Joshua Tree Artisans’ Collective

I spoke to Joshua about a furniture-​making project. He said he was too busy to take it and recommended I contact a particular person in the Collective. I made the mistake of trusting Joshua and following his advice. The project took many, many months longer to complete than the person Joshua recommended had promised, but the more serious problem was that the quality of the workmanship turned out to be truly terrible. I could see many of the problems myself, and someone else who is skilled in woodworking pointed out several more. He said the piece was a shambles. We invested substantial time in trying to fix it but could not correct some basic problems, like the shelves not being level, without starting from scratch. The whole experience was a disaster. I will never use the Joshua Tree Collective again and would never recommend them to anyone.

I returned from a trip to the Taj Mahal with a beautiful inlaid marble small tabletop. Now, we needed someone to build a table around it. Found the Joshua Tree collective on the web and stopped by. Without an appointment, you get to talk with whoever happens to be present at the time. I had no idea what I wanted, just something beautiful. We talked with whoever was there and came away with ideas. Did that a couple times until we got to talk with Gus Cancro. He spent a lot of time with us, going through design ideas and showing us wood samples. Since my marble was octagonal and recessed on the edges, this was not going to be a simple table. After talking with Gus, we knew he was the right choice to do the table.
We met with Gus a couple times more, finally settling on the design — a cherry wood pedestal with octagonal sides, top, and base. He made exacting measurements of the marble so he could compute and cut the appropriate angles. In a fairly short period of time, Gus had finished the table. When I first saw it, I was absolutely blown away. Gorgeous, stunning, awesome — they don’t even come close. Gus explained all the difficulties he had with working on such a complex design. It had cost him quite a bit of extra time and effort, which we could completely understand. But he stuck with the original cost estimate and we took home the table of our dreams.
Gus was incredible, and I would work with him in a minute on any other furniture design and build. Thank you, Gus, you are a true artisan!

I cannot comment on the overall respectability of the Joshua Tree Collective as my experience was limited to one of the members. What this implies for the collective as a whole I leave to the reader.
Long story short: I had plans/​blueprints and sent them to the Joshua Tree Collective. I was contacted a few days later (07−31−13) by Mr. Jonathan Perkins. He agreed to build the shelf and assured me that he «can finish it with in a couple of weeks for you.» I contacted him several times, but nothing happened. When I emailed him and the Collective six months later, he finally said he would refund my money.
Long story long: After I initially contacted the Collective, one of the Collective, a Mr. Jonathan Perkins, and I exchanged a few emails about this shelf, and he assured me that he «can finish it with in a couple of weeks for you.» Some things in his life went badly, I was told, so he could/​would not follow through with the commitments he made to do his job to build this shelf. That would have been nice to know, but Mr. Perkins did not acknowledge that and offer to refund of my deposit immediately. Instead, he maintained that he would build the shelf. As I would have preferred to have a shelf to a refund, I acquiesced.
Before I unexpectedly moved back to Seattle in September 2013, I notified Jonathan Perkins about that I would be moving and that I was concerned about the yet-​to-​be-​seen shelf. On September 1, he wrote «your CD shelf will be in your home soon.»
Well, I moved to Seattle without the shelf and told Mr. Perkins I would be returning in late November to move the rest of our stuff. On October 22, he wrote back, in part, «I expect you will have your CD shelf by Turkey day.» That never happened.
On December 4, over five months after contracting Mr. Perkins to build the shelf, I was foolishly still hoping to get this shelf. I assumed it was near completion, so I emailed Jonathan Perkins. The next day he wrote «I will get the cd shelf to your home Seattle, shipping at my expense asap.» Apparently ASAP does not mean what I think it means.
December 23 I email him (and the Collective) that «I expect a full refund or a shipping confirmation number within two weeks.» By his own estimation, I should have had this shelf by mid-​August, not early January. At this point, it would have been glaringly obvious to him that it was just not going to happen and that he should refund my down payment post haste. Um, no. He wrote on January 6 that «I’m sending out a refund check today.» After almost exactly two weeks, taking it right to the brink, just like a good, honorable man.
Magically, it did not get post-​marked for two more days. Yet again, his integrity remains «intact.»
That a «person» of this sort is a member of the Joshua Tree Collective causes me to deeply question this organization. If I still lived in Mountain View, I would happily look ANYWHERE else for woodworking services (or any other services or products). This Jonathan Perkins is a liar who cannot be trusted, is despicable, brings only shame to those who knowingly affiliate themselves with him, and (if the collective is of decent people) should be cast-​out from said collective (and stoned).

I stumbled into Joshua’s studio one day which is conveniently located near the 4^th Street retail area in Berkeley. I had been thinking about a custom rustic modern bed for some time, and finally, after being inspired by the beautiful custom furniture that was showcased in his showroom, I decided to take the plunge!
Joshua was ultra friendly and easy to work with. Although some of the design was what I had envisioned in my head I had no idea about woodworking at all. I met with him several times and we exchanged emails, dimensions, and inspirational images. He suggested various reclaimed wood options and finishes, and we came up with a final design. I had wanted a modern clean look but with a rustic salvaged feel. I needed it for a guest room and wanted to keep the overall footprint minimal to allow for the guests to have plenty of room for their belongings. We created a low profile headboard with horizontal slats, attached floating nightstands with little cut outs for electrical cords, and built in storage underneath to stow away extra linens and pillows.
The finished piece was a nice collaboration and totally met and even surpassed my expectations. And the best part of it all was that Joshua was so easy going and accomodating. He really listened to help my achieve the aesthetic that I was going for, was professional, and truly demonstrated his artistry with wood. He is very versatile and I can’t wait for our next collaboration. I wish he could do my whole house!
And I forgot to mention, he installed the whole masterpiece so it was effortless on my part– he made sure it was placed it the way it was meant to be, and ensuring that everything was flush, level, and appropriate. Very white glove service.

Built us a beautiful table and bench out of sustainable Bamboo wood.
Found Josh easy to communicate with and he was able to work within our limitations.

I was looking everywhere for a storage headboard and the only thing I could come up with was cheaply made prefab *stuff* (to be nice). I learned about Joshua Tree and decided to give it a try. Joshua, the owner, spent a good hour talking out my headboard, finding out what it was that I wanted. We picked out the wood together, on his recommendations and ended up with Peruvian walnut and black acacia for accents. We talked about stains and design. The finished product was beautiful and really makes the bedroom. It is a piece that I will treasure and keep for life. Now if I could only save up the money for a matching wardrobe!

Joshua, of Joshua Tree, is a true craftsman, detailed in every way to the beauty of his creations! He helped design a masterpiece bar for our home and the piece is a reflection of his work and passion… professional and courteous every step of the way.

I ordered a beautiful custom made coffee table from Matthew Donovan at Joshua Tree for my therapy office. It is his yin yang design, which means I can use it as one round coffee table or each side of the design functions as its own table as well. The wood is gorgeous, with subtle lines and a warm reddish tone. His detailing was beautiful with an elegant three legged design. It is, however, somewhat unstable due to the three legged design. If you put something heavy on one side it can topple, so I see it as a design piece that is functional, within reason.
I thought the price was reasonable given the artistry ($ 350) and he was a joy to work with in developing the measurements I needed.