Meet Michael Witkin of Plainfield

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Witkin.

Hi Michael, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I had the privilege of being born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. I had an incredible childhood and am thankful for the education I received there.
Upon graduating in 1976 from the University of Cape Town as an Architect, my first commission was the Mosque and Seminary in Hanover Park, a depressed neighborhood near Cape Town where I arranged to have building materials donated for its construction. In South Africa I designed low cost emergency housing units made from waterproofed corrugated cardboard and pioneered other projects including water recycling and community-oriented projects.

In 1979 I emigrated from my native Cape Town, South Africa to San Diego, California where I had a successful architectural practice for 28 years; and a construction company for 13 of those years. Besides commercial and residential projects, I specialized in religious buildings. I served as the president of the North County American Institute of Architects and chaired the design review board for the San Diego City Development Corporation for many years. Additionally, I critiqued students at the School of Architecture in design.

I moved to northern Michigan 15 years ago. The “great recession” of 2010 forced me to close my business and sell everything I owned in order to simply pay my bills. My life was reduced down to seven suitcases, two vehicles, a seven month old infant and a seven year old daughter. “Seven” has become my lucky number.
That was the year when they had one of the coldest winters up north on record with 120 inches of snow and subzero temps. I had never seen snow before having come from South Africa and having lived in San Diego. The only snow I had ever seen was on postcards or the snow-capped view of a distant mountain top.
We had no money and little food, no prospects of work, and no companions. It was beautiful though living in the forest.

After surviving two long hard freezing and soul-searching years, I decided that I had enough beauty and needed to find work and some urban stimulation. We moved to Grand Rapids where things turned around for me. Besides architectural work, I design and build furniture and charcuterie boards from exotic hardwoods and grow flowers.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think it’s important to explain what my experience was prior to leaving San Diego and moving to northern Michigan: I had lived in a rather prestigious neighborhood of San Diego, had a fancy big home on a large property with an orchard, swimming pool and a gleaming BMW. I had 5 architects working for me and above all I was connected and validated having lived and practiced there for 31 years. I had all the trappings of a successful lifestyle. Who could think that I would be reduced to eating beans and rice and buying my clothing from a thrift store?

It has not been a smooth road. Living up north was tough. We had no heating but did have a large fireplace that I kept burning throughout the day and night in winter. We all slept together huddled on the floor in front of this blazing white oak fire. I taught myself how to fell large trees and how to change and sharpen my chainsaw. I would find a dry or dead oak tree and fell it and then with a heavy iron maul I would split firewood. Pyramids of wood. This was my therapy.
We ate beans and rice for seven months and every three weeks we budgeted to buy a roasted chicken for $5 and eat it entirely. We then made soup from the bones and skin left over. I found a bakery that sold stale bread that they had collected from supermarkets. Every two weeks they had a special where you could purchase three loaves for a dollar.

I needed to improve our diet so I decided to build a 40’x40′ vegetable garden. A rather daunting task. There was also lots of deer, numerous forest critters and wild turkeys, so I needed to build a 6 foot high fence first. I managed to build the fence with staves from the forest that I fashioned with my hatchet and then I attached a collection and mixture of wire, rope and burlap with a hinged gate. It was sturdy.
The soil there is sandy and there is very little loam or humus. I found a goat farmer who lived nearby and he said I could take all the manure I wanted. I would go into the forest and rake up the leaf litter or “duff” and mix it with the manure and lots of water. I foraged around and purchased some seed and before long we were canning beets, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and peppers.

The temperature dropped down to minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit at times and with the wind chill it would get even colder; while the mucous and tears would freeze on my face. I was nothing, a nobody. “Who am I and what have I become?” I asked myself.
Was I destined to continue in darkness and endure relentless wind and agonizing cold; or would I be redeemed and find the warmth and the light? I was convinced that I was being tested and wondered if I needed to exorcise demons, some malevolence or evil spirit…
In retrospect and as strange as it might sound, I am pleased that I went through such hardship in hell, as that experience changed my paradigm on Life. Material objects and wealth mean nothing at the end of the day. When last did you see a U-Haul truck behind a hearse?

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I was taught the fine art of designing and building furniture at a very young age by my father, who was an accomplished joiner and cabinet maker. Coming from South Africa, I have always had an appreciation and respect for exotic African hardwoods and those from other parts of the world. I have a natural feel for wood and I let the material “suggest and impart” the design utilizing the natural grain, color and sapwood.
As an architect, designing and making a charcuterie board is comparable to designing and fabricating a piece of furniture. With meticulous care and attention to detail, I glue up vivid-colored hardwood strips into boards and then cut them into pieces at 45 degrees. I then flip the pieces, rotate and slide them into striking geometrical combinations that offer endless patterns and possibilities.

One project I am pleased with was a synagogue I designed in San Diego for Congregation Beth Am. This lead me to travel to a small village, Roudnice in the Czech Republic to find the original synagogue from which their Torah scroll (the bible) came from. The synagogue and all the Jews living there were destroyed in the second World War. All that remained was a facade which I recreated, in its crumbling state in a courtyard of remembrance through which the congregants walk into the sanctuary connecting them to the past and redeeming those souls that perished.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I consciously took a risk wanting to emigrate to the US with uncertainty about the outcome. America is not just another country but another and very different culture from what I was used to. I had a goal though, and that involved taking a calculated risk to achieve that goal. My aim was to leave South Africa as there was no future for me there. My perception of the risk was offset by the potential rewards to be able to live in a free and more “equal” society; a risk well-worth taking. I also took a risk starting my own business, which I did as soon as I received my California Architectural license after having had secure employment for three years. The rewards of that have enabled personal and professional development and growth to occur.
Risk taking has encouraged me to think outside the box and explore new ideas. I have learned from both failure and success in improving my decision making process.

Pricing:

• Pricing should reflect customer demand
• Pricing can determine the success of your product
• Pricing correctly can improve profitability
• Pricing displayed say on websites can foster trust and transparency
• Pricing of products can shape how customers perceive its value

Contact Info:

• Website: www.boardsetal.com and www.mwarchitects.net
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091732602706