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Managing Editor - Contributing Writer

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Dan Straub

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Constructing Flavor

Taste is everything to Dan Straub, chef and own-er of the neighborhood restaurant, Soluna Grill, on NE Fremont in Portland’s Beaumont Village.

Dan’s journey is a long and winding one that began in his parents’ kitchen and flowed through the teach-ings of various chefs on a myriad of cuisines. Dan is one of the most well-rounded and friendly chefs that you will encounter. He can cook up almost anything with ease, and you’ll know what Dan craves when you see it on the menu at Soluna Grill.

by DC Rahe

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ABOUT CUISINE

Dan Straub

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Cuisine

As a chef, what is important to you?

Flavor is the most important thing for me. I don’t make dishes just because it’s there. There’s a dif-ference between a radish picked within a day ver-sus a radish picked a week ago, even though it’s been kept crisp in a fridge. There are these fla-vor nuisances that most people may not notice. I strive daily to have fresh ingredients to achieve these nuisances—that makes all the di!erence in taste.

Is there a classification for your cuisine?

Honestly, I just go for taste. I try to make my food approachable. For instance, our meatloaf. I never thought I’d ever put meatloaf on a menu. My first version was a Kobe beef meatloaf. We used to serve Kobe steak, and it had a lot of fat trimmings. This fat provided such good flavor, so, I blended it with some chuck. The Kobe meatloaf was re-ally, really good. Since we discontinued the Kobe steaks, I had to change the meatloaf to three other meats. Chuck or veal short rib, veal and pork. Even with the change the meatloaf is still a customer favorite.

How do you decide what to put on your menu?

It’s as simple as what I’m craving at the time. That is what ends up on the menu—until I get tired of it. As you see, my attention span is very short. My menus don’t have any true theme, but if you looked over three months worth of menus you would see what I was craving to taste.

Besides taste, what else do you consider when menu planning?

I like flavors that dance in the mouth, you know, that are playful. To me a dish has to have several components. There are textural di!erences—you got the crunch, the fresh and the soft middle. I want every bite to be di!erent, not like the same-ness of let’s say, spaghetti with marinara sauce, where every bite is the same. It just becomes

something to fill your stomach. I like flavor com-ponents that can built upon, and as I said, that just kind of dance in your mouth a little bit. That, and I love spice.

What is currently on the menu that dances in the mouth?

One of the more popular things is our Kahlua pork. It has a coconut jasmine rice that’s smothered with a long braised pork shoulder and then mango slaw on top with a little bit of sweet soy. Each one of these has good individual flavor, but when you can fit them all in one piece on your fork, it’s a nice combination.

One of my favorite soups is the butternut bisque, and a lot of people serve butternut squash soup. This one I have, I serve it with a crispy bacon spaet-zle and some buchis and sage oil, and all those flavors work well together. It’s simple; I’m not try-ing to come up with some weird ingredients. If it sounds weird on the menu, then you just have to try it to understand it. It’s pretty straightforward.

Where does your passion for food come from?

My mom, and my dad too. They both love to cook. However, they each had their own approach. My mother always followed the recipes exactly, while my father was always trying something new. My earliest memories, when I was about four years old, are of helping my mother in the kitchen. I usu-ally stood on a chair, stirring whatever was in the bowl in front of me. My dad—they just both want to be gourmets—but he was more of the against the grain kind of guy. He was always tweaking the ingredients. From my mom I got the structure of how to make something, and then I got the cre-ativity from my dad.

We were always entertaining; we were always cooking. My parents did a lot of entertaining. Our house was always filled with people. For tea par-ties or dinner parties, it was always about the food. The neighborhood flocked to us. My pals would

ask, “What are you guys having for dinner?” Be-cause at their house they would be having maca-roni or Hamburger Helper for dinner. It was crazy at school—everyone wanted to trade with me. My dad made the most incredible sack lunches. I’d only give up half the sandwich for some junk food from my friends.

My mom was way ahead of her time. In the 70’s she was making Thai food and sushi before there were Thai restaurants and sushi bars. So, before the age of ten I had this early exposure to exotic tastes that stays with me. All that was a great foundation for being a chef.

After leaving your parents kitchen, what was next? Did you go right into culinary school?

It was probably my 2nd year in college—I was twenty years old, I was majoring in whatever, and it hit me… What am I going to do with my life (laughs)? It was like, okay, what I’m studying now is not what I do want to do and it was at a point of my life where my parents had divorced. It made me think, what makes me happy? And the one thing that I realized was that if anything, I can stand all day and cook. I had already been working in a res-taurant, so I knew what it takes. That’s when I en-rolled in culinary school.

During culinary school, were there any instruc-tors or types of cuisine you favored more than others?

I was curious about all cuisine. When I graduat-ed from culinary school, my instructors gave me some great connections. I bounced around to a lot of restaurants—I was young and single—I could do that. Through my network I just put it out there: “I just want to work 2-4 weeks at any given place,” and so I spent a year just bouncing to a vegetarian place, to seafood restaurants, fine dining, a sushi bar, and just picking up as much as I could in a quick amount of time.

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Not really, since our menu reflects my influence which is from cuisines from all over the world. Remember, before, I was making sushi...

Before you moved here what had you heard of Portland?

Besides the rain? My longtime friend and now business partner was always sending me mushrooms and tru!es from Oregon. He is always talking about Portland and how wonderful it is here, that it was becoming a food mecca with all these chefs flocking here with new restaurants and even food carts. It’s just one of the things I’d heard but never paid much atten-tion to. But I was intrigued.

Since Soluna is a neighborhood res-taurant, you must have a lot of regu-lars?

Yeah. Since Beaumont Village is right in the middle of two major residential neighborhoods, we have a lot families and a lot of kids here. People like to walk to our place. I’m fortunate that they’ve supported us so well. We love engaging with our customers. With

the open kitchen, people come up and say hi while they are going to their ta-ble. So I am constantly waving, show-ing o" my chicken fingers. Because we have such loyal customers, we like to keep them informed of any special events or menu changes. So we ask our customers for their e-mails, so we can send them our newsletter.

What are your plans? Opening more restaurants?

No. I am very happy with what we have here. But, when you run a restaurant, it becomes harder and harder to know what the latest trends are today. Cui-sine is always changing, chefs are do-ing some amazing things. If I could, I would love to go to all the great restaurants in Portland and work at least a week there. It would get the juices flowing to see how other chefs do things. That’s why I love Portland. Chefs have more freedom here to do what they want to do, whether it’s a good concept or not.

! www.solunagrill.com

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The best word to describe Buzz is energetic. He’s always moving while maintain-ing a positive attitude with those bright

whimsical grandfather eyes. Buzz paints for two reasons. The first is to communicate. The second is to escape the unbearable, overwhelming anxiety of being insignificant. Painting allows him to be young again, and invulnerable. When Buzz paints there is battle going on, a destructive fight and roman-tic dance, at the same time.

Buzz Siler Artist - Inventor - Entertainer - Entrepreneur

by DC Rahe

ABOUT ART

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Where does all your creativity come from?

My dad had these wonderful insights into how things worked, while my mom was very creative and entre-preneurial. While I attended Sunset High School in Beaverton, they both worked at Tektronix. My mom worked in the R&D department, and my dad worked in mechanical maintenance. I always liked to draw. In fact, I got a scholarship to study art at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That did not last long, because I was having too much fun being a disk jockey at the college radio station and playing music, so I flunked out.

In college, is that where you got into the music business?

I certainly spent more time playing guitar and sing-ing in bands than I did in the classroom. While I was at the University of Oregon I formed the band X-25 with my brother Rick. We were the opening group for the Beach Boys and other major acts that were com-ing to Oregon. The end of my senior year, we had a record on the charts here in the Northwest and we had some notoriety. Then we got a recording con-tract with Pat Boon’s label CoogaMooga. So at the end of my senior year, we packed up our four-piece band for California.

