Sometimes in today’s modern world, most can forget the beauty in the handmade, unique, and imperfect. When I first started to build my own furniture I was on a budget so I searched high and low for free wood pallets. Once I accumulated enough of these beat-up, discolored, and broken boards I began to craft. What I found in this process of removing the stains and the imperfections was my love for the beauty that was buried underneath a life of weathering the storms. I find joy in building pieces for others because I understand the satisfaction of having furniture you can rely on for years and is also the exact vision one creates as a reflection of personal self. As my passion became a furious flame inside, my heart was open to the idea that I could use this passion, along with the gifts God has blessed upon me, to accomplish much more than I ever realized.

During one of the darkest seasons of life, woodworking became the calm to the storm that had plagued me for so long. My mind was finally clear, and I was able to receive the vision God had for my life. This vision inspired my logo and Shaw Custom Works. In April 2021. I made the decision that I wanted to make my business official and sought what it took to get my LLC and soon enough I was officially a business owner. I wanted a company that stood for something meaningful, something to be proud of, something to bring honor to my last name, and something to inspire others to never allow life to break you-to fight for what you want and bring individuals, families, and communities together.

Here at Shaw Custom Works, I feel strongly towards the local community and future generations. This is why I have partnered with the student ministry at Hope Church Johns Creek. Words are unable to articulate what the community of people at Hope Church has meant for me in my life since I moved to Alpharetta. I hope to use the gifts that God has given me to honor him and invest in the lives of others. I know that if it were not for the people who invested in me when I was a lost young boy, then I would have never become the man I am today. As a result, I have set up an essay scholarship fund consisting of a percentage of all proceeds and donations for an individual that hopes to follow his/her dreams.

This quote came to mind when I was building this company and it stuck with me so much that it inspired the tagline for the company: When you put a light inside a vase that is unbroken and perfect, there is no light shining through. But, when you shatter that vase and put it back together piece by piece and then place the light inside, the light is able to shine through creating a beautiful masterpiece. Those gaps that were left behind from the damage of the breaking was what allowed caused us to feel empty. We become insecure about yourself, thinking no one would love all my brokenness. But….. Only when we are broken can God’s light shine through our “gaps,” creating a beautiful masterpiece for the world to see him through our brokenness.

Life happens but it is the decision to not allow life to break you, but rather rise from the ashes with an intense desire to fight and become stronger than life. That is where greatness is born. We are all battling something in our lives: Addiction, heartbreak, loss, self-hatred, family issues, self-love, and the list could go on and on. My hope is that Shaw Custom Works can help others find the beauty in the brokenness of life.

Throughout the process of building this company, I battled with myself during the rough patches when I was exhausted from working all the time with the question “why am I putting myself through all this when I already have a career job that I have a passion and love for and have invested a significant amount of time, money, and energy into. That’s when a elder woman stopped me one day outside of a client’s house and asked if I could help her fix a drawer that kept falling out, not realizing this encounter was going to give me the answers I was seeking. While fixing this drawer the woman's daughter came over and as we talked about what I do she said: “have you ever thought about building adaptive furniture for children with disabilities”. I could have slapped myself in the face at that moment because I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t put my love for working with children with special needs and my woodworking together. That idea consumed my mind because for the first time I didn’t see PT and woodworking as two separate visions for my life. I saw a vision of my life that utilized the skills and knowledge I learned through PT and the skills and knowledge I’ve learned through woodwork together. This is why I am excited to provide this service to families and make it a center point service of this company.