About Jason
Bartorius Artistic Wood Creations, or Bartorius AWC, is the passion-driven project of Jason Bartlett, who has been an Arizona resident since the early 1980’s. Jason spent the last two decades devoting himself to the community as a member of Arizona law enforcement, which was been a rewarding and enlightening experience to say the least. As that career moved towards its end, Jason had a strong drive to go back to his woodworking roots.
Woodworking was a part of Jason’s family long before he was born. His grandfather started working in the California plywood industry in the 1930’s. In the 1950’s his grandfather moved his whole family to the Philippines where he worked in the lumber industry for over 30 years. Jason was born in the Philippines and when he was four his family relocated back to the United States; at which point his grandfather opened a business geared towards supplying wood and custom millwork to cabinet shops. Jason worked in the industry all through college and also several years after graduating. He used that time as an opportunity to learn from both the people he worked with and the customers he catered to. While working in the industry Jason also built a strong bond with his grandfather, who had an infectious passion and childlike vision of what could be created using woods of all varieties.
Jason definitely caught the woodworking bug from his grandfather and that drive has been the inspiration behind Bartorius AWC. The focus of this small business is the creation of unique, original and eye catching work pieces; not for the purposes of mass producing a few specific items because they are “hot sellers”. Each item created will be a one-off and will have characteristics separating it from any other item produced out of the shop. That is not to say pieces will not at times share similarities, but what Jason has found to be the most fulfilling part of creating these items is following the road that leads to their individual completion. More often than not, those roads take a different direction every time and that’s where artistic creativity really comes out.