Meet Sara Butorac | Woodworker & Creative Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sara Butorac and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sara, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I answered 3 questions from the list – I hope this answers other questions in the interview.

Where are you from and how did your background and upbringing impact who you are today?

I was born in St. Paul Minnesota, but moved to Louisville, Kentucky when I was 18-months, so I have no memories of that time. However, my parents grew up in St. Paul and their families still live there. My mom studied art in college, and she (even though she will not take the compliment) is one of the best artists I’ve seen. She taught art class, but when she started having kids she stayed at home to raise us. I have a brother who is 18-months older than myself, and a sister who is 2 years younger. My mom brought art into the home however she could. I remember her making an ABC chart for us, and every letter had an illustrated object – A was an apple, and so on and so forth. She drew coloring books for us, and painted rocks with faces on them. I had a wandering eye, and at 7-years old I had surgery to correct it. I had to wear an eye patch for weeks and she drew big fancy eyes on them. The neighborhood kids saw it, and then they all wanted one. My mom says that at one point she went outside and saw all these kids playing with eye patches on.

When we were old enough my mom enrolled us in pottery classes, and she always encouraged us to draw. My other two siblings didn’t love it as much as I did, I loved it and dove into art more and more as I got older. When I was younger it was all about drawing, figure drawing in particular, but my mom focused more on classic art genres: drawing, painting, ceramics. One summer in high school I audited a college figure drawing and while my school wasn’t known for its art program I was able to take a special AP art class my senior year with another student and began to build up a portfolio.

I’ve always felt extremely fortunate to have been accepted at Washington University early decision and to have had the opportunity to take art classes in my freshman year. I had no idea, of course, what I wanted to do “for the rest of my life” when I started college, but as I learned about graphic design I began to understand how art could be a career and I knew that is what I wanted to pursue.

When I came home for the summer after Freshman year, I told my parents I was enrolling in art school, with graphic design as my major. Mom loved it, and my Dad famously said, “you’re crazy! You’ll make $8/hr for the rest of your life!. It was 1994, no one had PC’s, color printers were outrageously expensive so my school didn’t even have one, and the possibility for accessible graphic design art branding was just starting to boom. While pursuing my design major I took a few classes in sculpture and woodworking and absolutely loved it.. Creating functional art was an immediate passion, I learned how to use some shop tools, but remained focused on design as I completed my degree and began my career as a graphic artist.

Now I’ve been a brand designer for over twenty-five years in the Bay Area. I’m grateful with my good fortune and success that has allowed me to work on amazing variety of products through all the stages of branding: the initial product concept, color schemes, logos, fonts, and packaging. Currently I am VP of design at a wellness company, essentially a creative director, with 10+ amazing people on my team.

Before I started at the wellness company I took several months to decompress and get excited about the new opportunity. It was during that time I was looking at a bunch of old wood in the front yard, just some redwood planks from a fence or an old post and I started thinking about making something from all this wood sitting out on the side of the house. I settled on trying to make a planter and I bought my first circular saw and a real power drill. Then everything took off, I made the planter and then added wheels because when it’s full, it’s heavy as hell. The idea of making something with my hands, that was also functional, was (and is) extremely gratifying. A planter turned into redoing an old Landstorm Bedroom set and other throw away furniture. This led me to realize there aren’t a lot of knob choices I liked, so I went to MacBeath hardware and bought finished small sheets in all these beautiful woods and glued them together. Knobs then led to picture stands, picture stands to cutting boards, cutting boards into whatever challenges come my way.

What value or principle matters the most to you?

My number one value is a verb–it’s create. I must be active in creating. I try my best to create every day. It’s my soul’s food. I also try to be as authentic as possible, to use intuition as my guide, and not get too stuck in my head (it’s very hard). When I am able to do this the combination of colors and grain seem to magically start working together as I let things flow. I read a phrase from a famous graphic designer whose name I cannot remember, who said he uses “informed intuition” to work. I love those two words together. I think they are perfect.

What was your thought process about starting your own business?
To be completely honest there wasn’t a lot of thought behind it. The pivot happened during Covid. Woodworking saved my sanity. At that time I was working out of a 10’ x 10’ tent on our back deck (I am now lucky enough to have a garage as my shop), and any break I had during work and on the weekends I would go out there and create. It may sound weird, but I love sanding. There’s something just so meditative and rewarding about sanding – you are in the moment and watching something change. It kept my mind occupied during those trying times, it kept me more sane. I started making more and more, and then I thought – why not try and sell some? Our house was under a thousand square feet, and I needed to get rid of some boards – especially with my husband and I both working from home. The holidays were approaching, and I decided to create a square space store. I sold out of almost everything, and I thought – you know I should start an LLC. I can write tools/materials off!

I now mostly only sell at events like the Renegade craft fair and local fairs. I tell people – I love creating! but I am not great at selling. I learned that keeping an online store was really time consuming as all my products are one-offs. Taking pictures, photoshopping, writing descriptions, posting, shipping, it wound up averaging about 30-45 minutes per item. I try to stay competitive with my pricing, and if I really charged what I should, the prices would be too high. I learned that live events are better for me because I love interacting with people. It’s really gratifying to talk about my process and the woods I use, and to be able to express my passion..,I do think, however, that having an ecommerce store would really make me grow. What I tell people is that if they are interested in a board, a stool, a checker board, a couch arm table, etc to email me (sara@marin-woodworks.com). Also, it invites them to be part of the process and design their own item. If anyone out there knows of an easier way to post one-off items for sale online, I’m all ears 🙂

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in San Anselmo, about 30 minutes from San Francisco. My home away from home is a place called the Lodge. My husband and I go there at least once a week, it’s within walking distance from our house, and the people there are just incredible.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to dedicate this story to my mother.

Website: marin-woodworks.com

Instagram: marinwoodworks

Image Credits
Pictures with me in them: Christina Minutoli All others: Me