Everyone loves firefighters — they do only good. They arrive when you call 911, they help with life-threatening emergencies, they even run into burning buildings to put out fires and rescue people. So it seems like a special bit of irony that our next guest on the BrandBuilders Podcast is a firefighter who USES fire in his “other” line of work, to make cool, artistic furniture.

Ferney Mercado spends fire department shifts — 24 hours, every 3 days for the most part — responding to emergencies. The other days he practices an ancient Japanese technique that uses fire to char wood, that gives his pieces special appeal. If you check out his Instagram at Char’D Urban wood works, you’ll see what we mean. And he’s here to tell us how he makes it happen.