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ARTIST'S STORY
Helping to save
the planet one "part" at a time.
    
Steven Shaver Designs
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 company CEO's from GM, Ford, VW, Mercedes Benz
USA and Domino's Pizza; celebrities Jay Leno, Nicolas Cage, Hugh Hefner,
Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Cedric the Entertainer, Roger Pensky, Chip Foose,
Claus Ettensberger
and Helio Castroneves; athletes Dwayne Wade, Bernard Hopkins and David Bing
(also mayor of Detroit); and humanitarian Millard Fuller, the 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 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 family moved to Los
Angeles where his unique, one-of-a-kind 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 in 2009
created the last award the for the late Millard
Fuller, the co-founder of Habitat for Humanity,
and started 2010 by creating gifts for 55
executives and celebrities attending the North
American International Auto Show in Detroit
Michigan.
Steven plans to dream up new ideas for recycled
car parts, vintage artifacts and other
interesting parts and materials from any
industry and collaborate with other innovative
companies with shared interests in sustainable
design, recycling and the beauty of cars,
vintage 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 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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