The Functional and the Ferocious: CustomMade Development Team Favorites

CustomMade.com is a stage for expert creators to showcase their skills; behind the scenes keeping the show running stands a colorful staff with a totally eclectic range of personalities and styles. In a recent burst of summertime whimsy, I thought it’d be fun to take a snapshot of each CustomMade department’s favorite custom finds of the moment.

The Stalwart CustomMade Development Team has a wide range of tastes when it comes to custom

Meet the CustomMade Development Team: a swashbuckling crew led by their fearless Chief Technical Officer Ryan Detzel.

Ryan was born in Ohio and raised in Massachusetts, and though he prefers computers over really any other pastime, he says he usually digs modern art and décor.

CustomMade CTO Ryan Detzel at the helm

Surprisingly, when asked about his favorite find on CustomMade, Ryan responded “I’ve always found the Gourd Lamps from Gourgeous Creations amazing.”

Gourd Lamp - Seasonal Tree Design by Gourgeous Creations on CustomMade.com

“You wouldn’t typically see a squash as a lamp; it’s something outside the box.” Just to clarify to readers, he adds that he wouldn’t eat the lamp.

Senior Web Developer Danner Claflin is known around CustomMade as the resident unicycler, juggler, fire-breather, and jack-of-all-trades, so it’s not surprising that he loves three vastly different CustomMade creations.

Senior Developer Danner Claflin has an eye for functional art

He admires the Aficionado Guitar by Batson Guitar Co. :

El Aficianado by Batson Guitar Co. available on CustomMade.com

“This guitar appeals to my love of new-tech guitars with classic styling. Side-vented with a clean top surface, the guitar exudes class. Beautiful presentation of wood, functional art.”

“Scott Cawood’s metal cityscape coffee table “Annapolis” is fun and would go great in a waiting room. Industrial style, not sure what I like about it other than the originality and way detail is added based on the base material used.”

Annapolis Coffee Table by Scott Cawood available on CustomMade.com

And as a true computer nerd and lover of machines, Danner loves Gary Johnson’s Custom Wood Clocks. “Wooden geared clocks! Taking wood admiration to a new level, a clock defines precise skill on part of the maker. Playful, exotic, elegant, fantastic and after all that, useful. I love the almost steampunk victorian lets-you-see-what-its-made-of quality, which is part of the beauty of getting a custom piece to begin with.

Clock Works by Gary Johnson Custom Wood Clocks, available on CustomMade.com

So Ryan and Danner are both into functional art – custom creations that are surprising, cool-looking, and above all useful. Across the development pit sits Senior Developer Ken Hoffman likes primary colors and keeping his style simple.

Senior Developer Ken Hoffman, when not writing code or bounty hunting, likes custom objects with historical references

Hard-pressed to choose his favorite find, under duress he picked the Elephant Sword by Omega Artworks.

Elephant Sword by Omega Artworks available on CustomMade.com

“I’m reading a book about history and I’m at this part about the dark ages, so…” So custom swords are on the brain! This sword is made of carbon steel, the long curved blade echoing the elephant’s trunk that decorates the hilt.

Last but not least, the style guru of CustomMade’s web development team: Senior Designer and Front End Developer Steven Trevathan.

CustomMade's Senior Designer Steven Trevathan loves high contrast as his photo shows - he loves when objects create motion and involve the viewer through simplicity of design

Steven’s taste is usual quite minimalist. He likes things that are simple in nature; he’s into high value contrast, and images that drive a lot of motion but still focus the viewer’s eye. His motto is ‘as few elements as possible to convey as much as possible.”

Steve’s favorite CustomMade items of the moment are Jory Brigham’s side table’s.

Side Tables by Jory Brigham available on CustomMade.com

“They’re like a pair of little wooden robots ready to start walking, totally weird…they remind me of probe droids,” and this week the Mermaid-painted Aluminum Weathervane by Eaton Studios, Inc. caught his eye. “I’m not totally sure why I love it…it’s a little surreal while on the contrary being super vibrant…it caught my eye immediately, and the more I look at it the more it grows on me.”

Mermaid - Painted Aluminum Weathervane by Eaton Studios Inc. on CustomMade.com