he built this strength

There’s something quietly satisfying about finishing a project that carries meaning beyond the materials it’s made from. This one felt like that.

When our trainer announced he was leaving the gym, it landed heavily. Over time, he had built more than just a set of classes—he’d built a community. A group of us who kept showing up, lifting heavier than we thought we could, and laughing (groaning?) our way through it. Somewhere along the way, we became ‘Scottie’s Hotties’—a name that stuck, equal parts ridiculous and endearing.

I wanted to make something that captured that.

This piece was a bit of a first for me. I used coloured ply—gold—for his name, layering and engraving it to give it some depth and presence. It sits above a collection of photos from across the group, small snapshots of shared effort, progress, and connection. In the centre, the phrase ‘You built this strength’ felt like the right anchor—not just physically, but in the way he brought people together and created something lasting.

Like a lot of these projects, it’s not perfect. But it doesn’t need to be.

It reflects a moment, a group of people, and the impact one person can have when they show up consistently and invest in others. That felt worth capturing.