Dave Custodio

Eclipse Temple, Envision Festival 2026. Gravity Garden Studio @itsbrettbaby @charliesyd97 @wheriverigo @pjz_lightwarrior and Andrew carrier🔥🎋🌴 @envisionfestival 🙏

As I re-emerge from a deep recovery from an absolutely amazing experience that both filled my heart and kicked my ass, I wanted to take the time to thank everyone that was involved with manifesting the Luna stage in its final form for Envision festival this year. Seriously, what a ride! First, thank you to @envisionfestival for entrusting me with the full stage design, both structural and scenic, as well leading the scenic build and install. My heart feels full and my body feels tired 😅. A huge thank you to the build crew that dove into the deep end with me and worked themselves to the bone with minimal sleep to accomplish a shared goal with literally zero complaints. It was a true dream team! @itsbrettbaby @charliesyd97 @wheriverigo @pjz_lightwarrior and Andrew carrier. To the badass tico builders and artists that jumped on the build with us and showed us how it’s done with full on Pura Vida vibes. @kevin_monge @joseherrerag83 @pablo2_3 @choscolo @h.leiva @imsebasvc_1313 @maikel_patino12 @rogerius_atelier @andyurciabjj @amazonia__cr @nhm_420 @dopamine_oficial_cr . Chicho and all the hard working monkey house construction team who built the bamboo substructure, I learned a alot of bamboo techniques watching you guys, and once I get your handles I’ll be sure to tag you! To @careythompson_galactivation for the beautiful center piece. We baked a cake and you put the cherry on top my friend, thank you! All the wizards in front of house and the incredible work you all did during the show, honestly the most impressive visuals I’ve ever seen at a festival, I can’t overstate that. @oliver.allaux @v.kashofficial @crouching_tigger @hermlights @experience_incendia @sunshine_tigress @slick_lasers @aether_projects and @lilyeliza__ @jeremyscottfranklin . @anaelb33 @noodle_dogg321 @don_nagual , and @_mud_20 for all the background production support and good vibes getting the project underway properly. And finally @j2druck and @josh_bushman_wendel for seeing the dream and working with me to bring it to reality. To the countless others that were a part of this project, this production, and this experience, much love, much gratitude, pura vida!

Luna stage envision festival 2026 the eclipse temple! Gravity Garden Studio design 🔥 @envisionfestival

A little throwback to a project from 2021 working with Bamboo DNA. The Bungalow Bridge, designed by Gerard Minakawa for Lost Lands festival was a permanent install serving as a hangout spot and a viewing deck for a small bass stage. My time pre build was spent determing structural details and developing blueprints for the build itself, which was a hybrid approach of conventional framing and bamboo construction. I love projects of this type and scale; this kind of dynamic between you and the work, wrapping your head around the big picture and every detail simultaneously. The sense of prosperity you feel when bringing it into reality is transfered to the people experiencing it in the end.

A little more comprehensive video on the process and thought behind a recent bamboo shower build for the @floridapermaculture conference. All of this bamboo was harvested by @this.bamboo.life on her own personally curated bamboo farm <3 content creation by @paddyosullivan909 #bamboo #bambooart #bamboobuilding #permaculture #sustainable

The outdoor shower for the Florida permaculture conference this last weekend was a bit more than the sum of its parts. It was a creative journey, it was education, and it was bonding with amazing people. Thank you so much to everyone who donated their time and effort to manifesting this together. @davieblues202 @creacionesdemarycruz @tucka.bee @edibletrailsgarden @friend_of_earth_12 @nollinolan5 @victoriacharleenanderson @mt_kegs @freetimemusic (you two went the extra mile, thank you so much!) Also, to Laura, Chris, and Diego. Thank you so much @floridapermaculture and @this.bamboo.life for the opportunity and the support! Until next time <3

Incredible journeys begin with a thought. There is power in follow through and collaboration - co-creation with nature is the direction we choose to emulate. Much gratitude to all for making this happen especially Dave @gravitygardenstudio - you get to take a shower in this epic outdoor experience this weekend Nov 7-9 - come and experience bamboo 💚 #outdoorshower #bamboobuilding #biophilicdesign #naturalmaterials #bambooart

We are gearing up for the best convergence yet! This weekend we are building a bamboo outdoor shower with bamboo harvested by @this.bamboo.life and led by @gravitygardenstudio We are grateful for all the volunteer help getting this incredible project done so that we can showcase bamboo at the convergence. Want to see a bamboo building? We have Saturday only passes for Nov 8 or come for the weekend Nov 7-9. There is so much to see and learn at this event you don’t want to miss it 💚 #bamboobuild #biophilicdesign #biophilic #ecobuilding #naturalmaterials

We are so excited to showcase bamboo building at the convergence. To do that we need a couple more helpers Oct 24-26 to help build. If you want to see the fished product, meet the designer / builder and learn about bamboo building come to the convergence Nov 7-9. Saturday is the big day so if you want to drive up or down for the day there are over 50 classes as well as bamboo building! Tickets on sale now @gravitygardenstudio @london.island.preserve

People will rattle off a thousand different reasons why they create, or what art means to them. I think it's important to consider the practice of making with a simplistic perspective. After all, we are at the core, simple beings living in an overcomplicated world, vastly out of sync with our genetics and our primal nature. And simply speaking, developing a relationship with material itself; learning it, connecting with it, pushing its boundaries, and using it to bring the quality of our shared experience a little bit closer to that primal nature are some of the facets that speak to my own connection with the materials that I personally work with. Clay, wood, bamboo, and a variety of other seemingly primitive materials have made their way into my practice over the years. However, I can attribute some of my first discoveries of the potential of craft and creativity in my life and community to working with clay on the pottery wheel in some of my more formative years. Raw muddy material interacting with physics on a very basic level, turning nothing into something. That something is functional and valuable in its finished form. What would life in our hyper consumerist throw away culture look like if we created more of what we used, and if we had more of a relationship with the material items that we owned? Thank you so much @paddyosullivan909 for the content editing and the line of questioning! #pottery #clay #sculpture #craft #wabisabi

The Morion is concept for a bamboo pavilion that I recently designed. I've been making quite a lot of these lately and amongst the exploration of structural principles and the play on proportion and aesthetics, it seems like there's a clear style that's emerging. I'll typically bounce between sketching, digital modelling, and physical modelling till I arrive at something that feels good. The 3 processes working together gives me a lot of control and creative freedom in a design. This piece in particular takes influence from the bamboo structures and architecture of Japan and southeast Asia, and and the truss design is somewhat of a hybrid drawn from my knowledge of bamboo structures and timber framing.

The Dapo Star! 1500 sq. ft. of shade. A custom design. A colorful oasis. A space of warm connection and comfortable reprieve from the sunlight. The first of many colorful and shapely iterations to come. Special thanks to @itsbrettbaby and @hannahbeing for helping diligently with the fabrication and install. Thank you to @elementsfestival for commissioning this piece. And thank you @hannahbeing for taking the footage. You truly see the best in everything around you, including me 💚 #festivalart #design #shade #shadecanopy