Meet Jay Shafer. He’s the founding father of the Tiny House Movement, the George Washington of simple and sustainable living.
After completing a Master’s of Fine Arts in painting, Jay did what anyone with a Master’s Degree would do – he went to work at a grocery store #sarcasm. Soon thereafter, he founded Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, and for the past 18 years has been building and living in homes that average 400 square feet – a far cry from the average U.S. home size of 2,600 square feet. His newest project, Four Lights, offers blueprints and building services for newcomers to this architectural sub-culture. His inspiration for design (and life) comes from the teachings of his grad school art professors:
“Composition in art is always about what is necessary, and eliminating everything else. If it’s not contributing to the composition, it’s weakening it. So I just figured that the same thing goes for every work of art, and every life. If it’s not contributing, it’s weakening.”
Jay isn’t the only pioneer in the Tiny House Movement; several others are championing simplicity through design, functionality, and space utilization. Kirsten Dirksen, a co-founder of Fair Companies, explores this growing movement and its pioneers in her documentary We The Tiny House People.
Design is an integral part of life, and doing more with less is often better. Here are a few examples of the Jay’s work:
Think people should hear about this?