Jay Shafer’s New Venture – Four Lights Tiny House Company

Not too long ago I covered how Jay Shafer, founder of Tumbleweed, will be leaving the company for his new venture.  I just got word from Jay about what his new project will be.

Jay is founding a new company called Four Lights Tiny House Company and will be launching – are you ready for this? – 8 brand new tiny house design, a Tiny House village to be done by 2015 and extended hands on workshops.

UPDATE:  Jay has changed their plans for the launch. they are going to start by releasing just one 280 square foot house instead of three houses.

 

Jay Shafer will be unveiling what he calls his, “best tiny houses yet”, at fourlightshouses.com this Tuesday, December 11 at 9:00 am EST.  Jay has resigned from his position at Tumbleweed Tiny Houses to form Four Lights Tiny House Company.

When asked why he split with the business he founded in 1999, Jay says, “For some of the same reasons I started designing, building and living in small houses in the first place – for more freedom and more manageability. The message and design philosophy I’d built my original company on had become harder and harder to maintain as the business grew from a one-man operation into what it is today.”

Four Lights will launch by offering Jay’s first-ever unabridged, hands-on building workshop, his plans for a tiny house village (slated for completion in 2015), and three portable houses ranging from about 100 to 500 square feet (including lofts). An additional house will be unveiled every month for the next five months. Jay’s designs for compact furnishings and his system for “design-it-yourself” tiny houses will be released thru fourlightshouses.com on January 31.

You can receive a schedule and reminders of these events by signing up at fourlightshouses.com when it officially launches this Tuesday.

 

 

 

 Your Turn!

  • What do you think about his new venture?
  • If there could be one new thing you’d like to see in Jay’s new house, what would it be?
6 Comments
  1. I would like to see Jay incorporate Rocket Mass Heaters (Ianto Evans & Leslie Jackson) into these houses. Info at https://www.rocketstoves.com/

    A new edition of their book is due out soon. A partial quote from Leslie in a recent email:

    “We are holding out for winter to produce an edition with major changes, including improved illustrations, and the results of a few developments in masonry stove tech.”

  2. Great news that Jay is following his bliss.
    Noticed the new domain server is in Portland,Or.
    Maybe one of the other Four Lights is Dee Williams.

    Note to Charlotte,
    I use a rocket mass heater in my 136sq ft tiny bungalow, You really don’t need much mass in a tiny house and the free kiln dried scrap wood I get for free from a cabinet shop is already in easy to feed 1/2 inch square stock in short pieces! Love wood heat,doesn’t take much to heat the tiny bungalow!
    Robert

  3. At first I was saddened to hear that you were leaving Tumbleweed. It is where I first learned of tiny houses (which I someday would love to have). Now I I understand why, and am very excited for you!
    Since you and your wife now have 2 children, I thought perhaps the 4 lights may be you family! I know my children and grandchildren are my shining lights!
    I wish you the very best in your new adventure!

  4. Sometimes change is for the better – and I think this will be awesome! I’m very excited to see what comes of it!

  5. I am a cabinetmaker, moving to Albuquerque (first week of Sept). I would like work with you. Do you have need of a teammember? Thank you, Brandt Dunn, 917.754.2447

  6. So happy to discover these wonderful cabins are still being designed with Jay behind the wheel. I was so dismayed when Tumbleweed took the plans for these (& the cottages) off their site. Hope to bring some business your way one day! (^_^)/

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