Michael “Bug” Deakin is an artist who re-captures amazing wood, fallen trees, old barns and chicken coops and buildings that had to come down, and remakes them into gorgeous furniture, new buildings and treasures. Along with two other Amazonian beauties (I was by far the shortest and least impressive), I visited Heritage Salvage in Petaluma today to tower over Bug and smooth the way for him to make 8 gorgeous, unique tables for my cohousing community for less money than any artist should ever have to make.
Bug is everything you’d want a man named Bug to be–funny, smart, warm, creative, committed and with great forearms. His business cards are made from cedar and smell wonderful. Legendary redwood sitter Julia Butterfly Hill just spent 3 weeks camping in her bus on his property. As a parting gift, he fashioned a strangely erotic knob for her vehicle’s entry way.
His website shows you scores of articles written about him, and why he’s special. For my community the idea of commissioning extraordinary tables made from 15 inch Fir captured from the liberty building in Sausalito is pretty compelling. Now if we could only get Bug to create his brilliant, perfect, timeless, unique pieces for free, I think we’d have a deal.