The Story Behind JEAGS

What began as a family tradition of creating handmade Christmas gifts eventually grew into the partnership we now call JEAGS.

Like many families, we've always enjoyed exchanging Christmas gifts. As our extended family continued to grow, buying gifts for everyone became less practical, so we started a tradition of making them instead.

Every year became a new creative challenge. Our Christmas gifts ranged from James' photography and Echo's cross-stitch projects to homemade seasonings, handcrafted ornaments, Jolly Rancher vodka infusions, and many other creations we made together. Each Christmas gave us an opportunity to learn something new, challenge ourselves, and create gifts that were personal, meaningful, and made with our own hands.

One year, Echo suggested we make handcrafted hardwood pizza rockers and wooden knives for our family. The response was overwhelming. Everyone loved them so much that many refused to use them because they thought they were too beautiful. Instead, they encouraged us to start selling them. We thanked them for the compliment...and politely said no.

The following year we created handcrafted wooden spatulas and spoons for Christmas. Once again, our family encouraged us to sell our work. Once again, we politely declined.

Then the pandemic arrived.

Like so many others, we suddenly found ourselves spending much more time at home and looking for a creative outlet. Woodworking was something we had both enjoyed growing up, and it gave us the perfect excuse to spend our weekends together. Every Saturday and Sunday we rolled our tools out of the garage, turned our driveway into a woodworking shop, and started creating.

What began as a way to stay busy quickly became much more. It became an opportunity to learn together, solve problems together, express our creativity together, deepen our love of the craft and each other, and spend our weekends doing something we genuinely loved. Before long, woodworking wasn't simply something we did—it became part of who we were.

Every project is a true collaboration. We each bring different strengths and perspectives to the design and building process. James naturally gravitates toward precision, symmetry, and clean lines, while Echo is the free spirit who sees beauty in flowing shapes, unexpected combinations, and artistic details that might otherwise go unnoticed. A project may begin with one of us, but it almost always ends with both of us leaving our fingerprints on it—and, if we're being completely honest, occasionally a little blood, plenty of sweat, and a few choice words along the way. Thankfully, the finished piece always reminds us why we started.

As our skills grew, so did our enthusiasm. For years James was the one looking for an excuse to buy another tool. As our projects became more ambitious, something unexpected happened—Echo became the one encouraging the next tool purchase as she discovered new techniques, new possibilities, and new ways to bring her ideas to life.

We also discovered that many of the boards others might pass by often held the most character. Rather than hiding knots, unusual grain patterns, and the natural imperfections found in hardwood, we learned to embrace them, allowing each piece to tell its own story. No two boards are ever exactly alike, and that's one of the things we love most about working with wood.

Eventually, Echo signed us up for the Women's Club of Playa del Rey Makers Market. The response was overwhelmingly positive and confirmed what our family had been telling us for years. Soon afterward, JEAGS was officially born.

The name JEAGS is an acronym formed from the first names of our family in birth order. It reminds us that this business was built on family, creativity, and the simple joy of making something together with our own hands.

More than anything, JEAGS reflects who we are. We are husband and wife, but we're also best friends. We genuinely enjoy spending time together, and creating something with our own hands has become one more way to strengthen a friendship that has always been at the heart of our marriage.

Our hope is that long after we're gone, the pieces we've created together will still have a place in someone's home, still be used and enjoyed, and perhaps even become part of the memories shared around a table with family and friends.