AROUND THE BLOK. VOL. 12 - Brandon Boetto
Images by Thomas Ingersoll
We appreciate art and creativity across any industry. When we discovered Brandon and his passion for architecture & concrete design, we knew he’d be the next artist to feature on Around the Blok. Brandon Boetto is the owner of SlabHaus, a high-end, artisan concrete studio located in downtown Phoenix. His portfolio and client base speaks for itself, and we took pleasure seeing him in action.
Tell us about yourself?
I am a third generation Arizona native. I grew up in Gilbert, Arizona where I found my passion for creating at a young age. I was a full-time computer nerd growing up. I was building websites at 13 years old and always wanted to be a 3D animation artist. This passion led me to a college that taught animation, but luckily I was quick to learn that you couldn’t find a job (at the time) doing that for a living. I switched my direction to graphic design, and that was my direction for 15 years. I have always had a strong bond with good design. Whether it be buildings/cars/ print, I knew what good design looked like and how it made me feel, and I always wanted to create that feeling for other people.
Why do you do what you do?
My drive to create was instilled at a young age. I was always fascinated with gathering materials and crafting something that had a purpose/function. My tinkering started with forts as a child and led to race cars in my late teens then onto architecture & concrete design in my late 20’s. My creations these days are fuel to live a happy life. I am so excited to go into the shop every morning with an idea and figure out how that journey will lead to a finished product that will be around longer than I. The process is the passion, not the product.
Photo Credit: Baxter Imaging
What benefit does art provide to society?
I think art evokes emotion. An emotionless society would not produce breakthroughs in technology; there would be no love, we would walking flesh bags with no purpose. When I say art, I don’t speak of it in the traditional sense. I don’t mean staring at a painting and trying to feel something about it. Art is in the eye of the beholder. Anything can be art, and I think this has been seen recently with popular contemporary artist. Buildings can be art, cars can be art, clothing can be art, performance can be art. The amount of interaction with art on a daily basis is vast.
What’s your advice to others chasing their dream?
Dream big. Keep a mental picture in your head of the life you want to live and tell it to as many people as you know. I think developing a vast network of friends, family, entrepreneurs, etc. will help you in more ways than you realize at first. Find your passion first! This can take years, and there is no rush. Find what truly makes you happy to wake up every morning and make that your whole intent. Give it 100%, it will be extremely tough, but if you have that vast base of people around you to uplift you when you are down then you will get through it. It will always be tough, and there will be waves of success and failure. Don’t ever let failure stop you, learn from that and quickly push it to the side.
What is your biggest inspiration and why?
Some of my biggest inspirations have been my friends. I get so excited to see the people around me living their best life doing what they want when they want. The talented people that I chose to surround myself with also give me life. I often have coffee with creatives and business owners on the weekends to hear their stories and often I walk away so inspired that it helps fuel my drive for creation.
