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ARTIST'S STORY
Helping to
preserve
the planet one "part" at a time
through functional art.
    
Steven Shaver Designs
Growing up in Los Gatos, 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 one-of-a-kind gifts, furnishings, awards
and cufflinks made from car parts, license
plates, vintage artifacts
and other recycled materials for major companies
and celebrity events.
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 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”, with their "celestial" forms and
intricate engineering 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 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. In 2003 he finally took the leap to
pursue his business full time. Life changed again in a big way
when Steven and his wife welcomed the birth
of their two boys in 2008 and
2010. Steven took over the role of taking
care of the boys and running his creative and
growing business after his wife went back to
work!
Through it all Steven's one-of-a-kind creations
have been featured in major newspapers and
magazines, shown on ESPN and made for company CEO's from GM, Ford, VW, Mercedes Benz
USA and Domino's Pizza; humanitarian Millard Fuller, the co-founder of
Habitat for Humanity; and celebrities and
achievers such as Jay Leno,
Roger Pensky, Hugh Hefner, Nicolas Cage,
Snoop Dogg, Ice_T, Ludacris, Cedric the Entertainer, Chip Foose, Dwayne
Wade, Bernard Hopkins, Helio Castroneves and
David Bing (current mayor of Detroit).
Steven has also done projects for other industry giants such as Google,
General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and Texas Instruments and his
computer part awards have been given to
recipients globally in Russia, Ukraine, Germany,
Switzerland, France, Japan, China and India.
Above all, Steven finds great
reward and motivation in knowing that his "part
art" will have lasting meaning for the
recipients and will help preserve the planet one part at a time.
"Cheers!"
Steven Shaver
Artist and Founder, Steven Shaver
Steven Shaver Designs
(310) 781-9792
steven@stevenshaver.com
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