We found out that we were a very small fish in a very big pool in California, whereas here we were really hot stu!. So at the end of the summer, two of the band members went back to Oregon. I mean three months was all they could take of being humiliated by every high school band out there, and my brother and I decided we would go on as a duo. So we created an act kind of similar to the Smothers Brothers, or we did a lot of ad lib comedy on stage while we mixed a little bit of music in with it. We were much better entertainers then we were musicians. So we played in Southern California all over the place.

After about a year we still hadn’t created a record at CoogaMooga, so we terminated our contract with them and I went to work for Burt Rosen at Four Star Television. My brother and I wrote music for televi-sion specials like the Ann-Margaret Show. When we weren’t writing, Rick and I worked the nightclubs singing.

It sounds as though you had some great opportuni-ties. How long were you in LA?

Just a few years. We went to Palm Springs, I opened my own gallery the Struggling Artist in Palm Springs. I’d work days at the gallery, and nights entertaining at nightclubs. After a year or so, I discovered that I couldn’t make a living as an artist. I was making a ton of money as an entertainer and I was making next to nothing as an artist. So two or three years later I closed the gallery and gave into being an entertainer full time. But then my brother who had just gotten married, decides he wants to get out of the enter-tainment business and move back to Oregon.

So as a last hurrah, we did a European tour. We booked ourselves all over Europe at the di!erent US Military bases and wherever else we could. When we

got over there we bought a Volkswagen Van for our equipment and us. Rick, his wife, and me, traveling and entertaining—it was great fun. At the end of that summer, I bought a used Mercedes, and they took the Volkswagen to London to meet up with some friends there. I took the Mercedes up through the Scandinavian countries and eventually caught up with them back in London. I shipped the Mercedes back, sold it a week after I got here for about $4,000 more than I paid for it.

After your European tour, what was next?

I settled down in Southern California as a single singing act. I had already built a pretty good follow-ing within the Pomona Valley, which is East of Los Angeles. I’d entertain at the Holiday Inn nightclub for three months, then take o! for a month and go somewhere in the world and just to learn what that was all about. I met my future wife Sandi at the Holi-day Inn nightclub. We dated five years before getting married. After three years at the Holiday Inn night-club, I had my own fan base. That’s when I opened by own restaurant/nightclub The Cat & Fiddle.

It was a good way to transition from being an enter-tainer to being a businessman, by hiring other enter-tainers while I entertained on the side there. Sandi became my bookkeeper. After two years we got mar-ried and started our family. Now we have four won-derful and beautiful daughters.

How long did you own the nightclub?

For about four years, then we sold it and moved back to Portland so our daughters could get to know their grandparents. We fell in love with Portland over again, and fortunately, I started inventing.

What kind of inventions?

It all started with a hot tub. We installed one in our backyard, in a very romantic setting with trees and things like that over hanging it, and could not keep the thing clean. The leaves were falling every day, and that was back in the day when all they had was those little bubble packs that floated on top of the water. So, I created a cover for the spas and hot tubs, and it was made out of a nylon treacle material, kind of like a women’s slip material. Very thin nylon. So it was lightweight. Basically I just cut a gigantic circle and then sewed a hem around the outside and put a drawstring in it so it could hook over the lip of the spa. Cinch it up, and it would stay there overnight with the floating cover still inside, but all the leaves that fell on it would stay on top of the cover and then you could pull the cover o! and shake the leaves o! or throw it in the washing machine, whatever. So it was very, very e"cient. So some of my neighbors started asking me to make them for them and I did. And then finally, a light went on and I said, you know, this might sell on the market.

Fortunately, I met the publisher of Spa and Sauna magazine. I showed him the product and he said, “Buzz, you have a winner here.” He said, “I’ll invest in your product if you want.” I said, “No, I can a!ord to do it.” So he said, “I’ll give you a product release—

free.” And that sent me on my way to a very big busi-ness. Within a couple years I was selling spa covers called Spajamas to every spa dealer in America.

The next invention was because I was skiing and couldn’t keep my goggles clean. I created a simple and easy new way to clean the goggles rather than stopping and wiping o! my goggles with a cloth. I created the Ski-Gee. It looks like a swim fin for a Cabbage Patch doll. The Ski-Gee goes on your glove thumb when you’re skiing. You don’t even have to stop, you just reach up and squeegee o! your gog-gles.

What happened with the Ski-Gee?

I visited di!erent ski resorts around the US and gave tons of them away. Well, as luck would have it, I was in Sun Valley and I gave a whole bunch of them to a guy named Curry Harbor, and he was the marketing director for Life-Link. They make those quirky sun-glass straps. We sold them 100,000 Ski-Gees. Ros-signol gave away a Ski-Gee with every pair of sport optics goggles they sold.

These two inventions really gave me the bug. Once with the spa cover and now with the Ski-Gee goggle wiper. So in earnest I started to create more new products. I created the Bio-Hoop, a vomit bag which is in most ambulances. It’s a plastic bag with a cable tie along the top edge of it. When somebody throws up into it, they can cinch up the cable tie and save the contents for the doctor to see. Then police depart-ments started using the Bio-Hoop as an evidence bag. The police would go to a crime scene or even an accident scene, and immediately take the jewelry o! of the person who was in the accident or at the crime scene or their wallets and put it my bag, cinch it up and then it became non-contaminated from the site where they picked it up to wherever the lab.

These are very diverse inventions. What else?

I invented a special spray called Flavor-Mist that the dentists use on those little cardboard bite things. It is also sprayed on almost anything else that goes in the patient’s mouth—gloves, clay impressions, etc. It is available in four flavors: spearmint, chocolate, bubble gum, and berry.

Did you market these inventions yourself?

No, I usually licensed the invention to a major com-pany and just collected the royalties. That way it freed up my time.

When you were doing all this inventing, did you do any painting?

I had stopped for almost twenty years. My wife Sandi was the painter in the family. She had her own studio close to our home. So I was inventing and she was painting and one day I went up into her art studio and I just got the bug to paint again. This is stupid. Why have I given up painting when it is—heads and shoulders above inventing? It’s pure fantasy, its pure creative freedom. I don’t have to worry about the utilitarian nature of something. I can paint and do

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whatever I want to do. That was about eight years ago. Soon after that, my paintings mi-raculously started selling far better than they ever did when I was in Palm Springs. How would describe your painting tech-nique?

I have developed a very special style using both acrylics and oils and… it was a style I hadn’t seen anybody else use before. Be-cause I paint flat on a table, and so if I laid down the water based acrylics first on that canvas and then start painting over the top of the acrylics with the oil based paint, then a lot of chemically activated events happen in this mixture of the oils and the acrylics.

I think the wisdom that I finally gained after all those years was if I can stick with a style that is my own—develop it, perfect it—if there is such a thing as perfecting it, then I could make it recognizable, where somebody could look across the room and see a Siler. They would know it’s a Siler instead of a Picasso or Dali or Monroe or something like that. So these things that first started by accident, I could now recreate at will and… and… and… I began to understand what was happening between the paints, understand that if I put a napkin under the canvas, here, I can make the paint go one way or the other. If I splash water against it, it would do one thing, or even if I didn’t splash water against it… So I re-

ally started working on that technique to the point that now I discipline myself only to paint that style. And secretly, if I decide to paint something else, it never sees the light of day, I only do it for my own pleasure. But for the public consumption, I want to establish this… this technique that is uniquely mine.

Looking around your studio, many of your works are of women. It almost appears to be the same model.

