Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Shelton.
Hi Jeff, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have a small architecture office in Santa Barbara. We treat each project like it is our only project and our last project. I was born in Santa Barbara and have been fortunate to have had most of my projects in this small enclave between the Santa Ynez mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Luckier still, I have ten projects within six blocks of my office. Life is good.
After Architecture College at the University of Arizona, I worked for my mentor, Frank Robinson. Then I worked in Los Angeles for nine years, primarily for Brenda Levin down on Flower Street. I moved back to Santa Barbara in 1994 to open my own office. It was a goal of mine to bring artisans back into the building process and to make sure that the design and construction process was enjoyable. I was intrigued by the notion of embracing Santa Barbara’s unusual historic architectural guidelines. The guidelines, however oppressing, have kept Santa Barbara from the infection of the mini-mall and from thoughtless developers coming in and wreaking havoc in this beautiful part of the world, just to make a quick profit. Instead of fighting the seemingly stifling restrictions, and instead of copying the past, I have tried to find the essence of what makes the compressive plaster buildings of southern Spain and northern Africa delightful, and to create something only found in Santa Barbara.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has all been a lesson, from not being accepted into Architecture Schools in California, to designing adobe buildings with my mentor Frank Robinson, to laying out refrigerator units in the basement of the Grand Central Market, to finding my first client in Santa Barbara, pretending that I knew something about nineteenth-century Spanish Architecture. Persistence is the key to everything. One lesson would be to not have any fear. Have respect for the strange system, know the codes and rules better than anyone, learn how to draw cross sections, then go forward, don’t look back. Another lesson is do not design to try and make review boards or any other critic happy. Don’t try and think about what others are looking for. This will create mud and beige ideas. You must become the best critic of your own work. Put everything you have into the project, don’t hide, then let people react to your ideas. Be willing to have your heart ripped out. This way, you will always end up with at least a well thought out project.
I have been fortunate to work with the same team of contractors, Upton Construction for, 28 years. This has made communication clear and productive. For the last three decades, we have used the same local workers and artisans to create our projects. My brother David Shelton fabricates all of the ironwork for all of our projects. This is something that cannot be sourced out anywhere else. Our projects are delightful work sites, where clients end up begging for the project not to end. At that end of one of our projects, a client referred to this construction team as “The Merry Band of Artisans.”
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As we developed a great relationship with the contractor, we created our own process for making custom materials and architectural details. We created a line of tile, fabric and lighting. Early on in my career, I couldn’t find what the buildings needed in catalogs and in stores. We now have a line of Cement Tiles that are available to the public, as well as a line of fabric designs. Typically, new tile and fabric designs and patterns are created for each project. Along with David Shelton Studio and Saul at Santa Barbara Art Glass, we fabricate all of the lamps we design. California Pottery & Tile Works creates all of our custom ceramic tile, extrusions and pots. I mention these particular trades because these people make designing possible and are part of the system. They live inside my pencil.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
When I throw a Frisbee, that makes me happy, especially a two-finger forehand that anhyzers, then waxes, then wanes, and flips into a flat glide just a couple of meters before it reaches the receiver’s hand. When I design, I try to find that same moment, on a blank sheet of white vellum, when it is quiet. I then fight to make sure the moment is not lost as the plans come to life, and then I make sure that the rest of the Merry Band of Artisans find the moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: jeffsheltonarchitect.com
- Instagram: @jeffsheltonarchitect
- Facebook: Jeff Shelton Architect
Image Credits
Jason Rick, Chris Jenkins
