Check out Kirk Wells’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirk Wells.

Kirk, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
This little business started with the idea of creating a smoker specifically for seasonings that would allow me to slow smoke salts, sugars, and blends. In early 2014 I had this crazy idea and spent my evenings and weekends in the garage building this smoker off the top of my head and crazy imagination. I didn’t even share with anyone what I was building so somehow that statement of “well Kirk is just in the garage working on his contraption” began being a common saying. Using random parts from the hardware store, sheets of wood from around the garage and crazy imagination I persisted in putting my “contraption” together. When something didn’t work correctly, or I ran into a roadblock, I would just put it away, clean up the garage, and walk away. Inevitably, in the middle of the night or early morning within the next few days I would end up with an “ah ha” idea of how to solve the problem or a different way of looking at things.

Near the end of 2014 “contraption 1.0” was working and producing some pretty nice smoked salt, sugar, and seasoning blends I had been dreaming up. I shared samples of my smoked seasonings with some close friends and got quite a few enthusiastic responses of “turn this into a business…I want to buy some!” So I did. The name in itself is a whole other story..but the business and branding began.

I officially launched Whiskey Oak Seasonings in January of 2015 with an Etsy store and Facebook page. Soon after, with the help of a close friend, we started building the official whiskeyoak.com website, and I also decided that I needed to share my product at local farmers’ markets. I actually visited every farmers’ market within a reasonable distance from my residence and made a huge spreadsheet of notes on each. This also led to the realization that if I was to sell my “Small Batch Crafted” Smoked Seasonings at a Farmers’ Market, I would need to increase production…contraption 1.0 would only smoke about 3lbs of seasonings at a time and still had some kinks to work out… so production on Contraption 2.0 began and later Contraption 3.0. Then in 2015, the opportunity arose to leave my career in tech, and I have never looked back!

I am now selling my product at farmers’ markets all around the SF Bay Area, whiskeyoak.com, etsy.com/shop/WhiskeyOak, have been included in several gift box offerings and have an ever growing list of boutique retailers.

Follow your dreams… life is too short. Maybe that crazy idea will work out and maybe it won’t, but you will never know if you don’t try.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Small batch crafted Smoked Seasonings – Smoked Salt, Smoked Sugar, Smoked Steak Seasoning and Smoked Pork & Poultry Seasoning!

These salts, sugars, seasonings and seasoning blends are all slowly smoked with natural hardwoods for hours resulting in an outstanding flavor with a hint of smoke. This process creates a smokiness that will tease your palate and sense of smell. This smokiness is not intended to overwhelm your taste buds, but rather kick the flavors up a notch. Use these seasonings in place of the off-the-shelf variety in everyday cooking to add something special.

Using my smoked seasonings will actually bring more “grilling” flavor to your BBQ, and you can bring the taste of cooking outdoors to the food that you prep and cook in the comfort of the indoors.

And yes, they are even vegan and gluten free!!

What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
The success of a small business, such as mine, lies in the hands of the consumer and the joy it brings to their family meals. Owning a food business is interesting because EVERYBODY is a potential customer, we all need food. I ask every customer to share their impressions of my smoked seasonings and…boy do they. Not a single market goes by without at least one customer dragging their friends and family to be introduced to my small batch crafted products. Many times I get to sit back and watch as they ask their friends to smell my smoked sugar and watch for the smile and exclamation “Smells like BBQ!”

Having customers return over and over to re-stock as well as share with friends and family is what makes it all worthwhile. Paying the bills doesn’t hurt either 🙂

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Campbell Farmers’ Market
San Mateo Farmers’ Market (CSM)
Saratoga Village Farmers’ Market
TreasureFest at Treasure Island
Facebook Festivals

https://www.whiskeyoak.com/

Plus retail locations (ever expanding)
https://www.whiskeyoak.com/retail-location/

Contact Info:

• Address: Whiskey Oak Seasonings
  2500 Masonic Drive
  San Jose, CA 95125
• Website: http://whiskeyoak.com
• Phone: 408-314-5320
• Email: kirk@whiskeyoak.com
• Instagram: @whiskeyoak
• Facebook: facebook.com/WhiskeyOakSeasonings
• Twitter: @whiskeyoak
• Other: etsy.com/shop/WhiskeyOak

Image Credit:
Kirk Wells

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.