Juan Jimenez is the mastermind behind Built From Salvage, dedicated to transforming reclaimed building materials into high-quality craft objects with a sustainable grain.

American Steel: What do you do?
Juan Jimenez: I build beautiful custom furniture from salvaged materials.

AS: Why do you do what you do?
JJ: Because it’s really labor intensive.
AS: Okay, but really?
JJ: I think there’s a lot of opportunity to reuse building materials, and, considering we don’t have infinite resources, I think it will be a lot more common in the future.
AS: So do you consider yourself the Avant-Garde?
JJ: No, there are already a lot of people with a great understanding of our untapped potential resources, innovating out of salvaged, reclaimed and eco-engineered materials, but it will become even more popular down the road — globally, it’s an ecological imperative.

AS: Besides being necessary for the health of our planet, is there something extra that using reclaimed materials adds to your work?
JJ: Yes. There is the personal fulfillment of not being so dependent on new things, and there’s also the character and look of the final product; it’s indescribable. A lot of my clients love to see a rusty nail as part of a perfect piece — it’s distressed, but that doesn’t mean it’s rustic.

AS: Where do you get your materials?
JJ: People remodeling their homes, people who distribute construction leftovers. They scout out materials and then come to me because they know something can be done with them. An architect once brought me a bowling lane and wanted me to make counter tops. It was challenging: it wouldn’t even fit through the wide belt sanders.

AS: How is being in Oakland important to your work?
JJ: My community is here. I’ve been in the Bay Area almost twenty years in the building trades. I did finish carpentry, furniture, and cabinetry, but I was frustrated. I wanted a bigger challenge and the independence of doing things my own way. Now I have built up a network of people in the construction and salvage industries. I get most of my materials from scrap yards and referrals. Plus, I get the great diversity of Oakland; that’s really attractive to me. I get to meet people from places that I didn’t know existed, geographically.

AS: Where did you grow up?
JJ: I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela.
AS: Isn’t that a very environmentally forward-thinking city?
JJ: All of Latin America is, really. But they could do more. So could North America. The environmental movement, we’re still ruled by corporate money; it’s what determines the importance of environmental facts. But there are people creating an impact — small creative businesses in pursuit of a better world.

AS: How does American Steel fit into that?
JJ: It’s a big creative hub; it’s evolving, and it still has a lot more to put out. When I first moved here, the potential seemed huge, and it turned out to be bigger than I thought.
AS: How’s that?
JJ: It’s inspiration. At times when I’m frustrated with work, all I have to do is step out my door and just go wander. And then practically, I manage to work hand in hand with other creative minds.

AS: What collaborations have you had with others in the building?
JJ: I’ve had people do metal work for me, and Doug Kittredge from Anarchitectural just organized a group of in-house artists to renovate a bus.
AS: In reality, “bus” hardly describes the masterpiece that the four-bedroom traveling hotel became — complete with kitchen and bath, custom woodworking and fabrication, gray water and septic. The talent to do all this came from within the American Steel community, making it one-stop shopping for this kind of project.
JJ: We have the potential to evolve into an even deeper, more organized community. It’s an indescribable cultural asset, to have this diversity of talents under one roof. American Steel has a lot to offer the city, and the whole Bay.

AS: Do you live near work?
JJ: I live in Berkeley. I have a big, edible garden. It’s very convenient. I ride my bike to work a lot when I don’t have to move materials or tools. It’s a fifteen-minute commute, and sometimes, when I get home, I just go on a ride because I’m all warmed up.

AS: What is your next big adventure?
JJ: I am beginning to prototype a small furniture line of reclaimed, salvaged and eco-engineered furnishings that are easily repeated. I love custom work, but I eventually see myself having a small crew working with me, and having a little bit more time to get creative. I want to build items that will last a lifetime, something people can hand down to their kids. And it’s sustainable in that sense, too — less stuff going into landfills.
AS: Well, your work is far too beautiful for such a fate . . . Thanks for your time!