I get that comment a lot. The inspiration is not any one woman. It is the many beautiful women in my life. My beautiful wife, of over thirty-four years, and I have four beautiful daughters. So over the years, I got this in-grained image in my head. It was this sense of beauty—whether it be my wife or my daughters or friends of ours or people walk-ing along the street. Essentially, I think all of us have some innate thing built within us so that we recognize a beautiful woman when we see her—whether it be beautiful eyes or a beautiful nose or beautiful legs or beauti-ful breasts. I see beauty in all women—their beautiful lips, their beautiful eyes—and so the woman you see is a combination of all these images.

When I look at this painting it appears that there are two styles going on. The face is very still, while the hair and body are flow-ing.

ABOUT ART

Hours: Friday and Saturday 12 – 5PM, or by appointment

Location: 937 NW 10th Ave Portland OR 97209 (corner of NW 10th & Glisan)

Charties: The Regional Arts & Culture Council’s Public Art Murals Program

Website: PRESENTspace.org

Founder: Nez Hallett

Popup space donated by 937 Condominiums www.937condominiums.com

Popup Art Gallery

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What do a chef, architect, special effects genius, global creative director,

TV show-runner, radio producer, screenwriter and documentary !lmmaker have in common?

It’s the creative process.

Come learn their secrets and unleash your own creative potential at the

Portland Creative Conference, Saturday, Sept. 17, at the Newmark Theater.

Portland Creative Conference

It’s a theme-park vacation for your brain.

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CONFIRMED SPEAKERS INCLUDE: 1. JIM KOUF: screenwriter (National Treasure, Rush Hour, Stakeout), producer (Con Air, Ghost Whisperer, Angel, Grimm)

2. DAVID GREENWALT: producer (X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Eureka, Grimm); writer (Wonder Years, X-Files, Buffy, Miracles, Angel, Grimm); and director (Help Wanted Kids, Double Switch).

3. ROB LEGATO: special effects supervisor (Avatar, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Titanic, Apollo 13, Armageddon and others).

4. BRYNN BARDACKE: global creative director, Coca-Cola

5. PETER RICHARDSON: Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner for documentary How to Die in Oregon 6. ROBERT THOMPSON: architect and design director at TVA Architects (Nike campus, Matthew Knight Arena at University of Oregon, Fox Tower and Proctor and Gamble headquarters)

7. NAOMI POMEROY: chef (Bravo’s Top Chef Masters TV show)

8. IRENE TAYLOR BRODSKY: documentary director (Saving Pelican 895, Hear and Now)

9. ROBYN TENENBAUM: producer (OPB’s Live Wire! radio show)10. COURTENAY HAMEISTER: radio host, head writer and artistic director (OPB’s Live Wire! radio show)

Register online at www.cre8con.com. Cost to attend is $99.

That’s the nature of my style, because I’m really not a manager of the brush. I’m more a manager of the paint itself. And so in the early stages of painting a painting, I really start o! with this pool of acrylics laying on that canvas, very wet. And then when I add the blacks, as I described earlier, that reaction starts taking place.

I paint with the purpose of trying not to show a brush stroke. And so I want to have that very liquid feel, al-most as if the paint laid itself down on the canvas rather than me putting it on the canvas. Everything I do in splashing the water against it, in making it so thick it runs all over the place, and letting the dif-ferent colors blend with each other naturally rather than me trying to mix them ahead of time and put them on the canvas—I try to do it on the canvas it-self and let those paints mix in a very liquid way. That gives me that… free form, flowing motion.

But when it comes to the faces, the di"culty you have is if you let the paint flow, you will end up with ter-rible lips, terrible eyes. I mean, they will be contorted

in all sorts of di!erent forms that are not pretty. So essentially, I leave the face area fairly blank. I only rough out in the painting when I’m doing the original part of it. I only rough out where the eyes will be. I only rough out where the mouth and nose will be. So that as it dries and I have that very liquidy figure, I can then go back in with a very small brush and start putting the details of their face in there. And for me, it’s like I’m mixing the abstract with impressionism.

Not all your paintings are of women. You have this wonderful painting of a saxophone player.

I painted Jazz Man to challenge myself. How do I de-scribe Jazz to a deaf person? So if somebody has sight but they can’t hear, what can I do as an artist to convey to them that multitude of tones and over-tones and phonetic energy that Jazz can bring to the ear? I was trying to bring that same energy to the eye and so that’s why that particular painting—like my piano painting—has so many colors in it, because that’s what Jazz does.

You had a gallery before. What did you do di!er-ently to market yourself as an artist? Did you open your own gallery first?

When I first started painting again back in 2004, I was painting just landscapes and seascapes. They were very horizontal, and peaceful colors. I would take my paintings around to the di!erent restau-rants and nightclubs, corporate o"ces, basically saying I will put these in here for free and I’ll change them out every month. Key Bank in Lake Oswego was the first place. The second place was Peemkaew Thai restaurant in the North Park blocks in the Pearl. And I have sold many paintings there. Now I have my own

gallery on NW Marshall in the Pearl, right across the street from Tanner Springs.

So you started back with landscapes. When did you start painting women?

My daughter Hope did a chalk drawing of a nude lady, and I was so fascinated by it, I decided I’d start paint-ing women and it helped change my career from do-ing landscapes into doing women. I took a right angle and… it worked out well. It was appealing to a lot of people, the women thing. So because I was selling so much, I told my wife that I would like to open my own gallery.

Three years ago on the Fourth of July—or it was the first Thursday of July three years ago—we opened our gallery for the first time. We just celebrated our third anniversary here at the gallery and every year it gets better. And now the focus this year is to not just have a gallery here in Portland, but also to get rep-resentation for my works in New York, London, Paris, Santa Fe and LA. Maybe even Chicago. So I’m actively seeking out other galleries to handle my paintings in places where I can’t be, and trying to get my name and my art out there to be recognized worldwide, not just in the Northwest.

Besides First Thursdays, do you do any other events?

Well this gallery is our living room, so every Friday afternoon we serve a little wine, we invite our friends and neighbors. We get to know them and they get to know us. So stop by next Friday!

! www.silerstudios.com

Briana Borten

The Art of Relaxation

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How are you managing in this challenging econo-my?

We are grateful for our clients. In the eight years that The Dragontree has been opened it has at-tracted the most amazing, sweet and loyal clients anyone could ever serve. I believe, in this economy we have provided a sanctuary from stress for our clients and they have kept us thriving. What a great relationship! We’ve shown people that what we of-fer is real health care, something that matters most during hard times. Recently you’ve added a spa location in the airport terminal and also new product lines?

In the last few years a lot of opportunities have be-come available to us, and as a businessperson you have to know when to hustle. You can’t wait until everything in the world is lined up just perfectly be-fore taking action—or you would be waiting forever. I mean, we have all felt the crunch in some way, but when we are at the spa it is an absolute “Economy Complaining Free Zone!”

You have a new retail product—the Imbue Pain Re-lief Patch. Where did this idea come from, and how do you plan to introduce it?

Yes, we are really excited about our new product. My husband Peter and I have worked for years with peo-ple in pain and have used all sorts of liniments and herbs to help them. Peter is a genius herbalist and loves creating formulas for people. Last year I was at a golf tournament speaking with golfers about The Dragontree and I dropped a massage chair on my foot. Man, it hurt! By the time I got home I couldn’t walk on that foot. It was swollen, and I was in a lot of pain. Peter put me on the couch and applied an herbal poultice that he had concocted. It was amaz-ing! Within one hour the swelling was gone and the pain was minimal. By the next day I was back in heels without a trace of pain! That is when we real-ized we needed to get this out into the world to help with people’s pain. In addition, we are launching a whole new line of products this month as well, so it’s been busy!

What other types of products are you launching?

