A little bit of history
Asylum Woodworks is owned and run by Grant Husdon and Gina Rochon, but there’s a lot of background and experience involved before Asylum came in to being.
Grant has had quite a colourful existence throughout his last 40-or-so years. From early on, he has always been intrigued by wood, and its’ countless possibilities for creativity and construction. Grant’s connection to all forms of wood went from building driftwood forts on the beach as a child in Sechelt, to elaborate tree houses, it was endless. Actually, it turns out that these days, anything can fall victim to his creativity: metal, plastic, glass, and even concrete.
Grant grew up and went to school in Burnaby. After graduating from high school, he decided that he wanted to be a commercial electrician. He achieved this goal in 1992. After several years in the trade, he got the opportunity to drag race full-time with a professional IHRA/NHRA team.
In 1999, it was time for another career change; this time, it was a 45-acre hunting/fishing lodge in the Cariboo near 100 mile House.
After 8 years of full-time maintenance and restaurant & bar life, there came another change: he met Gina, and moved to the sunny Okanagan. Grant took on a job with Horizon Electrical out of Kelowna, but became quickly disillusioned with the 9-5 routine, so he started driving Super B haulers, hauling grain.
Growth and Creativity
Despite all these careers and opportunities, Grant’s creative soul was being shut out, and he needed to be back in his comfort zone: building, creating, making art. He gets so much joy out of anything he attempts to create, and there is no limit to the creative opportunities that come his way.
He went back to Drag racing in 2020 full-time with a top alcohol team for the 2020 NHRA season, traveling in the US, but then COVID-19 made its’ debut, so, he decided to go back to what he loves the most – working with wood.
The workshop has a varied array of tools, collected over many years, and Grant is always adding more as needs and innovations for modern tools arise. A CNC mill has recently been purchased, which really adds a fantastic new facet to his projects. Precise, accurate modeling and advanced design is now achievable with Computer Assisted Design programming – he’s discovered that it is actually fun to work with technology!
Bringing Asylum Woodworks to life
So all that leads to where we are today, and the creation of Asylum Woodworks. Grant wants to build and create all types and forms of woodwork from his shop at home, which is 500 sq ft, loaded with every tool that can be squeezed in, and suits his creative needs perfectly.
Some of what we create can be found in the gallery on our home page. The ultimate goal is to be able to take custom orders, and design and build the projects as required, and he can’t wait to get started on any project!
The possibilities are endless as to the direction that this will lead; if a project needs to be made of wood, metal, or anything else for that matter, Grant can bring it to life – or even back-to-life as it were, if the project is a renovation of an older piece in disrepair.
From the smallest of projects, to the massive ones that he can’t lift, Grant can do it all.