Today we’d like to introduce you to Cory Wagner.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I moved here from the East Coast to find a new start, which was granted to me in the form of a professorship at UH in the sculpture department. After a few tumultuous years, I left academia for good. I founded DumpTruckdesign in 2010 as a natural offshoot of my collaborative art practice, but this time focused on design and sustainability.
Starting a business was a dream of mine, one that I had no idea how to do as a creative. Actually running the business is something I am still learning to do, though I am a lot better at it than when I started. It was definitely rough making ends meet in the beginning, but my family and especially my wife have always been so supportive. Those little things people do to help are what get you through.
Having designed and built pieces or whole interior environments in some of the trendiest bars, restaurants, boutiques and retail shops around Houston should probably make me relax about where this is all going but I’m always still hungry for the next project. If I’m not still getting excited about the next thing, worrying about making a great statement, then I figure I probably shouldn’t be doing this anymore.
Looking back, even when my assistants and I were doing our best work, we kept pushing to be better, to be the best. Maybe that is why we are still making work. It has taken years of small successes, some real failures, and a lot of help from friends to get me where I am today.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has rarely been a smooth road. I had to buy out my business partner when I realized we had different goals and very different notions about how to run a business. We are friends again but it took time to heal those wounds. It is very difficult to understand that when you start a business, you are not just doing the thing that the business does, you are also running the business.
It is a challenge to wear so many “hats” and still maintain some sort of work and life balance. Then there are the inevitable projects where everything goes wrong, and despite your best efforts, you end up having to redo the whole thing. There are certainly many parts I consider upside or else I wouldn’t keep doing it, but there are many times that test my abilities and my patience to continue on.
DumpTruckdesign – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Here at DumpTruckdesign, we can do anything from full-on interior design for a commercial or residential client to making just the perfect dining room table for your home. We specialize in design and fabrication of custom furniture and fixtures but can work with a number of vendors and subcontractors to perform a wide variety of services. I also create sculpture and sculptural installations (environments) as a continuing part of my art practice. Basically, if you want something cool and you need it built, we are the company to do it.
We are mostly known for our commercial work in bars, restaurants, and boutiques creating highly crafted, unique and stunning items that provide a high-quality experience for the customer. Often, our residential clients find us via our commercial projects but that’s not always the case. For my clients, I think I am relatively easy to work with and I try to pry as much information from them as to the purpose of everything so that each aspect is bespoke to its use. We also keep up with technological trends in fabrication to be able to do things once not possible while still utilizing old-world craftsmanship to make the finest custom furniture and fixtures you can buy.
For commercial projects, I am proud of our work at places like Bicycle Speed Shop, Oxheart, Thistle Draftshop, Goode Co, Kolache Shoppe, Dish Society, Primer Grey’s offices, among others but I am probably most proud of the job we did for my brother’s sporting goods store, Wagner’s Outdoor Outfitters, up in Wyoming. We traveled a great distance, completely outside our comfort zone, and absolutely nailed the interior design and buildout in 6 weeks on budget.
For residential, it would be either the 6’ round Bird Leg Table or the Perforated Steel Stairs we did. Both had their challenges, and both turned out absolutely perfect.
I am also very proud that I am still able to continue an art practice, though in a more limited fashion. I stopped showing work in museums or galleries to do private commissions only and am the better for it. I think my foundation in art and specifically sculpture, is a far different approach than most take in a field that is full of those with design and fabrication backgrounds. So I believe it is important that I still make work and having assistants via the business allows them to be more complex and better thought out.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I think the proudest moment of my career thus far was finally being able to take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s this last year to spend with my wife and child.
It’s really hard to take much time off with concerns about deadlines and finances, but this year I was finally able to do it. My daughter was born a few weeks early this last May and I struggled to take off much time at all to be with her, so it made that time over the holidays so very special.
Contact Info:
- Address: 908 Winston St #A Houston, TX 77009
- Website: www.dumptruckdesign.net
- Phone: 410-736-8223
- Email: cory@dumptruckdesign.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DumpTruckdesign-211821292162424/
Image Credit:
Logan Beck, Suzanne Maraia, Suzanne Maraia
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