grasshopper or something. I always felt connected with nature. I would always be the one getting in trouble. I grew up in a broken home with divorced parents, so I spent a lot of time by myself as a kid. I would either spend my time playing video games, drawing stuff, or learning about different technology products on YouTube. I was into technology heavy as a kid. Music and movies were my biggest interests out of everything, though. Both of those things helped me find the words to a lot of the feelings that I had as a kid and helped me understand a lot of them, even now in my adulthood. They have a big influence on the way I lead my life today and the kind of art that I like to make.
Pricing:
- Custom rugs start at $100
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theruglaboratory?igsh=MWJxc3p5M2xlemk0cw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRugLaboratory/
