STUART DONLAN
"Under Our Noses,"
Olivet Craftsman Jason Beam
Explore Jason Beam's path to being a a high end craftsman, as well as his building process.
Near the city limits of Olivet sits a small timber-framed workshop, the atmosphere imbued with the scents of freshly cut walnut and white oak, and the air punctuated by sounds of craftsmanship. There, in concentration, is Jason Beam, an Olivet native whose career is predicated on his ability to seamlessly blend beauty and functionality. He is a furniture builder.
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From a young age, Beam was obsessed with the process of creating things. “My grandma would watch me and I would go down in her basement and just make things. Hot glue guns, and sewing machines, and all this stuff she had. And I would just spend hours, and hours, and hours down there,” said Beam. The son of a clock repair man, and the grandson of a draper, Beam was never far from his next potential project. “I had access to all sorts of tools, and machines, and materials. You know, they always encouraged me to make and to do.”
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After graduating high school, Beam would choose to stay local, attending Olivet College. Gary Wertheimer, professor of art at The University of Olivet taught Beam during much of his time at the college, specifically focusing on sculpture. “He's got terrific hands in the parlance of my discipline. It means he can control materials really well, [his] sense of craftsmanship is impeccable,” said Wertheimer. “I’ve been here 38 years, and you can count on one hand the number of folks like Jason.”
Custom furniture is an expensive investment, so why do some people choose to pay that price? Listen to hear from experts in the field on why.
It was not just Wertheimer that Beam made an impression on. Thia Eller, a fellow professor of art at The University of Olivet said, “Jason was just very creative taking the tools he had around him and resources, and putting them together and creating something out of that.” Eller continued, “I will say, when you say Jason Beam, we all know who you’re talking about, and that’s not the case with every student. He was here 20 years ago.”
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After graduating with a bachelor's degree in art and design, Jason would continue to live in Olivet while working for the Eaton County Youth Facility. While he liked his job with the county, he always felt like his calling was in creating things. He was always doing projects of his own, but his opportunity to get into the professional world of making would eventually come, and it would be from within his own family.
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Joe Beam is the man behind Beam Custom, a high end, custom furniture business out of St. Joseph that has been working with some of the nation’s top interior designers for over two decades. He is also Jason’s uncle. “He [Jason] was working a job where he wasn't really doing anything artistic, you know. So I kind of had that in the back of my mind and always felt like, he could, you know, excel in what I do,” said Joe Beam in an interview. Flooded with work and feeling like he could use an extra set of hands, Joe reached out to Jason about helping him around the shop.
For over a year, Jason would regularly make the hour and a half commute from Olivet to St. Joseph to work under his uncle, learning the ins and outs of the business, and quickly proving himself with his abilities. "He was a natural. I mean, he was just good," said Joe Beam. Having shown that he was capable, the two decided that Jason would take on his uncle's east coast clients with his own separate business. Thus, Beam Artisan Workshop was born.
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"A lot of these clients are really picky, you know, very wealthy people who expect high quality. And so I was just like, okay, Jason's either going to have it or he's not," said Joe Beam. "Obviously he's got it."
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"I don't want to say he was hesitant, but I think he was probably a little nervous," said Jason Beam about his uncle's decision to have him take on his clients. "I don't really have a woodworking background, so he kind of took a gamble I would say."
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Now over three years later, Jason is still operating out of his Olivet shop, building furniture from it's initial concept all the way through to the completed project. "He's really right under our noses here in town, and most people don't even know what he does," said Wertheimer about his former student's current work. "People like Jason that do custom furniture on the high end, you have to have a lot of confidence in your abilities, in your hand skills, and your ability to problem solve. He's a real artist, he's not just a furniture builder."