Bio
Joe Edwards, (principal of TLC Design) inadvertently began his career at age 5 when his parents built their first custom home. Consequently Joe’s curiosity & enthusiasm around the building process took on a life of its own. His understanding of tools & materials grew significantly through his exposure at his fathers hardware store & in his early teens he began to study about & build furniture in his high school shop facilities.
At the age of 18, Joe did one year of studies toward a degree in criminology & the following year studying Sales in Toronto but found it unfulfilling. In January of 1971 Joe sailed to Australia via Fiji, Tonga & New Zealand & returned to Canada 2-1/2 years later having travelled around the globe. The luxury of time in various countries had the common theme of Joe pursuing his interest of studying the distinct architecture & craftsmanship of each region he experienced. He was often temporarily employed & regularly volunteered his services in order to gain experience with building along with forming personal relationships & life long ties with some depending on his length of stay.
Upon his return to Canada in 1973 he began his journeyman carpentry apprenticeship & was indentured with a custom home builder. Given his wide range of interest in building, Joe took a sabbatical to learn Log Home Building & eventually taught this art form & skill in various locations in B.C. After becoming a journeyman carpenter Joe’s propensity & responsibility was primarily finishing the interior architectural trim work & mouldings of each home. Demand for his talent led to making pieces of furniture. At this juncture Joe’s sense of perfection was such that he enrolled @ Sheridan school of Design in Toronto. Here, the study of furniture design enabled him to receive the intellectual & practical rigours required to deliver top notch product under the watchful & experienced eyes of the Sheridan masters while earning a degree in Applied Arts in Furniture design.
After Sheridan, Joe met people in the film industry who encouraged him to experience & challenge himself with that aspect of the trade, which he did. It was an apprenticeship of a very different mindset when it comes to building where Joe’s talents soon afforded him some very interesting set building & set furniture work.
Joe moved back to his home town of Vancouver in 1988 with the intention of establishing his own Company. He worked days for high end contractors doing interior architectural finishing & cabinet work. Evenings were spent working on commissioned furniture pieces in his rented shop space. Eventually, Joe had sufficient contacts & commissions to go out on his own. Time Lasting Craftsmanship was established in 1992. Since then Joe has become an established name in the greater Vancouver area. He now has a fully equipped shop in Burnaby with an experienced team of craftsmen. TLC Design is a full service facility which offers design consultation as well as the supervision of building & installation of all cabinets & millwork for entire homes in some of the finest high end residences in the city.