Who we are

We're not a Corporation, we're a gathering of friends. Cob Cottage Company is a loose collective of people who really like one another, who believe in a lot of the same positive solutions to human problems. We come together irregularly in different groupings and take on challenging tasks. Some of us have worked together and have been close friends for decades.

The Cob Cottage Company team includes:

* Ianto Evans, an applied ecologist, landscape architect, inventor, writer and teacher with building experience on six continents. Cob is traditional in Wales, his homeland. He teaches ecological building and has consulted to USAID, World Bank, US Peace Corps and foreign governments. Ianto, Linda Smiley and Michael Smith are the authors of "The Hand-Sculpted House", the most comprehensive book available about cob building.

* Linda Smiley is a director of Cob Cottage Company as well as a master cobber and therapist. She teaches Sculpting Sacred Spaces, Interior Design, and Natural Plasters and Finishes.

* Michael G. Smith has formal training in envionmental engineering and ecology. He is the author of "The Cobber's Companion: How to Build Your Own Earthen Home". He teaches and consults on cob, natural building, and permaculture.

* Paul Dillon is a natural builder and teacher. He has taught in Kenya, Armenia, Ireland and the USA. He lives in a cob house in Co. Tipperary, Ireland.

* Betty Seaman cob builder and teacher, artist and illustrator, lives with her family in the mountains of California in several cob houses.

* Kiko Denzer is an artist, aurthor of several books including Build Your Own Earthen Oven, and teacher who has worked with earth and ovens for 10+ years.

* Kirk Mobert is a builder in Northern California, teaching Cob and other natural building techniques.

* Andy Burt apprenticed with us in 2001, then was a founder of Seven Generations Natural Builders, offering courses all over North America.

* Max & Eva Edleson, after 7 years of natural construction in Argentina, specializes in Masonry Stoves and outdoor kitchens.

* Ed Raduazo is retired from being a patents examiner in alternative construction patents. He teaches (mostly groups of children) in the DC area and comes West occassionally to share his knowledge.