We have lotions, soaps, shower gels, and a line of tinctures, all to be added to our other products that we o!er.

When did you develop an interest in massage ther-apy?

While I was in art school in Washington I was in a car accident and broke my neck. The doctors wanted to fuse my vertebrae together, which is a pretty in-tense surgery. After which, I would have had a halo screwed into my skull. My mom who was a nurse and I disagreed with the doctors; we wanted a second opinion. They didn’t want us to get a second opinion at first.

We got a new doctor who put me in a SOMI brace. It wrapped around my body and held my head still. I had to be careful because it could move on me. I was released to my mother’s care, and she owned Hospice For Utah. I’m really grateful for my mom, and I was with her for about three months. After a month in the SOMI brace I could get up and go round the house.

As soon as I could be on my feet, I moved back to Montana to live with my dad. He and I are very close. I wanted to get back to normal as soon as possible. I got my old job back at the co!ee shop I worked at in a high school. I had to be there at six in the morning and I couldn’t drive, so I walked one mile there and back even when it was snowy and cold every morn-ing. I remember thinking this is what my mom says about building character.

Besides walking to work while in a whole body brace, did you do any physical therapy?

I’ve had a few neck problems but had a lot of acu-puncture and massage to resolve that. I had bad re-actions to painkillers so I couldn’t take anything, but I had a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders that was causing me a lot of pain. I went to a massage therapist two times a week. She would work around my brace, mostly to relieve the tension in my shoul-ders. She did a lot of energy and cranial sacral work to realign things. It helped me so much. I went from severe pain to little noticeable pain. I had no idea that massage could be used in that way. At that time in my life, I thought massage was just about relax-

ing. I didn’t realize the healing benefits of massage. After awhile I started to ask her about her technique and process.

So she was basically your first massage teacher, giving you an understanding of the whole philoso-phy behind message therapy? Definitely. In the beginning I was interested in the energy work. She spoke of trigger points—that it was important to incorporate them with the entire massage. We spoke about realignment and its rela-tionships to pressure. I learned about firmness—to work very slowly while not pushing against the body. Working with the body you can go deeper. She also helped me learn to breathe, which helped relax my muscles.

Is that when you decided to go to massage school?

Not right away. After seven months of wearing the braces and working in the co!ee shop in Montana, I finally got them o!. I felt free, so I went to Europe.

How did your experiences in Europe influence you?

I spent most of my time in Czech Republic. That country is just amazing and super friendly. Their hospitality is significantly greater than what I have felt in the States. Perhaps it was just the people I met, but they established connections so quickly. They were so warm and welcoming.

And their architecture—especially in Prague, such a beautiful city—I loved how walkable everything was and that it was all local and centered. That was es-pecially true in the very small town in which I lived called "esk# Krumlov. It had stone streets and ev-erything was close by. I don’t think I left a five-block radius for about a year. Everything I needed was in that the community. I loved living there, meeting new people, and finding out about di!erent cultures and religions.

Did you go back to art school?

No. My passion is painting, but I love all art. I think it comes from my father, who is an artist. At school I decided early that I’d be a graphic designer, but the accident changed everything. I still use my arts

As the owner of one of Portland’s more recognized day spas and wellness centers, Briana Borton demonstrates that it is possible to blend business success with a healthy lifestyle. Not a typical busi-nesswoman, Briana comes from an artistic background. When you walk into The Dragontree Spa, you see her artist’s touch everywhere, in every detail. And whether you’re meeting Briana for the first time or walking into one of The Dragontree’s two locations, you will instantly feel at ease.One of the keys to Briana’s success is her strong committed purpose and passion for her business. Being a successful entrepreneur also takes an outstanding support system. Briana has that with her husband, parents, family members, friends, sta!, and mentors. Her parents and her life experiences have helped to shape her vision, strength of will, and determination. Further, all of her hard work has led her to become a model for the community. For the past year, Briana has had the honor of serving as President of the Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon.

The Art of Relaxationby DC Rahe

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background in my business—from the interior décor of our spas to the design of our marketing materials.

Tell me more about your father the artist. Did he inspire you?

He is a wonderful musician, illustrator and painter. His art style is realism and cartoon. I was inspired mostly by his process. There are other artists that inspire me, too, such as the powerful architecture of Frank Gehry. His art is amazing and he is one of my major inspirations. While walking along the streets in Italy, there are always people painting. I used to stop and watch their process, then return later to see the finished work. Those street artists inspired me in a di!erent way.

Do you have any mentors?

My mother is an amazing entrepreneur and has been very successful. She started Hospice For Utah and Hospice of Missoula. I’ve been able to really glean a lot from her amazing wisdom, like keeping your vision, standing firm behind it, and letting other people align to it rather than bending at any mo-ment. My business coach Kathie Nelson—she is my advocate and cheerleader. She has guided me with creating systems and structures. Also, Spike Bailey, my Small Business Administration advisor, he has been an excellent resource in regards to marketing and finance.

When did you open The Dragontree Spa?

I graduated East-West College of the Healing Arts in 2000, after which I got a job at the local spa. I had a lot of great ideas to improve the spa and often encouraged the owner to do things di!erently. She eventually told me in a loving way that I should go out on my own.

With a business partner, we started The Dragontree while I went back to study at the California College of Ayurveda (a traditional medical treatment native to India). I also had a new boyfriend who eventually became my husband. After about a year and a half I bought out my partner. Then my boyfriend moved his acupuncture practice into the spa. When we got married I gave him part of the business, then a year and a half ago, opened the spa at the Portland Air-port. We have been in business for over ten years.

You’re originally from Montana. What do you think of Portland? I love Portland, a beautiful lush place compared to Montana. It’s amazing to live here especially when all the flowers are blooming. I love the uniqueness of all of the neighborhoods. We live in southeast, but enjoy visiting other neighborhoods—it’s like a little vacation in your own city. I love that, and its con-venient proximity to the ocean, Mt. Hood and the Gorge.

How did you end up joining the Women Entrepre-neurs of Oregon?

I had a client who was a member of the group and in-vited me to a meeting. It was a great experience and really seemed very collaborative. People really cared about each other, really helped build each other’s businesses, not just by actually going to them and referring them, but there is also a huge educational component. I was 23 when I joined that group. Most of my friends were bartenders and waitresses and they were not starting businesses. It was really use-ful to join a group at that time in my life.

Now you’re the president of Women Entrepre-neurs of Oregon?

Since I joined nearly ten years ago, I have volun-teered in many positions for Women Entrepreneurs of Oregon. I have been nominated many times to be the president, and I always turned it down. The pres-ident right before me was very passionate and very organized. I wanted to wait until I was ready to put in as much time and energy as she had done. When I finally did accept, I was ready to thrive in that posi-tion and really help the organization thrive. It’s like running a lot of little businesses with all these dy-namic women. It has taught me a lot about running a bigger organization as well. It has been a privilege.

You’re now running a business with two locations, you’re the president of Women Entrepreneurs, you have a husband and a child—how do you do it?

You know it’s hard sometimes. I have one adorable three-and-a-half-year-old girl. She is very sweet and I just love her a lot. It’s di"cult being a mom, but especially if you’re working. You always pull tight when you’re with them, but feel like you should be working more. So that part is really di"cult.

I really like to be with her, and we just have such a good relationship. I really enjoy everywhere we wan-der and I feel rather lucky to be in the position that I’m in. For the first year and half of her life she was with me at the spa all the time, so we got to spend that essential time together. And now she comes to see me at work and everybody knows her.

And, I have a great support system. My husband is amazing. I think that he is from another world. He is just so generous, kind and loving, and he really is so supportive of me all the time. We have an awesome relationship. I feel like I have a lot of really good friends, too. And my family—I have two sisters and a brother and I’m really, really close to all three of them. And my parents, my husband’s parents, and my husband’s uncle have been so supportive of us, and really are there and help me every step of the way. -AFM-

“the accident changed everything.”

