A Student Of Everything: H.J. Nick’s Historic Journal

In Junior College, I began taking a large interest in my family’s business on my mother’s side. A student of my family history and heritage, through my mother’s upbringing, I was able to understand the importance of hard work and contribution to society. Leaving home at age 15, and living 2200 miles away, having no support system, and with the expectation of being my father’s oldest son. That of course being the expectation that the oldest son was to help the family make ends meet after my father’s coal mining accident disabling him for life By this point our entire family was on welfare, and although I never minded this expectation, at this point in time I had little idea of how or what I could possibly do.

This led me to, in 1964, fudge my age, and took a job driving a garbage truck for the city. With this job, I was not only earning money to make my way through school, but at the same time, I was getting a first hand education in junk picking. I was just 16-years-old, driving a garbage truck route, with my “Swamper”. (This was a big muscled up dude that picked up the 55 gallon drums and dumped them into the front bucket of the truck. At this point, we would both sort through, looking out for anything fixable or reusable among the so-called “junk”. Anything shiny and fixable had income potential. These throw-aways allowed me to make a larger income than the City Union Job paid at the time.

Most importantly, this was also a way for me to be able to afford to send money back home, and to be able to help out my family. Now, with a steady job, along with the restoration business, the combined income allowed my to pursue my higher education at the same time. This trash route began at 3 AM each morning, and lasted until 9 AM. This left me the rest of the day to study Creative Arts, And Architecture, as well as some courses in Law, Business, and Psychology over the years. Also, I was able to research histories and manuals for a large variety of these “junk” finds; thus allowing me to proverbially to “Turn A Sows Ear Into A Silk Purse”. Then on evenings and weekends, I began the grass roots, marketing and selling these fixed  items such as; toasters, radios, irons, hand tools, power tools, car parts, signs both old and new, bicycles, and many more items that are to numerous to mention.

I began to notice “The American Dream” and how it worked. It seemed like “THE HARDER I WORKED, THE LUCKIER I GOT”. So my plan was to work every hour I could, day and night. I thought if I spent more time “working smart” than eating or sleeping, it was a great way to both get ahead, and help my family back home. This M/O seemed to work for me for several years while I was in my teens, and getting educated.

I also began to be aware of the plight of the common man who possessed the skills (such as master craftsmanship); in other words, wood carvers, mill wrights, blacksmiths, gas station managers, store keepers, auto service attendants; the list of these self employed entrepreneurs goes on, and on. As usual, the guys in the hats and suits got all the credit for what was being created by the hands of these “common men”. And in the day, just as is true today, the common man puts in a hard days work, every day. My grandfather, per my mother’s explanation, worked 80 to 120  hours a week. In addition, he and my grandmother raised 6 kids, the youngest of whom was my mother. Every family member was expected to work as soon as they were old enough, and to help or around the house in any way that they could by the age of 10.

Furthermore, everyone was expected to get a higher education, as well as humbly work the fields, performing taskes such as; pulling nails out of the scrap lumber (which was destined to become the framing of a new building waiting to be built), chop wood, get coal for the pot belly stove in the living room, driving the trucks and tractors, as well as managing the gas station grocery store. Meanwhile, my immigrant grandfather would further his craftsmanship profession as additional income for my mom’s family. In fact, this work ethic was also in my family, and was passed on to that point that in my youth, at one point I began to think my name was “Get Coal” or “Chop Wood”.

When I began in business for myself after graduation of college, I thought it would be proper to give these hard working immigrant masters and workers some real credit for their achievements, and hard work that had been long forgotten. I began to carry on in the footsteps of these masters that worked in the shadows of several notable people, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Gustav Stickly, and Greene & Greene, to name a few. I had learned  stories from my mother, as well as studied the history of these now famous folks. I began to understand that without these common, hard working people, these famous masters would never have achieved their goals. That’s why, when I began in 1975, I decided I would dedicate my work to keeping the lost Arts and Crafts alive, and I have done so by putting the apprentice system back into action. I believe in helping others to help themselves, which in turn helps us, to satisfy our customers at the highest possible level. To top it all off, everything done at ArtFactory.com is done under my direct supervision.

The American Arts and Crafts Movement was now alive again, and in Scottsdale, Arizona. We began by hiring people with either master level skills, or who had the attitude of wanting to become a master, and was willing to work alongside a master craftsman to learn the trade and skills. Building some of America’s finest products (as seen on the pages of ArtFactory.com, and our thriving Man Cave. With the Man Cave, we have created a section celebrating these vital pieces of American history, and through creating a state-of-the-art restoration department, are able to give the respect that these 100-plus-year-old American icons are worthy of. In other words, our restorations are the best in the business, and the finest in the industry bar none. Our antique and collectibles restorations are second to none because nobody takes as much attention to details, or has as much commitment to originality.

Furthermore, we have an unmatched level of experience and expertise. Now my self with over 60 years of expertise in junk to treasure restoration and appraising experience along our classically trained master restorers classically trained with in our world class apprentice system.  Some with over thirty years of hands on experience along with our state of the art equipment no one can produce a fine art restoration to world class museum standards at this level any were in the world better.

After all of this experience and formal education, it all boils down to what my dad taught me early on. He was born an orphan in 1906, and due to the fact that his mother died at his  birth, his immigrant father had to put him in a basket on the church steps. With a note. The note said who he was, and that he was unable to take are of him due to the circumstances. He became a part of the foster care system in Kansas, and in this day it meant that the foster parents got paid to care for him, but back then many of these children were used for income, and in some cases even child labor. In his case, he was working in the shaft coal mines of Southern Illinois, as early as ages 9 and 10. He could not read or write and his life had been very hard, as it is likely that he had been abused as well. Finally, in his late 20’s, he was able to join the Army Air Force during World War II. He ended up serving 2 tours, met the love of his life along the way (my mother), who he would go on to marry and have us 3 boys with.

This backstory was written to illustrate a point; that point being that my dad was able to make up for his lack of formal education simply by using a lot of good common sense. The number one thing that has made all the difference in my life, is the way that he taught us boys, "A MAN IS ONLY AS GOOD AS HIS WORD”,  And A Hand Shake Meant Something Those are the exact principals that he lived by.

We have always applied this to every relationship, and to our business ethics at ArtFactory.com. We firmly believe in the theory that what comes around goes around. This kine of thinking has served us well over the many years, and continues to be passed on to this very day. In fact, it is my opinion that this one simple thing was more important than all the formal education I ever received; because with out our good reputation, our business could not be built on a solid foundation.

I’m also sure that we could have never retained the many long term relationships with our employees, as we now enjoy, that make this business possible. Going forward, we have the expectation that our ArtFactory.com Mancave will continue to grow for many generation yet to come. We are unique by my design, and one-of-kind in the world. The name ArtFactory.com is one that stands for the very best in quality, as well as the very best in value. This is just one of the many reasons why we are the experts. We have the hands on experience of having "done the work" before, and this level of experience helps to ensures your satisfaction.