Meet Kent Hartland of North, Smithville Lake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kent Hartland.

Hi Kent, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
The day after I graduated from High School, I got married. She was pregnant, it was not mine and I knew it, but I was seventeen and (cough) in love. It was the first serious challenge I set for myself, getting a real job, providing a home and basics not to mention uninsured medical care for my young wife and baby.

While our marriage did not survive many predictable travails, it did get me shaped up for years of work in and out of the Trades, computer science, marketing and software development. Oh, and I married twice more (not simultaneously, of course), because of which I enjoy a good life today with Beverly.

From that early marriage forward, working with my hands has provided stress relief and artistic expression. Indeed, one of my first projects was a beautiful hardwood tobacco pipe I made at the ripe age of eighteen. Today, I have a complete workshop for making tobacco pipes and have dozens of them in some stage of completion now.

To the extent that my inventions, art and hobbies provided a positive counterbalance to work, I’m also blessed to have found or created work that challenged and stimulated my creative energies toward more practical use. The leather apron and coveralls were traded for three piece suits and expensive cars and eventually, the pretty girls and cute secretaries went away and my family began to grow.

Family is a tidy word that can mean almost anything. Mine has probably the same loose collection of joy, beauty, darkness, struggle, joy and pain as other families. My three beautiful daughters and three beautiful grand kids are proof that things generally worked and I count myself Blessed by God for the tough times as much as the lazy, hazy days.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I did not go to college, due to that aforementioned Trial Marriage and my headlong plunge into the workforce. Classic testing has always shown me to be a pretty smart feller with a high IQ, if that matters. I think I proved I could work, advance, innovate and start new businesses to channel my ideas and spirit, even without a degree.

It has not been that hard, due largely to the fact that I try to be amiable and useful, which has earned me friends that helped me when I needed a hand or brutal honesty. I still talk to people I worked with decades ago.

Life is a journey and co-workers are travelers, just like you. If you take time to earn people’s fondness and respect, those travels will be happier, more successful and memorable than if you just punch a clock and keep to yourself.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have worked for some large multinational computer companies and have owned my own companies, including telecom consulting and software development for a government-oriented product my friend John Taylor and I have developed over several years. I enjoyed the fast life, the big paychecks, the clothes and cars.

I retired at 55, almost twenty years ago, and now do things more with my hands than my silver tongue and purty face. It’s safe to say I am evolving more to the Artist/Inventor than I ever had time to before.

Aside from making the expensive pipes, I sometimes create things with computer-aided design software, then ‘print’ them on a 3D cutter/engraver and printer. Examples are several types of wrist lights that you wear like a watch. They pop off the wristband so you can hold the light in your mouth while you work on something.

Dozens more ideas I have prototyped. A better aquarium filter. A swimming pool skim boom. A new type of one-piece heart valve that doesn’t wear out, make noise (some click) or need to be replaced.

I designed a pair of pistol grips for the venerable Snub Nose 38 revolver that include a light, aiming laser and a tiny sidelight for reloading in the dark. Cop stuff, you know. I once was a county sheriff’s deputy.

So, as I tinker about, I make mistakes. Each mistake is a valuable lesson that can be applied in sometimes seemingly diverse situations as solutions. Failure can breed success, or discouragement, depending on your attitude. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are – a vital part of advancing your skills and techniques.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I typically work alone, running and gunning, shifting gears and direction in a heartbeat. But, I would like to pass down some of the things I have learned, especially the pipe making. Handsome, quality pipes have been a favorite of men and women for thousands of years and I have figured out how to make them cooler to hold, with a sweeter smoke and without the tar. Some younger person could possibly make a career out of that.

Pricing:

• One of my fancy smoking pipes could sell for $150 to $950.

Contact Info:

• Website: Soon to launch KentHartlandPipes.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kent-hartland-1a85b9154/