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A Passion for Green Homes Inside and Out

What is the scope of your homebuilding and remodeling business?My business is called Earth Bridge Homes. We incorporate building science into building new custom homes, spec homes, ADUs (Additional Dwelling Units), and we also remodel existing homes. We put social responsibility into every layer of the process. Your career has been concentrated on starter homes and subdivisions?For a time I built a large volume of average-construction-quality homes. I had no employees, just subcontractors. Some days I had up to 48 building inspec-tions. I walked every one of them with the building inspector, and that made for some long days. I’ve had a few pre-sales and custom houses, but for the most part they were a!ordable houses. As time went on, I found myself remodeling more and building my share of technical homes as well. I love the remodel-ing side of my business. It’s a great opportunity to integrate new construction building sciences with past ones. That is what captures my attention. It’s one of

my favorite challenges in this business.

How does design come into play?The art in artistic home, or design, is incredibly important to me. I recently won a national award from ProBuild Holdings, Inc. in Denver, CO. They flew me to Boulder, Colorado this past summer. ProBuild is the largest lumber & building material supplier in America. Earth Bridge Homes’ approach to sustainability and building high performance homes is a BIG part of our value, but without great design it would feel boring and cold.

You have done everything from larger custom homes to small cottages. We build for anyone. Whether you’re a professional athlete, CEO, or just a simple person like me who enjoys artistic modesty—we service that individual’s home desires and needs. The process of building a house can be stressful and tough to navigate. So often my role with a client is that of a teacher and coach. It’s

by David Bentley

Over two decades ago, James Small started his building career cleaning up building sites. He grew up in Southeast Portland, with deep Oregon roots. By the 1990s, James was building custom-designed homes for individual clients. Later, his reputation as

a “One Man Wonder” got him hired as the superintendent on many large subdivisions. He completed a fifty-two-home subdivision in seven months. His cool head, attention to detail, and open communication style have lead James to be a well-respected builder. James has been recently recognized as an award-winning homebuilder, implementing science, sustainability, and performance.

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James Small

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an essential part of my job. This is especially true when it comes to e!cient design. I’ll counsel a client to change or reduce the size of a home to increase its livability and its return on investment (ROI). I have turned jobs down because the homeowner’s ideas, while great, were too costly to build without su!cient ROI.

Can you give me one example? ADUs are a good example of positive ROI. They are basically a rentable living space built above a garage. Building an ADU is a very sound investment model. Homeowners already own the land, and the City of Portland is providing great incentives to increase the number of ADUs. It helps the city with increased density, it provides a"ordable housing, and it provides the homeowner income sustainabil-ity. Banks simply can’t o"er a homeowner that kind of return, nor the security, nor the financial control. This is the type of smart utilization idea that I am always exploring.

How important is green building today? Very important! Energy use is the great dividing line in today’s world issues. We need to greatly reduce our home energy use in this country because home energy use represents 50% of the total energy consumption in the US. Cars and trucks use about 25% of the total energy used in the US each year. We have done well in improving America’s car and truck energy consumptions… but what we really need to focus on is home energy use. We can easily get homes to use 70% less energy pretty quickly. I think that’s a good challenge and smart investment. We all know energy costs are only going to go in one direction. Builders can actually solve, or play a big

role in eliminating the United States’ dependence on foreign oil.

Isn’t there a real cost one has to factor in, building this way? It wasn’t too long ago that investors and banks didn’t recognize the value of green building. I had to work the system awhile before I could break away from the “good ole boys” system that is referred to as “Traditional Building Practices.” Now and then I seek investing partners in my business for projects. Investors now understand demand for responsible building. Because of some of the additional expense that comes with building in a responsible way… it took the housing market’s demand for “green” to help communicate the necessity and value.

How we build homes can have that kind of impact?Absolutely! The evidence and numbers are very impressive and hard to refute.

Give an example of how to save money and energy.Unfortunately, most builders and remodelers give up way too easy on water/moisture management and intrusions. There are many reasons for this. It comes down to understanding dew points and good indoor humidity control. It is challenging to determine right-sized mechanicals (furnace/AC/hot water) that will keep the humidity in check. Often, HVAC companies do the sizing because builders do not understand how to configure a home’s heating and cooling needs. However, HVAC companies often oversell their new ACs or furnaces. Most people do not realize they may have bigger furnaces and air conditioning units than they need. This imbalance creates a humidity problem, which plays tricks on the thermostat and with how the air feels on your skin.

Have you ever felt too hot or cold? It may be because of the indoor humidity. Turning up or down the HVAC controls is not the answer. It just wastes energy and money. There is no simple answer. ALL caulking fails. ALL windows, regardless of price, will leak. Siding will let water through. You have to just accept that and manage the water that gets behind the exterior cladding (siding system). But once it gets thru, have a plan—under the siding, under the window, under the trim and sash, under the flashing—to guide the water safely out so things can dry out. A good builder will plan for failures. These problems always show up after the builder’s responsibility is timed out. In fact, much of it shows up at the end of the second or third year. The homeowner is then stuck with tens of thousands of dollars worth of repair bills. Another issue is builders and remodel-ers are not focusing on the air you breathe in the home. If you change the air quality in your home, you change the quality of your life greatly. It is nutri-tion, hydration and clean air—for everyone’s health. That’s what drives me in this industry!

What advice would you give about air quality in someone’s home?It’s the dirtiest problem in homebuilding today. That, and the carpet industry! I think every person deserves a supply of fresh, filtered air all the time. There is more competition for air in our homes than ever before. 40% of the make-up air for your home comes from the garage (if your furnace is located there) where your car is o"-gassing, and all your toxic cleaners and chemicals are poorly stored. That can’t be good! Indoor air is a huge health prob-lem that goes largely unnoticed. In a new home it takes 9-18 months for the average new construc-tion materials to o"-gas. The real problem is the “people-related products” that homeowners bring into their home that o"-gas, making carcinogens and other pollutants that turn the indoor air you breathe into the most toxic air you breathe every day! We have the know-how to make your indoor air better than your outdoor air—every day. It’s a"ord-able and rewarding to each customer. It literally changes a person’s health quickly.

You seem a little hard on builders out there. Why? I can be... but that includes myself. As builders we have a responsibility to build the best possible home that we can. It’s in the materials and how it’s constructed.

Not long ago, everyone was a mortgage lender, realtor, or builder. How is that changing?Boom times can attract characters who are only interested in the quick buck, who build substandard homes. I have seen some pretty bad construction practices by a few greedy builders and subcon-tractors. I believe not enough builders know and understand building science. Ninety-seven percent of the new homes built in the last twenty years do not stand up to good building science. This economy has been a real shakedown in the building industry. Personally, I feel this has been a good thing as we all start over. We need to build homes that last for multiple generations.

You build homes that look like they came out of the 1920s, yet your new homes in Sellwood seem old and modern. What style best represents your company? My favorite home to build is one that’s in the rustic modern style—any size, anywhere. The houses I am completing in Sellwood are modern Victorian with

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James Small continued from p. 62international interiors. Those houses will soon be fea-tured in a few national building magazines. They are also some of the poster child homes for the Oregon Building Codes Division’s Green Building Initiatives for 2012 and beyond. But the core of my business plans since the late 1990s have been in the 1920s Port-land style, with large front porches and very period touches throughout. When completed, they look like well-preserved, 85-year-old homes.

