Gabriel has always had a love for fixing and restoring things. Since the age of 10, he has had a passion for working on cars, new and old. This passion led him to take on new challenges, and since a young child he would go to work with his dad to build gazebos, pergolas, and other home improvements. From a young age, he realized he had a talent that could propel him down different paths.
While in high school, he worked full time at a local mechanic shop. He enjoyed going to work more than he enjoyed studying, and this led him to accept a full time offer after high school as a Lexus mechanic. At the time, this was his dream come true, as he could finally put the books aside and focus on what he loved to do.
At Lexus, Gabriel quickly climbed his way up to team leader, but this meant that he soon stopped being challenged. He had accomplished his goal of becoming a head mechanic at a reputable car company, and knew it was time to reflect and explore other options.
He decided to go back to school to get a college degree, which seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He wanted to prove to himself that he was not only skilled at manual labor, but could also excel in academia.
In August 2014, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology and was in the application process for dental school. The process took longer than planned, and he was at a fork in the road as to what he should do for income in the meantime. He had the option to go back to being a full time mechanic at Lexus or become a dental hygienist. This was a tough decision for him; but both options had one thing in common – they were both safe and conservative. Instead, he took some time to really think through what his passions were and tried to figure out how to tie that together with a career.
At the time, Andrea lived in Connecticut and Gabriel would visit her often. Being Miami natives, they book took advantage of the close proximities of the northeastern states and traveled a good deal, from NYC to Rhode Island to Boston. Gabriel loved the homes and style of landscaping that he saw during those travels, especially in the beach towns of Rowayton, CT and Newport, RI. One thing that reminded him of Miami was the Adirondack chairs that were outside of almost every home. He thought to himself “I could build these – that would be fun”. The light bulb went off one day and he started building Adirondack and lounge chairs, mainly out of pallet wood. To gauge interest, he would take the chairs to an empty corner lot near the Falls shopping center on the weekends with the intent to make a couple of sales. Only a couple of weekends in, he began selling more chairs than he could keep up with. One request led to another and he soon began designing all types of furniture. He created his Etsy shop and website and has made everything from wooden sunglasses to pallet bars and contemporary style furnishings. He believes that he has finally found a way to combine his talents with something that he loves to do and will forever keep him inventing.
We hope that you enjoy these handmade products and furniture and keep in mind that for R²S builders, no project is too big or too small.
