Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Graff.
Jon, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Quick backstory. My wife and I have always been into education. Both of us wanted nothing more than to go to college, get our degrees, and do what everyone says you’re supposed to do to have a successful life. Along the way through our degrees, we had a son, bought houses, cars, motorcycles, tools, all the THINGS people say they go to school to get a degree to gain a career say that they want out of life. After purchasing our second house, I had the opportunity to go back to school and get my degree. (I had taken a few years off to let my wife get her degree and get settled into her teaching career). I was accepted to the Texas A&M Commerce, Physics program. After attending my orientation, I started to realize that in the years I had been out of school I started to dislike the educational system we have here. I got to thinking a lot about what I wanted out of life and my wife and I both agreed that what we were doing, wasn’t it. So we sold our house, half the things we owned, and took our 4-year-old son to live on the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii.
It was a very peaceful and freeing time for us. Gave us time to gather our thoughts and decide what we truly wanted out of life and what it was going to take to get us there. We settled on a simple, non-invasive lifestyle. One that would allow us to have more time because we wanted more time than money. Upon our decision, a year later, to return to Texas, my wife told me she did not want me to take another job that I didn’t enjoy when we returned stating that I “had done that plenty of times before to support our family”, so she wanted me to take my passion of building things to a new level. Upon returning to Texas we were given an amazing opportunity to live on my In-laws property in the perfect sized 800 sqft home they had available. My In-laws also graciously funded the materials for me to build my shop so that I would have a great place to start this endeavor. Ultimately, this entirely sporadic turn of events is how Ahonui Artisans was born. I have always built, things, anything, my entire life. From mediums such as metal, leather, plastic, electronics, wood and as of late, epoxy resins.
Originally I wanted to build custom furniture. I love building “functional art” I guess you could call it. Things that are beautiful but serve a true purpose. Unfortunately, due to all of the very large corporations in the area, this proved very difficult, so I decided to step it down a bit. I started making wall hangings, lamps, clocks, cutting boards and all sorts of smaller home decor things. One day, scrolling through Instagram, I started noticing people working with this two-part epoxy resin. I decided I wanted to give this a shot. So I made my first Epoxy Resin/ Wood Charcuterie Board, listed it on my Etsy page, and it sold in the first three hours on the site. I was so shocked by this I made 3 more boards. All of which sold within days of being posted. So I decided to run with it, and man, I’m glad that I did. I have “met” so many amazing people, both makers and admirers of my work. These last few months have been an absolutely incredible experience. I have gained amazing relationships, partnerships and just over friendships through the amazing maker community, both locally and online. I can not wait to see what the future has in store for this very quickly growing market, and community, that I have been so lucky to stumble into.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It suppose a “smooth road” is relative to any one’s particular situation. As far as financial hardship, I have been lucky not to have that. My wife an I have always been conscious of our finances and went into this with an understanding that the business would take time to take off. As far as creatively, yes, there have been many challenges. In our day of the amazing wealth, and spread of information, it can be both a good and a bad thing. With the internet and TV making it seem to like “making” is just as simple as buying tools and making it seem like materials are incredibly cheap and easy to come by, along with making it seem like with the materials and tools that the products just build themselves.
It is quite difficult to find people that appreciate the true effort that goes into making, just about anything. Now that being said this is not enough to completely discourage me from doing what I want to do. It just meant I had to find a way to show people what I can do, and what it takes to pull it off. Enter Instagram, at my wife’s recommendation. I was reluctant, as I did not have a good view of what social media was, thinking it was all hateful and unhelpful. I was wrong. If you find your community, you show them what you can do and aren’t afraid to answer questions and truly communicate with people, you can find great avenues of not only friendship, but you can also find people who truly appreciate what it is your doing. You can also show them the process so they get a feel of just how in-depth what your doing can be.
There are a couple of other challenges as well. Pricing your own work is always incredibly difficult. Finding a balance between being fair to both you, and your customers. It took me two years to come up with a formula that I feel achieves this goal. Another big one is customers agreeing to very large orders that accrue large upfront expenses and then once you purchase these materials, the people seemingly disappear from the face of the earth lol. Now don’t get me wrong. None of what I describe here is complaining. It’s all just simply the cost of learning to do business, and that has a HUGE, HUGE learning curve haha.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I named my business “Ahonui Artisans” for a very specific reason. Ahonui, in Hawaiian, means patience. Which I feel anyone with a small business would agree, you need a whole lot of haha. Artisans was I chose to go with because my specialty wasn’t really defined. I can make pretty well anything I want. I’ve made wooden spoons all the way to Electronic Cigarettes. I didn’t want to limit my business to anyone’s narrative. However, after a few years of business, I have come to realize, having such a broad range actually hurt haha. People seemed to love my work but could never settle on anything because they were overloaded with options and they tend to just walk away, unsure of what they wanted from my huge array of ridiculousness haha. So I decided I needed to narrow down, find something that was both times efficient so that I can really crank them out, and also striking, to catch people’s attention. In comes the wood/resin Charcuterie Board.
As a company, I am probably most proud of the effect I’m starting to see that my work is having in the maker community. I get so many amazing compliments on my work, on a daily basis. I have people contacting me from all over the world for advice on woodworking, or how to get started with resin, or simply just to reach out and tell me that my work is beautiful, and I inspire them to make great things “like me”. This is probably my number one accomplishment that I didn’t even realize I was doing. I’ve watched a lot of videos, heard a lot of big names say that they do what they do in hopes of inspiring others, and I never understood this. I never understood how someone watching them make things could inspire that person to try and do it themselves. I was completely shocked the first time someone said: “your work is so inspiring”. I was almost at a loss of words because it is exactly what I truly didn’t understand was possible. I get messages daily from people telling me I inspire them to make beautiful things. This is something I just can’t fathom. I inspired someone. Who knew…
It’s hard to tell you what sets me “apart” from others. I don’t really see myself as being “set apart” so much as having been invited into this wonderful community of makers. We all have our things, we all have a direction we have chosen, we all feed off one another, and we are all in it together. It’s a pretty awesome thing.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
No one deserves more credit for what I have been able to do than my wife. She works 12 hours days in order for me to be able to stay at home, home school my son, and try to make this business dream of mine a reality. If it were not for her telling me to do this, I never would have. I would still be working a job that I hate. If it were not for her ridiculous persistence at home, and at work, I would not be writing this letter to you today. She is the credit you ask about.
I also have to give credit to my wife’s parents. If it were not for them offering their land, and to fund the building of my shop. We would not have been able to afford for me to attempt something this grand.
Finally, the people that pump me up, every single day, on social media. I mentioned before that I’m proudest of the inspiration that people say they get from me, but it is too true that, they, inspire me. Every amazing vote of confidence. Every awesome direct message I get telling me how much they love my work. Every time I make a sale. Every single kind word that so many people from around the world have shared with me. These are truly the things that make me push myself to continue doing what I do. To keep making what I make and to keep posting it all online for everyone to see. The people are the driving force of my business, and not just because of sales.
Contact Info:
- Address: Ahonui Artisans
9122 County Road 449
Princeton, Tx, 75407 - Website: www.ahonuiartisans.etsy.com
- Phone: 214-934-8399
- Email: ahonuiartisans@gmail.com
- Instagram: @ahonuiartisans
Image Credit:
Jon Graff
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