Bad Moon Studio: a labor of love

JENISON — John Timmer of Bad Moon Studio didn’t expect his life to change over a conversation with his 11-year-old son on the way to hockey practice.

“He asked my why I had the job I did and if I liked it,” said Timmer. “I told him that it was a good job, paid well and had flexibility, so I could do things like take him to hockey practice.”

Then his son asked the real question.

“He asked me ‘Is it what you love?’ and then ‘Why don’t you do what you really want to do?’”

That same year, Timmer’s son was killed in a car accident. The simple question lingered on in Timmer’s thoughts and eventually inspired him to start Bad Moon Studio, a one-man shop that repurposes used whiskey barrels into functional furniture and decor.

Ten years after their loss, as the Timmer family muddled through the recession and Timmer was working at a donation center — his son’s question came back to him.

He began taking broken furniture home with him from the donation center and fixing it up. He was good with hi

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