A
s the founder of travel-clothing company
Pashko, I travel a lot for work. You name the
far-flung city, I’ve been there. I encounter a
lot of long, sleepless nights in hotel rooms,
but instead of using that extra time to pore
over new clothing concepts or designs, I’m
online, buying woodworking tools.
My passion for woodworking started
when I was young. Growing up in Fullerton, Calif., I
liked building those wood-and-glue model airplanes,
boats, and homes. I worked really hard to adapt them
to make them into whatever my imagination came up
with, not just what the instructions told me to do.
My dad noticed that I had a knack for problem
solving and started asking me to help him with reno-
vation projects around the house. From there, I began
creating things for myself: surfboards, benches. The
scope of the projects kept evolving along with my
skills and curiosity.
Today, when I’m not at the Pashko office in
Manhattan, I’m at my home in upstate New York. It’s
an old converted barn with a lower-level space where
horses or tractors were kept decades ago. But now, it’s
my workshop.
When you step inside, you’re hit with the smell of
sawdust from fresh-cut mahogany I’m using to build
a 1930s Runabout Barrel Back Boat. It’s surrounded
by my cherished collection of handsaws and planes,
mostly from a company in Maine called Lie-Nielsen
Toolworks.
When I’m working in that space, I always think
back to a lesson from my dad: “An opportunity will
present itself.” It was his way of teaching me that in
life and in work, things will never go the way you
planned them. But if you keep an open mind, the
solution will come to you.
Building something from wood involves an incredi-
ble amount of problem solving, and through the years,
it’s taught me patience, and a willingness to think out-
side the box. Now that’s how I process the world—and
it’s how I run my company. Whether the task at hand
is a boat or a business, I know that if I can envision it,
I can build it.WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Tell us about a story, person, object, or something else that pushes you forward, and we may include it in a future issue. And we may make you
photograph or illustrate it, too. Email [email protected] with the subject line “WHAT INSPIRES ME.”124 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / September 2019PHOTOGRAPHCOURTESY^ OF^ PATRICKROBINSONBuilding Your Own Solutions
by Patrick Robinson, founder and CEO, Pashko
→PIECE OF WORK
Robinson’s home
wood workshop.