It’s obvious you have a passion for this business. Growing up, I was raised more or less in a vegetarian family. I grew up here in Southeast Portland. Today, my dad has a vineyard in the South Salem Hills, which we have been farming using organic standards for over twenty years. I share the responsibilities of the vine-yard with my dad, and we love what we do. We grow and sell grapes to about five local wineries each year, which in turn, produce Gold and Silver winning bottles of wine. We were organic long before “organic” was cool. Organic farming was my pathway into building green, energy-performance, healthy-air homes. My transition into “green” was steady and gradual. Or-egon’s Tilth Certification (in the organic food move-ment) helped bridge my path into green building as well and sensitized me to a holistic approach to healthy living. Yes, I’m very passionate about building science and human health.

What are your charitable activities? I think giving is a lifestyle and it comes from one’s core values. Long before I was building houses I was dedicated to helping young people. I mentored young people and helped my own generation find

their paths. I spent some years working with troubled youth as well. I spoke with large groups of school kids at summer camps in Alaska. The suicide rate in Alaska is extremely high among young people, and I wanted to have a positive a!ect on that issue.

Do you feel that “giving spirit” plays out in your business? You don’t always have to make money to be success-ful in a building project. The very first house I built on my own as a builder was for a youth pastor in 1992. He had little money, but he was impacting thousands of Portland’s youth. I valued his contribution to the community, so I volunteered my time to build him a home. The way I look at it, my donation will save him money so he can focus on his work helping Portland youth. There are builders out here that are financially very successful, and some of them sit on their piles of cash struggling to find ways to become relevant in a community. I believe that at the end of one’s life, it won’t be about money when you’re lying on your deathbed. The only thing that will matter to you will be those who you loved and those who loved you! So you pay it forward?Well it’s not always easy, but not impossible? I re-spect the value of a dollar. I like to think I control the dollar in my life and that it doesn’t control me or define me. I believe in good business and community support at the same time. I admire people that give what they can to impact people’s lives directly and in-directly. Being a part of that is what wakes me up in the morning.www.earthbridgehomes.com

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What do you feel is the biggest trend in architecture today?

Green, sustainable, and restorative design is the most significant trend in the past twenty years that we are experiencing as architects. Prior to that it was the role of computers in our work for visualizations, research, analysis, and construction documents. The two trends merge with our rapidly evolving un-derstanding of how buildings work through building science, measurement and verification and modeling of energy performance programs to predict energy performance, and the ability to analyze materials for their life-cycle implica-tions. Sustainable design is evolving into more than just a trend. It is eliciting a profound change in our expectations of the built environment and architects’ response to how buildings are conceived, engineered, built and maintained.

In the last couple of years, what has changed in the way you do business?

Since starting my architecture firm in 2005, I have specialized in the design of new custom homes. Currently, half of our projects are new homes, and the other half are major remodels. Three, four, and five years ago, I was designing homes in Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Texas, Arkansas and Hawaii. I am now more focused upon homes in Oregon, although we are currently wrapping up the drawings for a home in Alaska and another in Baja. My o!ce has undergone a number of other transitions, primarily in response to the lagging economy. I have reduced my sta" from seven to three, moved my o!ce from Salem to Portland, trimmed overhead and non-essential expenses, reduced the number of professional or-ganizations I belong to, and cut back on the time I used to devote to non-profit board positions, non-compensated speaking engagements, and mentoring students.

Where do you look for inspiration?

Nature is my best source of inspiration, especially for light, texture, form and space. One example of this is the gentle asymmetrical curve of a sand dune, which has been integrated into a number of our designs. Experiencing homes by other architects is also inspirational, especially the work of Alvar Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright, Harwell Harris, and E. Fay Jones. What each of these architects has in common is the orchestration of space as sequence, scale, and light—from the time you approach their homes to the process of moving through them. Most of us have experienced similar sequencing as we walk through nature—rounding corners on a trail with a surprise around the bend, being drawn to a light-filled clearing, noticing the variation of scale in an overhead tree canopy, or enjoying the intimacy of sunny niche. And when it comes to the design of curved objects, those found in nature are superb: devil’s claw, the tendrils of grape vines and wisteria, unfolding ferns, and seedpods... to name a few.

How would you define sustainable building practices, including LEED?

Harmless buildings. We can now not only envision, but cost-e"ectively engineer and construct buildings that produce more energy than they consume, collect more water than they use and provide healthier indoor air quality equal to or better than the out-of-doors. LEED is simply one tool that we use to measure the design and construction of a building’s environmental performance. The LEED green building rating system is one of the most important tools we have had to guide the design of environmentally responsible buildings. Not all green buildings are created equal... there are multiple shades of green, as there are multiple levels of achievement associated with a LEED certification. Fortunately,

Designer of Harmless Homesby DC Rahe

Architect Nathan Good is well known as a leader of LEED design in the Pacific Northwest. He spe-cializes in projects that bridge environmental performance with character and aesthetics. Nathan uti-lizes a collaborative design process, actively engaging his clients, contractors, and consultants. When design-ing a project, he strives to reduce its environmental impact through thoughtful site planning, an aggressive reduction of energy con-sumption, water savings, materials selection, and enhancing indoor air quality and durability.

Nathan has received numerous awards: “Western Home Award” Sunset magazine, “Excellence in De-sign” Environmental Design + Construction mag-azine, “Custom Green Home of the Year” National

Association of Home Builders, “The Root Award” Portland Spaces, “Top 50 Architects in the Northwest” North-

west Home and Garden magazine, “2000 Energy Manager of the Year” Association of Professional Energy Managers (APEM), “2003 BetterBricks Award” Northwest Energy E!ciency Alliance, and one of the “25 Green Building Leaders in the Pacific Northwest” Sus-tainable Industries Journal.

In addition to those mentioned above, Nathan’s projects have also been featured in the following publications: Alaska Airlines, Time, Solar Today, Ultimate Northwest, Cabin Life, and Fine Home-building.

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we now have other rating and performance feedback systems to utilize that supplement, and, in come instances, exceed the LEED criteria. These include the Living Building, Net Zero Energy, and Passive House certifications.

Can you explain LEED in more detail?

There are four ways to use the LEED rating system: a) as a framework for the education of architects, builders, consultants, and clients about the energy and environmental implications of constructing and occupying buildings, b) as a performance target and road map for the design and construction of a building, c) to recognize the achievement of individuals and organizations who contributed to a LEED-certified building, and d) as a basis for financial and tax incentives, reduced insurance rates, and higher building appraisals. Some of our most meaningful projects have utilized all four of these. There is very little di!erence between the posting of ingredients and nutritional value on the side of a food carton and the listing of a building’s performance for energy, water, indoor air quality and material use.

I am a TQM (Total Quality Management) junkie from my days as the campus architect at Sandia National Laboratories. Through TQM design methodologies, I learned the importance of data collection and feedback information systems. LEED provides a convenient organizational structure to measure the energy and environmental performance of the buildings we design, providing us feedback during design in order to optimize our intentions.

What are the major construction di!erences with LEED over “normal” meth-ods?

It is possible to achieve a LEED certification for a building that is not that much di!erent than one that meets our State of Oregon building codes. When that is the case, the most significant di!erence is the record keeping and documenta-tion during design and construction in order to prove that the building’s perfor-mance criteria were met. There are some common elements that do distinguish

high performing LEED certified homes from normal homes. In general, LEED certified homes have substantially higher levels of thermal insulation, less air infiltration, more e"cient heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, materials that are locally sourced (within 500 miles), indoor materials that are less harm-ful to the indoor air quality (low or no VOCs, no o!-gassing of urea-based form-aldehyde), products with more recycled content, less water consumption, and quite often... some form of on-site energy generation.

Why should homeowners want a sustainably built or LEED home?

