Meet Jim Irvin

You may know Jim Irvin even if you think you don’t. He is one of the guiding forces of Charleston’s hospitality industry, effective at creating special places for Lowcountry residents and tourists alike, a champion of the local business community and that of South Carolina at large, and now one of the 2023 SC ICON Honor Award Winners. We are lucky enough to have worked for Jim and his partners on several building projects and while he has received many accomplishments, awards and accolades throughout his career, perhaps the most noteworthy is his track record of innovation, resilience and reinvention. He is a ‘Jack of many trades’ and master of each of them. 

• Residential and Commercial Builder / Developer - After studying at chemistry, biology and accounting at Vanderbilt + Sullivan University, he began what would become a 40 year chapter as a residential and commercial builder / developer starting in Kentucky and South Carolina. After relocating to the Lowcountry in 1979 Jim built houses in Crowfield, Kiawah Island and IOP including over 60 spec houses through the 1990s.

• Irvin House Vineyard - In 2000 Jim and his wife Ann purchased a farm on Wadmalaw Island and after a trip to a Florida winery were inspired to begin a vineyard. They would eventually establish Irvin House Vineyard, Charleston’s only domestic winery which produced Muscadine Wine, a wine made from the American indigenous grape. Both Jim and Ann were fundamental members of Certified SC Grown throughout Irvin House Vineyard’s chapter. The wine was successfully distributed to every major grocery store in South Carolina thanks to a relationship with Scott Newitt who was a statewide distributor in South Carolina. 

Original Firefly Distillery on Wadmalaw Island, SC.

• Firefly Distillery is Born - The vintner / distributor relationship led to a friendship and ultimately to business partners in 2006 when Jim and Scott joined forces to create Firefly Distillery. In the same year they produced their first product, a Muscadine wine vodka, which earned 89 out of 100 points from the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago (outscoring big names like Absolut and Ketel One.) As successful as their first product out of the gate was, an even bigger product was on the horizon. Jim and Scott introduced Firefly’s Sweet Tea Vodka in 2008 using tea leaves from the neighboring tea farm. In the subsequent years, Firefly would introduce various moonshine, whiskey and lemonade products.

Firefly Sunset Resort in the Bahamas

• Firefly Sunset Resort - In 2009, Jim and Ann Irvin purchased a run-down resort in Elbow Cay Bahamas. They invested in renovations and new construction to create a vacation destination, restaurant and bar called the Firefly Sunset Resort and opening in 2012. In 2019 Hurricane Dorian severely damaged the resort; as of 2021, the facility was fully open for guests.

Firefly Distillery’s new facility in North Charleston.

• Firefly Distillery 2.0 - In 2015, responding to the distillery’s success and Charleston metro’s growing hospitality industry, Jim Irvin and Scott Newitt purchased a former landfill in North Charleston on the banks of Noisette Creek. This land would set the stage for a much larger facility (20,000sf) to house not only the manufacturing process but a large tasting room, gift shop, and event spaces of all sizes in a centrally located and easily accessible locale. The new facility opened in February of 2020 and would need to close its doors just a month later due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Through reinvention and an unwavering commitment to the local community, the distillery, with Jim’s guidance, pivoted to produce hand sanitizer for the Lowcountry and in the summer launched the “Safe Sounds” concert series on their vast outdoor lawn. Firefly just celebrated their 3 year anniversary in the new location and enjoys steady patrons, hosts distillery tours and tastings, gatherings and weddings, and has now grown to be a noteworthy concert destination with Live Nation booking 25 concerts in 2023 each for nearly 5,000 people.

