We started with working with Josh and Rhonda about a year ago, and are simply crazy about their natural, creative approach to coastal home decor. I thought it might be fun to get a little more in-depth with them about their art and their philosophy. Enjoy our interview!
1. How were you inspired to
create your company, Living Simplistically?
Rhonda: Josh &
I were friends before we started Living Simplistically, I knew he created
gorgeous functional art pieces made from driftwood and once I saw them, I knew
his work was too fabulous not to share with other. That’s when I offered to
design and build his website.
Josh: I’ve
always been most inspired in life by my time spent outdoors while exploring
nature and Living Simplistically was created with this in mind. It was
important to me to try to design furniture, along with some home décor items
that were not only one of a kind pieces of functional art but more importantly,
were designs that allowed me capture the simple beauty that I saw in nature and
to be able to bring that beauty into a living space.
2. How did you start Living
Simplistically?
J: It was a time when I was going through some life changes and I came to the conclusion that what I needed was to simplify my life and so I moved onto a small property nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains where I was surrounded by nature. At the time I didn’t have much furniture so I decided to make my own out of natural materials that were reclaimed from friends, local ranches and the beach. When my friend Rhonda saw a couple pieces that I had finished, she told me that I could probably sell them if I wanted to. And so she really inspired my confidence and pushed me to start Living Simplistically.
R: Sharing the
same eco practices and concerns as Josh, while being an artist myself, we
decided to form a partnership and combine our talents together to form Living
Simplistically. Our hopes are to inspire others to rethink how they decorate
their home. You can have beautiful and modern pieces made from nature and/or
recycled material in your house and still be kind to the environment.
3. Why does “Living
Simplistically” mean to you?
R & J: Living
Simplistically means exactly what our brand says. To live simple. Living in an
age where most people feel the more they have the better they’ll feel. We believe
if you cut out all the excess clutter and simplify, you can enjoy nature while
preserving the future of our planet and still be fulfilled.
4. What do you feel is your
biggest influence on your own design ideas?
R: I live in
the same Southern California beach community that I was born in, so my biggest
influence has been the beach, ocean, surfing or anything maritime. {Which is
kind of funny because I have a huge phobia of deep water and cruise ships.} Right
now all of our pillow collections have some sort of ocean influence in their
design.
J. By
far, the biggest influence on all of my designs is what I find in nature.
Whether it is down at the beach or up the mountains, it’s the beauty of the
natural colors, the lighting, the shapes, and the sounds that I find guidance
in.
5. Do you have a design or artist's
mentor, someone that has inspired you to push your boundaries? If you do,
who is/was it and why?
R: There are
so many great designers and artisans out there that I don’t have any one in
particular that inspires me. Now that artists, designers and bloggers are documenting
their talents and artwork through pictures with apps such as Instagram,
Pinterest and Vine, it broadens our access to such great talent not just
locally, but from all over the world. Keeping up on that raises the bar for me
to push my boundaries as an artist. I appreciate great design and when I see it,
I try to soak it all in.
J. See
number 4.
6. What do think is your true
"uniqueness" with your products? What sets you apart from other
home decor companies?
R: The
true uniqueness with our products such as our pillow collections are the
illustrations and the process to create the handmade product. Or the time and
craftsmanship that goes into every driftwood piece that leaves our studios. Every
step of the creating process is done by Josh or I. While having a gorgeous
finished product, at the same time we feel that imperfection is perfection
whether it be our driftwood or our pillow products.
I
think what sets us apart is our size, I always say “we are small, but mighty”.
We know how hard it is to compete with the nationally recognized stores who
mass produce, but that’s why we work so hard to have unique quality designs
that will stand out from the big box retailers. We sell to customers who are
looking for something unique to display in their homes, who appreciate the
artisan’s work, while caring about the future of our environment. We love that
online retailers like Caron’s Beach House support our work and mission.
J: For me, because we’re a small company and I build
everything myself, I enjoy the relationship that’s sometimes developed between
myself and our customers. I put a great deal of my heart and soul into each and
every custom piece that I create and I think that there’s something very
special in that.
7. Do you have any favorite
eco-green charities that you like to support?
R & J: Blood Water Mission. I
recently finished a “40-days of Water” challenge to raise money for wells to be
built and bring clean water to small villages in Uganda. The challenge was to
replace any drinks that you would normally drink with water and tally the
amount of money you would have spent on those drinks and donate it instead.
Without being a soda or fancy coffee drinker I was able to raise $192 and drank
over 32 gallons of water during the challenge. Living Simplistically matched
the donation.
8. Does your company participate in
any fun green activities in your community?
 |
| Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve Trails |
R & J: Yes, we
like to give back to our communities and help whenever possible and are active
volunteers with our local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. The two most
recent volunteer activities were the Surfrider Foundation’s “Hold on to Your
Butt” campaign where joined with other locals to comb Huntington to pick up
cigarette butts that litter our beaches. It is estimated that several trillion
cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year and are so damaging to our
ecosystem. Surfrider has recently been installing canisters throughout downtown
Huntington to help eliminate this problem.
The second
volunteer activity was January 19th on The National Day of Service
at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve to do a trash cleanup. I run these trails
3 to 4 times a week and it’s sad to see the slow build-up of trash, especially floating
in the levy. This water flows directly into our oceans.
9. What are you, Josh and Rhonda
most proud of?
R & J: We’re most
proud of the fact that we are able to keep everything we make sourced locally
and in the USA. It’s easy to get products mass produced overseas by large
manufacturers, but we pride ourselves on finding resources, whether natural or
manmade, from other small businesses in our own backyards. This helps to
generate more local economic activity for our communities so it’s a win win for
everybody.
10. Describe your perfect day at the
beach…. (surfing,
beachcombing, reading, etc.)
R: I’m at the
beach 4 to 5 times a week so a typical day at the beach for me is grabbing my 2
boxers and heading down to dog beach. They have soooo much energy that I like
to run them a couple miles along the water before I let them off their leashes
to play. That’s typically when I spot a unique shell or object that has been
washed ashore. While they’re playing, I like to sift through the warm sand and
look for nerdles.
J: I
like to collect shells.
11. If you could live anywhere,
where would you live and why?
R: Costa Rica!
I’ve never been, but I just know it’s a place that I could spend the rest of my
life there. {and often daydream about doing so}. Their way of life is so much
more relaxed and slower paced than ours here in the states. Not to mention
everywhere you look is gorgeous. There motto is “Pura Vida”, a phrase that
characterizes their culture……Pure Life! Who wouldn’t want that?
(Living Simplistically's City Pillows are Fabulous! Key West)
J: I
was surfing since I was about 6 years old and I just love the ocean. I’ve
traveled to some pretty amazing beaches around the world but there are too many
places that I’ve yet to see to know where I’d like to live. However, my ideal
place would have to be uncrowded, a tropical climate, a good right point break,
good fishing, plenty of fresh fruit, no mosquitoes, and no poisonous snakes.
12. What would you like to try next?
R & J: More
collaboration between Josh and I and our products, where we combine our burlap
with his woodworking to create another unique product customers would display proudly
in their homes.
It will be a pleasure to continue working with Living Simplistically as they come up with new ideas and new products.
Thanks again for stopping by!
(P.S. You can find Living Simplistically products on our site - simply use the search bar with the key words - "Living Simplistically")
.jpg)