All of our clients have di!erent needs and aspirations for their new home, and that includes variations in their interest and perceived value with a sustainably designed or LEED certified home. Some of our clients focus upon energy per-formance, while others are more interested in reducing their domestic water use and capturing rainwater. We have yet to work with a client who asks us to design a home for them that uses more energy, is larger than they need, and is less healthy to live in. Our client’s initial intrigue with LEED is usually its organi-zational structure of energy and environmental considerations associated with the building of a home. As with most goals for a home’s design (like the size, budget, and aesthetics), environmental performance goals are common with our clients. And how does one know if they are achieving energy and environ-mental performance goals if they don’t measure and document their results? One reason we recommend LEED to our clients is so that it may serve as a ba-sis of performance for the builder and their sub-contractors. Though all of our homes could achieve a LEED certification, that’s just how we design them, many of our clients prefer not to seek a LEED certification for various reasons: they don’t have a need for the certification and associated recognition, they don’t want to add the rigor to their project, resale value with the LEED certification is not relevant to them, or they prefer not to pay for the associated costs for LEED registration and documentation.

Does it take longer to build a sustainable home? Does it cost more?

We are finding that it does not take any longer to build a sustainably designed or LEED certified home than is comparable to “normal” homes. There is some additional time required on the part of the builder and the individual responsible for the LEED documentation, but none of their time falls within the critical path timeline for a home. My o"ce usually does not charge a premium for homes of our design that are pursuing LEED certification. There is occasionally a modest charge by the builders of our homes for LEED certification, mostly for the time to track the targeted points. We recommend the use of the skilled LEED personnel at Portland’s Earth Advantage Institute to provide the LEED documentation and performance testing services, for which they charge a modest fee ($4,000 +/-).

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Sustainably designed homes generally cost more than “normal” homes, due to more care and atten-tion being devoted to their design, the enhanced insulation, high-performance windows, energy-e! cient heating systems, the addition of Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs), more durable and longer-lasting products, and the use of products that are composed of recycled content and void of VOCs and formaldehyde. Most of our homes in-clude a collaborative eco-charrette early in the de-sign, design-phase energy modeling, and various performance tests (like blower door and duct blast test) during construction. These do add some ad-ditional cost (and value) over a normal home. That being said, once you factor in the cost savings as-sociated with our e" orts to design as small of a home as possible to meet our client’s needs—there is often a net cost savings. For example, if a clever design results in a 2,000-square-foot design rather than a 2,250-square-foot design, the reduction of 250 square feet at $150 per square foot renders a $37,500 savings, which is enough to pay the in-cremental cost for enhanced insulation, triple pane windows, an ultra-e! cient heat pump furnace, an ERV, and a multitude of green interior fi nish products.

What is the design and construction timeline for a new home?

The time it takes to build a new home depends upon a number of factors, such as size, site conditions, the builder and the availability of their sub-con-tractors, the project’s budget and most of all... our client’s expectations for the quality of their home’s construction. If we assume the design and con-struction of a moderate 2,250-square-foot green home on a slightly sloping lot with municipal utili-ties nearby, a construction schedule between nine and twelve months is reasonable. Larger homes tend to take longer than small homes to build. How-ever, one of our smaller homes was designed and built like a piece of furniture and required approxi-mately two years to construct. We designed a small 400-square-foot structure for the Breitenbush Hot Springs community and a 2,500-square-foot home in Arkansas that each have taken over eighteen months to build, in part due to the structures being paid for without bank loans and in part due to the limits of available labor.

How about remodeling and/or adding on to an ex-isting home? What are the restrictions and ben-efi ts of these sustainable practices?

The scales are currently tipped to favor remodel-ing over new home construction, due to the low cost and availability of existing homes. In today’s market, the cost to buy land and build a new home usually exceeds the cost to purchase and modestly remodel an existing home. But, that too depends. A couple of our recent projects have been to bring

older homes up to the same performance standards as our new homes with regards to energy e! ciency, indoor air quality, comfort, daylighting, and materi-als. For these projects, the cost di" erential has been equal to the cost of a new home. There is a higher risk of discovering unforeseen costs with a remodel, like wood rot, mold, materials containing asbestos or lead, faulty wiring, or less than adequate struc-tural support. It is important for us (as design pro-fessionals, builders, and societally) to develop and implement cost-e" ective remodeling techniques to transform the vast number of existing homes to the standards that will be required by future genera-tions.

Please describe your building philosophy.

By working closely with our clients and involving contractors, craftsmen and consultants early on in our projects, we create innovative buildings that are energy e! cient, lifestyle-oriented and in character with their surrounding environment. We design all of our projects to a) respond to unique climate, site lo-cation, and context, b) facilitate craftsmanship and lasting value, c) recognize the health, energy and environmental needs of our clients, and d) exhibit grace, elegance and delight.

When hiring an architect, what is the most impor-tant question that should be asked?

Based upon the needs and aspirations we have shared with you for our new home (or remodel), what challenges do you anticipate with the design and construction?

www.NathanGoodArchitects.com

AFM

Nathan Good continued from p. 66

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Randy Sebastian48

ABOUTFACEMAG.COM

Quality Comes Firstby DC Rahe and David Bentley

Randy Sebastian is a true local—he was born and raised in Oregon City. He started building homes in 1984, and since then has worked

to improve and refine the homebuilding process. His work continues to reflect his enthusiasm and excitement. Randy has a passion for what’s right in a home. With his artistic eye and unparalleled knowledge of the construction industry, Randy has become one of the area’s most acclaimed homebuilders.

Randy has led his company, Renaissance Homes, to be the largest builder of new, 100% green homes in Portland, Ore-gon. Renaissance Homes uses the nationally recognized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification process and their own Living Green building process, encom-passing energy e!cient technologies and innovative green products. The LEED rating standards are divided into five major categories: sustainable site development, water savings, energy e!ciency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Randy and his team have won over forty Street of Dreams awards, including six “Best of Shows.” Randy is dedicated to creating homes of unparalleled quality and value. He has a competitive spirit and strives for excellence in everything he does.

ABOUTGREEN BUILDERS

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Program Level Marks

Organization Level

Project Level Marks

USGBC LogoPage 7

Chapter LogoPage 8

Member LogoPage 12



LEED LogoPage 14



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ABOUTFACEMAG.COM

49

Why did you become a homebuilder?

In 1984, I was 20 years old studying sociology at Portland State, wondering what I was going to do with this degree. While at college, I was also work-ing at a local gym. It was there that I met a guy who was not much older than I was, who was building houses. His story intrigued me. It appeared he really enjoyed what he did. It was also during this same time period that two movies came out—Wall Street and Raiders of the Lost Ark. One is all about money and the other is about working outside. I’ve always loved working outside, and I wanted to make some money, too.

I built my first house in Southeast Portland with my dad and uncle when I was 20 years old. I knew right then that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I am a hands-on guy, and I have had the great fortune to learn the trade from some great contractors.

How did you get selected for the Street of Dreams?

The Home Builders Association of Portland, Oregon is the organization that runs the Portland Street of Dreams. They select builders based on their expe-rience, construction quality, and homeowner sat-isfaction. In 1993 at 28 years old—with only eight years experience as a builder—I was chosen for the 1994 Street of Dreams. The house was called “Slender in the Grass.” To my surprise, it won every award that year—it swept it.

Over the years you have received forty Street of Dreams awards, including six “Best of Shows.” How did that a!ect your business?

The public votes for those awards, and we certainly marketed the fact that we won them. Over 100,000 people walk through a Street of Dreams house. We learned from those awards what the public wants, so we incorporate those award-winning ideas into all the homes we build. We use the same materials, the same contractors, to build our clients’ houses that they have seen from the Street of Dreams homes we’ve built.

What does it take to put together one of your luxury subdivisions?

