About us
Hi, thank you for visiting five1designs' little corner of the web. We create hand burned wood gifts and laser engraved items for just about any occasion.
Meet the team:
Zee - Worker bee
A Marine Corps infantry veteran, Zee likes to work with his hands. He has a background in information technology that he uses to maintain the online stores and write emails. He is also responsible for just about every aspect of five1designs. From coming up with the designs, burning the designs into the the items by hand (sometimes a laser does the hard work on certain items), to shipping.
Cathy - Zee's Boss!!!! (aka Wife)
Cady & Zane - recent additions (Nov '15 - makes them to young to actually work)
From Hobby to Small Business
In 2011, Zee needed a hobby to unwind from hours of working on a computer, and he rediscovered his joy of pyrography ( fancy word for wood burning ), you could say it is like hand engraving wood. At first it was mostly just puttering around in the evenings and weekends on some random gift for friends and family. In 2013 Cathy opened an Etsy shop to sell some some random items and Zee listed a couple of hand burned wood items. Those items sold, so Zee made more and after a while people started requesting that the items be personalized; Zee was happy to oblige. Now most of the items are made to order and many of them are personalized making them great gifts.
Cathy comes up with the designs and Zee burns them. When she takes a break from thinking of new items, Zee burns what he loves. He loves making personalized items for military families, first responders and law enforcement. As a Marine veteran he never got into buying military branded items but that is because most of what you find out there is mass produced with no personal touch. Since adding a laser cutter to the toolbox the shop is now able to make items that couldn't be done before. The boxes, plaques and other items are still hand painted, stained or in some shape or form go through Zee's hand before they are finished.
If you want something different, or something with character, please browse our shop. If you want an item personalized, or you have a different design idea for one of our products, please contact us. We would enjoy making something unique for you!
Testimonials:
