“My name is Adrian Suciu, and I am the owner of Steering Wheel Art in Scottsdale, Arizona. I was born in Timisoara, Romania; after finishing high school, I joined the army. In 2001, I decided with my wife, Luminita, to move to Spain and get married.
“I had to accept any job opportunity to be able to maintain my family. I used to work as a postman, a construction worker and I even opened a second-hand store. Then, my wife and I decided for me to go to Romania to get my truck driver’s license so I could have a more stable job. But I kept searching for more things to do because that wasn’t my dream.
“I went to Timișoara, and my brother gave me a steering wheel to wrap in leather. I didn’t know that it was possible to do that, so I told him that I would buy a case from the store. He told me that he didn’t want that and that he wanted it custom made. I went to a guy that wrapped steering wheels in leather named Silviu. I was just observing how he was doing his job and I was fascinated by his work. I was just like a little kid in Legoland. I felt like I was being told that I had to do this amazing job.
“My wife told me to focus on getting my truck driver’s license, but I told her that I would also like to try to have this job which I thought was really amazing and interesting. I got to buy a sewing machine from Romania and I brought it to Spain. When I was trying to put the thread in the machine, I accidentally broke the needle. I didn’t get to accomplish much in Spain.
“In 2015 or 2016, I was thinking of moving to the U.S. with my family. I worked as a truck driver in Spain for about six months, and then we packed our bags and moved to the U.S. I started as a construction worker, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to wrap steering wheels in leather. I was telling my partners from work that I was thinking about wrapping steering wheels, and they told me to go for it. I began searching through the internet to get some thread, leather and more.
“My very first steering wheel that I attempted to wrap took days to finish, I would get out of my garage exhausted. I wanted to see how someone would react to my new work because for me it was something very satisfying to see what amazing things I could make with my own hands.
“During the week, I would go to shops and garages that had custom cars so I could show them my work. When I saw the shop that I am currently at, I really liked it because I saw that it was very organized and clean. So I told my wife that I wanted to rent a shop for myself to work at with steering wheels; I could only rent a room at that shop, but that was just enough space for me. I asked the owner of the place if I could rent a room there, and he said that I could. I was very happy when I was told that I could rent that room.
“In September, I organized all of my things in my new place and I made myself a table to work on with leather and other stuff. This was where my new adventure began because I was around only exotic cars and that was how my perspective changed and went to the next level. People started talking about me and recommending me.
“I started going to every car event that I possibly could and sometimes I would even go to three events on Saturdays. One of the events takes place in Scottsdale, Barrett-Jackson; I would go around there with my business cards and a steering wheel, and people would ask me why I was carrying a steering wheel with me. This year was amazing for me because finally I was able to put up a stand at Barrett-Jackson. I had some customers that would come over to my stand and congratulate me because I got to put my stand at the biggest car auction in the world. It was tiring but I enjoyed it because I was doing it with passion.
“When a customer tells me a genuine ‘thank you’ for the product it means a lot to me, more than receiving the money. I finally have a job that I actually love and I believe it’s the best job that I could ever have. I get to live in a dream that I wasn’t even dreaming about before.”
Adrian Suciu
Steering Wheel Art
phone: 480.939.1208
email: steeringwheelart@gmail.com
website: steeringwheelart.com
Gallery