You’ve got to believe in yourself. I knew we could do it. I knew it was a risk. At the peak we were doing three hundred home subdivisions. When the economy slowed down we got stuck with a lot of empty lots. I have discovered that the best size for a subdivision is thirty to forty homes. That’s what we are doing now.

How did you react to the crash of 2008?

It came on fast, but slow enough that it appeared it was not going down that far. When it started, we had a lot of land and houses to sell o!. We concentrated on sales to lighten the balance sheet, and, sadly, laying people o!. We tried to get the boat lighter every day—to survive.

You had hundreds of people depending on you for a living. How did you deal with the cutbacks?

We had one hundred and eight employees and over one thousand subcontractors. When sales slowed down we had twenty people per month layo!s. It

was hard to do. We had to layo! good quality, expe-rienced people. It was especially di"cult laying o! sta! after we had invested a great deal of time and money into their career development.

These people had been with you for years?

Most of the layo!s were recent hires. For the most part we have been able to keep our long-term sta! that have been with us ten to fifteen years. Now we have a core of twenty-two people.

What happened with the housing market was out of your control. You’re a competitive guy who strives for excellence—what did you say to your-self about this?

I had to come to grips with not having this huge com-pany. I was riding this big ship. I discovered that I am the boat. I realized that when everything is stripped

away, you’ve still got yourself. That’s pretty powerful. I still have the knowledge, I am competitive, and was able to move forward. I figured out what I am best at, and that is still building homes.

How was your brand a!ected?

Our brand is quality, and we have stayed with it. In fact, we have raised the bar by building better homes that are LEED certified. I know we have a lot of people watching us and cheering us on as we weather the storm. We are fortunate that we have made all the right moves. I’ve done this for twen-ty-six years. I’ve seen all markets. This is certainly the toughest market. Today I rely on things that I learned in the eighties. When it comes to the deci-sions, you’ve got to make ones that lead to building a quality home.

“Our brand is quality…we have raised the bar by building better homes that are LEED certified.”

50

It doesn’t seem like you hit bottom—would you say you went through a reboot?

There was never a day that was the bottom. We went through a metamorphosis—every day we had to get better, get leaner, get stronger. You come through something like this a better company.

You are known for large custom homes in the sub-urbs. Now you are building homes in the City of Portland?

We still build large custom homes on large sites, and we are doing thirty to forty lot subdivisions on the Westside, in Lake Oswego, and in West Linn. In the city of Portland we’re building new, vintage-style homes. They’re LEED certified. That makes them energy e!cient and keeps the utility bills down under $200 a month. The homes have modern floor plans designed for the way people live now with modern kitchens, large master suites, and great rooms that flow.

Is building LEED more expensive?

For a builder, the first couple of LEED homes can be expensive because of the learning curve. The addi-tional cost is about $5,000 per house. The customer gets a house that doesn’t leak, doesn’t squeak—above all, it’s healthier to live in. The heating bills are roughly half those of a non-LEED home. The cus-tomers feel better that the construction materials were recycled, the dirt was hauled nearby, and it has a smaller carbon footprint.

Building LEED—it’s not just feel-good, it’s a good return on investment? LEED might have started as a feel-good, but it has evolved into a dollars and sense. We know the value of building a LEED home. It sets our homes apart from our competitors. We tell our clients that if it’s LEED built, it’s built well because of the attention to detail in every aspect of the build. Renaissance Homes have always had a great return on invest-ment, and now that they are LEED certified it’s even better.

In the past your business grossed over $200 mil-lion per year. Now you are looking at $40 to $80 million. How has this changed your business?

I am having more fun in the $50 to $80 million range then I was with the large company. We had o!ces in Bend, Seattle, and Lake Oswego. We had mid-dle managers, we were going all the time, we were chasing it. Now we have one o!ce in Lake Oswego, a fifth of the employees—I now have the opportunity to spend more time on design and where to build. We’re not just chasing big num-bers. We’re still building amazing homes for our clients. It’s a slower pace. I’ve gotten used to it, and I like it.

What other services does Renaissance Homes provide?

We’re bringing our high quality new construction practices to high-end remodeling. We can take a house down to studs, and put it back together as a new Renaissance Home. Our advantage is that we have a design studio where our clients can select all the elements for their home. Then we’ll buy everything direct and install what they’ve selected in their home. In addition to our design studio, we have model homes all over the area where clients can see specific packages. We have had many clients ask us to remodel their home based on one of our model homes.

Where does your competitive nature come from?

My dad was a marine and my mom was an environ-mentalist; I’m competitive while being compassion-ate. I believe in high standards—for myself, and my business. I’ve been a competitive bodybuilder my entire adult life. In the last few years I have been training for triathlons. In a triathlon, it’s you against the clock. You’ve got to swim 2.4 miles, ride a bike for 112 miles, and run a 26.2 mile-marathon, all within seventeen hours. I love that challenge. This last November I completed my first Ironman Triath-lon. I am now in training to do another Ironman this fall in Tempe, Arizona.

Is working out in the gym your stress relief?

I work out every day. The gym is my country club—it’s where I work out with my friends. Exercising

is a great way to start my day. It’s how I get my endorphins up, which then last the entire day.

What are you doing to give back?

With my friends, employees, or subcontractors, I’m their free personal trainer. I share workout routines, diets, and other advice. Also, I love to fish and I enjoy teaching others. And now with the Ironman, I chal-lenge everyone to go for it. People say they couldn’t do a triathlon, but I say you can. It’s all in your head. You can do it. I believe in encouraging people to push their own limits. If I can inspire someone to achieve more, I feel I have had a really good day.

The real estate industry has given me so much. I created the Renaissance Institute to share this opportunity with young people. The Renaissance Institute is a real estate training program for recent college graduates. This three-month, on-the-job training program prepares graduates to be trained and licensed real estate assistants to work for top real estate professionals. Eventually, they’ll become top producers with their own team.

www.renaissance-homes.com

AFM

52

Friday, September 28th, 2012 was the first of a three-day celebration for Quintana Galleries that featured

an exhibit called Passages: Celebrating 40 Years, kicking off Quintana’s yearlong 40th anniversary celebrations. The timing coincided with Quintana Galleries Day, as declared by City of Portland Mayor Sam Adams. This exhibition is still running and features the works of prominent artist families from the Pacific Northwest that illuminate their family stories and celebrate not only this moment in time, but also their journey—across history, geography, aesthetics, and most of all, across generations.

On September 29th, the second day of the opening celebrations, the Portland Art Museum held a performance with the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation Gwa’wina Dancers, the Hesquiaht Nation Dancers and the Git-Hoan Dancers of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Nations. The performance was sponsored by the Native American Art Council at the Portland Art Museum. It was a rare opportunity to witness the music and dances important to Northwest

Coast ritual. That night, the audience was able to experience the combination of storytelling and live dance, firsthand, as a testament to the fact that the culture is thriving and will continue to do so for future generations.

Quintana Galleries was started in 1972 with Cecil and Rose Quintana selling Southwestern American jewelry and other items out of a retail shop in Old Town. Over the years the shop evolved into a Native American art gallery. Cecil and Rose ran the gallery from its opening in 1972 until 2004, when Rose retired and Cecily (their daughter) took over as director. Recently, Cecil retired, but he still comes in and helps. Come by and experience it for yourself at 124 NW 9th Avenue in the Pearl District. Their doors are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30am to 5:30pm. Check their website for more upcoming events: quintanagalleries.com

!"##"$%#&'%(%)*"+,-$&./&0%"*#&12,-+"-"&3"((%*,%# by DC Rahe

Photos by Kevin McConnell

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ABOUTFACEMAG.COM

d.c. rahe – screenwriter – presenter – author – instructorversion was a kobe beef meatloaf....

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