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Growing up in Saratoga, California for Steven
Shaver swinging a tennis racket was more common that swinging a hammer.
Tool time would come later. He went on to study at San Diego State
University and graduated in 1991 with a B.A. degree in International
Business and completing industrial design courses at San Jose State
University. Steven never imagined that the career direction he
would ultimately choose would take him down an artistic path of creating
special gifts, furnishings and awards made from car parts, vintage
artifacts and other recycled materials. Today Steven’s creations
have been featured in major newspapers and magazines, shown on
television and made for top companies and special events
including Mercedes Benz USA, General Motors, Volkswagen, Honda, IBM,
Hewlett Packard, Texas Instruments, DUB magazine
and the San Francisco Environmental Dept.; and for celebrities such as
Jay Leno, Nicolas Cage, Hugh Hefner, Dwayne Wade, Bernard Hopkins, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and Chip Foose and for
humanitarian Millard Fuller (co-founder of Habitat for Humanity).
A broken car visor would make history…In
1996 a random trip to a Pick-n-Pull salvage yard in San Jose, CA to
replace his car's broken sun visor (he should have saved it!) would put
Steven on course for what would become his creative passion and
business. At the salvage yard he saw endless rows of abandoned old
cars from the past and marvelous looking parts half buried in the dirt.
The parts resembled something from the “stars” not just the cars, with
their "celestial" forms and intricate engineering and had a
history and a "story to tell". This was the
"ah-ha" moment! Although he knew very little about their
automotive functions, he could envision their “artistic” purposes.
Steven wanted to give new life to these beautiful treasures that would
otherwise rust away in the junkyard or be melted down for scrap, so he
took a trunk load of parts home and began creating. He furnished
his bachelor pad with his “found art” and started his business by
showing his creations at car shows, art festivals and a TV auction.
They were a hit and he knew he was on to something! Steven
developed his art in the spare time while working in the property
management field for nearly a decade. His business began to slowly
grow (with the help of the Internet) and he finally took the leap to
pursue his business full time in 2003.
In 2005 Steven and his wife Ana moved to Los
Angeles where his unique car part creations quickly became in demand as
high end awards and gifts for celebrity events such as the 2006 ESPN GM “King
of Bling” in Hollywood, the 2007 Beverly Hills Concours D’ Elegance at
the Playboy Mansion, the 2008 DUB magazine awards at SEMA and the 2009
Eco Ball.
Steven and Ana most proudly welcomed their first baby, Preston, in October
2008.
Steven plans to dream up new ideas for recycled
car parts, vintage artifacts and other interesting parts and materials
from our everyday places and collaborate with other innovative companies
with shared interests in eco-friendly sustainable design, recycling and the beauty
of cars, found objects and other industrial marvels. Above all,
Steven finds great reward and motivation in knowing that his "part art" will have lasting meaning
for the recipients and will help save the environment one part at a time.
"Cheers!"
Steven Shaver
Artist and Founder, Steven Shaver
Steven Shaver Designs
(310)542-5669
steven@stevenshaver.com
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