Our Inspiration
Clarence Anthony "Tony" Key, Sr.
Appalachian culture exemplified the importance of human connection, non-material goods, and living a simple life full of laughter. The region's inhabitants were blessed with the ability to incorporate the region's natural beauty and resources into the functionality of their craftwork. Through their craftsmanship and homesteading practices, the people of Appalachia lived out their values of self-sufficiency, community, and a sense of pride in their handiwork.
My late grandfather, Tony Key, embodied these values in his day-to-day life. Making his living as a carpenter, he created all manner of structures ranging from small carvings to grandiose farmhouses. Regardless of the complexity of his works, they persisted through generations, and the bonds that he created with his neighbors were as strong as the joists in the houses that he built. Eggs from his chickens, fruits from his trees, and vegetables from his garden fed his community, and he often found himself seated at his neighbors' dinner tables directly across the guest of honor: the goose that he raised from egg to chopping block!
Every autumn, my brother, our cousins and I would spend hours out in the backyard, gathering pounds of pecans for my grandmother to sell. Whatever she couldn't sell, she would make into praline candies. We'd pick the leaves from his sassafras trees to create file powder, a common thickener for gumbos, all the while taking care to sidestep the ever-growing fire ant mounds. Those were the happiest years of my life.
Tony Key passed away soon after the arrival of my first child, and as I grappled with the reality of juggling fatherhood with my career, I came to the realization that the life that I was living ran antithetical to the life my grandfather lived. At the time, both my wife and I worked jobs in the midst of a society that demanded much of our time and energy. We often found ourselves at the behest of arbitrary deadlines and supervisors who demanded enthusiasm from us for projects and goals for which we had no passion. The most jarring realization was that there was no real sense of ownership for what I was doing. Though we've always had a passion for knowledge and wished to pass this to our children, we found that we spent all of our time learning skills to make us more marketable to people . Rather than live to work, we worked to live.
For the past 2 years, this has been a consistent topic of discussion for me and my brother. It quickly became apparent that many of our friends and family felt similar disillusionment after failing to see the future that we were promised if we studied hard and got into good schools. We may not be in a position to quit our 9-to-5s, but we believe that the key to our happiness is creating something that frees us from the constraints of corporate America and, more importantly, encompasses the values instilled in us by our grandfather. My brother inherited our grandfather's carpentry skills and eventually converted his garage into a woodshop. My wife Devin and I chose an avenue that utilized that power of scent and its ability to evoke nostalgia.
We hope for our business to encourage others to find their spark, and recognize the beauty in life. Each of our products carries a piece of my childhood and my grandfather's influence, and I hope that you can find some joy in them, as I once did.
- Ronald Porch II