Building Brand Recognition with David Pingrenon

  “I’ve got three really cool tables I’m about to pour. One is a Viking table, and I ordered a full-size Damascus ax, a shield, a drinking horn, and some bone runes and stuff that will all go in the table.”  

• David Pingrenon

  Welcome to a brand new episode of The Epoxy Business Podcast. Today, your hosts, Steve Larosiliere and Jake Latvala sit down with David Pingrenon from Rotten Stump Creations, based out of British Columbia. David is an Ol Loggin Epoxy distributor and one of the relatively few Canadian representatives on the West Coast.   “I just got sick of doing the day job and was looking for something to do. I’ve always liked making stuff artistically with my hands, and I like stuff that comes from the art side of your brain, writing poems, playing guitar, things like that. It’s just not blue-collar work.    So I had a friend of mine, he’s on Instagram as well, and I saw he was making tables, and I thought it was cool. The first table that came out was just this awesome swirl of brown and gold. I’m not even a fan of those two colors, but together they made this great scene with the wood in the backdrop, and I went, ‘Oh, I wonder how hard that is.’    I just looked into it and asked him a bunch of questions. I’ve done a lot of woodworking in my life, so I just thought, ‘Hey, you know what, I’m just gonna try this out.’ So I grabbed the hardest table I could think of, which was a solid color with a clear on top, and I figured if I could make the hardest table work, I could probably do this. They came out looking really nice, and I just haven’t stopped since then.”  

• David Pingrenon

   

   

Starting with a Bang

  David’s approach to tackling the most challenging table he could do right out of the gate is one that took some bravery but has paid off. It was also a great way to test the quality of the epoxy he was using. Poorer quality epoxy will create problems with bubbles in clear pours if users don’t have the right viscosity or cure time to allow those to escape. By jumping right into the deep end, David forced himself to learn exactly what and what not to do early.   “Everybody’s got nice tables but me. I build a coffee table, I put it in my living room and take some pictures, and then it gets sold, and it moves on. So I do have a nice coffee table pretty often, But they’ve got to go out the door.   I’ve got a burl piece of acacia, and it will look awesome. It’s going to look so good. That’s our table unless someone offers me a stupid amount of money. It’s just going to stay in my living room this time.    I try for the content, but sometimes you’re just in there going away, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I should have videoed those seven things, and I didn’t because I’m in the zone.’ I’m listening to music and trying to cut, stir, or pour. Sometimes putting the content up is an afterthought.”  

• David Pingrenon

  For many woodworkers, delivering quality content comes second to making the pieces of furniture. However, making the most incredible projects in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t properly showcase them to your audience. So always budget time and energy to document your process and projects correctly, which will pay dividends.   Facebook: Rotten Stump Creations   Instagram: @rottenstumpcreations