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The Life and Times of Barrett Hafner - Grove’s Lead CNC Programmer

Alex Boepple posted on May 28 2013

Barrett is a multi-faceted creature who wears several hats here at Grove. Besides being an avid outdoorsmen, Eagle Scout, and wild party thrower -- he is a Systems Engineer and a Product Developer. Basically, Barrett works alongside Ken to wrangle the CNC machines and design products like our iPhone cases (Thanks, Barrett!). He then imagines the manufacturing process from A to Z -- the “how-to” from raw materials to creating a product with them -- and implements that process in the most feasible and efficient way possible.

 




He does a lot of other things for Grove too, including being our computer fix-it guru, resident mathematician, network administrator, and our in-house masseuse. (He’s pretty popular among our tight shoulders...)

The guy has lived a full life so far and has been all over the world! Before the age of 13 he had lived in 5 different states and one micronesian island, and had visited over a dozen countries. He then moved to Kailua, Hawaii and spent the rest of his childhood bodysurfing, hiking, cruzin’ on the beach, and playing lots of ultimate frisbee.

He came to Oregon to be a student at the University of Oregon (where he met Grove co-founder, Joe). He got a double major in Physics and Math, with lots of extra curricular activities including: computer science, acting, art history, economics, urban farming, and studying abroad in Tübingen, Germany. The guy is a smarty pants!

Out of college, Barrett went on a number of adventures before he ended up in Portland. To name just a few, he has: fought forest fires at Tiller, OR with the National Forest Service; spent 3 months living, WWOOFing, and bike touring in Italy, France, and Spain; worked as a barista/baker at the Blue Scorcher bakery in Astoria, OR; and apprenticed as a cargo-bicycle builder at the Center for Appropriate Transport in Eugene, OR, where he learned to weld, use machining tools, and design 3D models (some of the skills he uses at Grove today).

After his apprenticeship he moved to Portland into a house across the street from our old CNC shop and got job sanding iPhone 4 cases. From there his position blossomed into what it is today--Grove’s Master of CNCs!



These days when he’s not at Grove you can find him working on art projects, sailing on the Columbia river, snowshoeing on Mount Hood, or throwing his annual Portland Halloween party. It’s a four story house party that hosts 200-300 people in fully decked-out, amazing costumes... The house is fully decorated with a theme -- this past year’s being A Halloween Dream. It’s epic!  One particularly clever party goer once remarked, “I didn’t even know parties like this existed! It’s like all of the Brat Pack movies in one, but it’s real!”

We’re very lucky to have this great guy on our team!

goGrove!


Written by Mike Schultz. Mike is an oil painter from Ithaca, New York. When he is not working for Grove, he’s painting and drawing to his heart’s content. You can see his work on his blog and his website.

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