Mathieu Deraspe

I majored in Economic Theory at a small, Midwest liberal arts school back before cellphones were a thing; eventually realized Wall Street wasn’t for me and went back to school, earning my Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon. After working with famed local developer and all-around great human, Kevin Kavanaugh of Guerrilla Development, I went on to start my own design/build studio where I’ve happily worked in the years since.

I love almost everything about what I do. I love sawdust and knife-sharpened pencils; I love talking through concepts with clients, getting creative in the details. I love talking about real estate, city codes and permits…I love it all. But most of all I truly revel in working with a person or family for an extended period of time, from concept to completion.

My creative approach—as well as my pragmatic approach—is to find points of tension behind the programmatic elements I’ve been assigned or am interested in. I do several iterations on each point and usually end up refining the one I find most efficient and effective. The old carpenter’s adage, “measure twice, but cut once” is still my favorite.

I balance my day job with personal creative work, like building furniture and backyard gardening…maybe a bit of travel back to Hawai’i for some surf too.