Awards / Accolades

• 2006: Chicago Beverage Testing Institute 89/100 for Firefly Muscadine Wine Vodka

• 2009: San Francisco World Spirits Competition awarded Firefly Handcrafted Vodka a bronze medal

• 2020: Charleston Chamber of Commerce “Champion Innovator” award recipient

Jim Irvin has consistently assisted the local and state business community - specifically the distillery industry through multiple lobbying efforts with the SC state legislature. When Firefly Distillery was just launching the state required $50k to start a distillery on top of the equipment costs which is a very high barrier to entry; Irvin and Newitt successfully lobbied the state to change that to a $1k fee thus opening the doors for more small start-ups. In 2009, Jim and his partner successfully lobbied to allow tastings and sales of the product at the facility location. Additionally, Firefly Distillery’s location in North Charleston has added to Charleston Metro’s hospitality industry by showcasing a South Carolina product, hosting local food trucks and events for non-profit organizations like Lowcountry Local First. 

The common thread beyond business acumen is that Jim Irvin is not afraid to reinvent, reimagine + rebuild. From the multiple career pivots to rebuilding after a hurricane and reimagining during the pandemic, Jim Irvin has proven that he is not only a successful builder, developer, vintner and distiller, but a resilient and innovative fixture in the Charleston and South Carolina community. You can probably find him working his magic at the Firefly Distillery in Park Circle these days; swing by for a distillery tour and tasting and say congrats!

Ode to the Sample Panel

Sample panels are condensed, down-scaled versions of the building under construction showing all of the materials, components and critical details and are often a requirement of the jurisdiction or design review board. While there is an up-front cost associated with them, we feel this is a great investment in the success of the building's execution by front-loading the conversations about sequencing, specifications and quality of craftsmanship. Pictured above is our sample panel for Santee Cooper’s Avian Pavilion at Camp Hall Village courtesy of Choate Construction. Hat tip to our friends ADC Engineering for the collaboration.

Conceptual rendering of the Avian Pavilion.

More about Camp Hall Village:

Santee Cooper’s Camp Hall is a next generation commerce park where “people, nature and productivity connect.” With state-of-the-art manufacturing in a setting of vast natural beauty, the design concept of “Nature and the Machine” permeates the built environment. Like the vehicles and machines produced in Camp Hall, the Architecture is intended to embody precision, sleekness and innovation. With bird protection and awareness as a major focus, the architecture likewise found its inspiration. The building forms are abstract interpretations of the patterns, colors, and figures found in native species. For more about our design work at Camp Hall Village click here.

10 Books on Design (+ Independent Bookstores to Buy Them From)

Here is a new take on last year’s Top 10 Gift Guide - Designer Edition, focusing our attention exclusively on books related to the built environment, architecture, graphic and urban design. Some of these titles have been the subject of our previous musings, which are linked in the descriptions below, and some are new titles for us to share. All have provided inspiration, education, new perspectives and sometimes a welcomed escape. Of course, these are best purchased from your local independent book store; if they are not already on the shelves, they can order for you! Some of our local favorites include Turning Page Bookshop in Goose Creek, Blue Bicycle Books in Charleston, The Village Bookseller in Mount Pleasant and the Itinerant Literate Bookstop in North Charleston. Add your favorite independent bookseller in the comments.

Vignelli Transit Maps

Peter B. Lloyd with Mark Ovenden

This book chronicles the Italian designer Massimo Vignelli, respectfully called the Maestro, as he pushed the world of graphic design by reimagining the transit maps of New York City and Washington DC and forcing the question ‘Can a diagram be a map?’ (Spoiler alert: yes, it can). His designs were not always embraced by all as evidenced in the Great Subway Map Debate in New York City, but always provided a thoughtful, rigorous, innovative and modern approach. This book is for those who enjoy the behind the scenes sketches and iterations of the design process and how Vignelli navigated the very public process of iconic way finding.

Lake|Flato: Nature place craft restraint

Lake Flato Architects

We have long been fans of the regional and poignant architecture of the Lake Flato team based in Austin and San Antonio, Texas; somehow the architects create epic yet humble spaces again and again at every scale and in a range of building types. This book hones in on four priorities or aspects of their design language (nature, place, craft and restraint) by presenting several of their buildings/spaces in each category. When we were in San Antonio earlier this year we stumbled upon The Pearl and knew immediately this was a gathering place that was created with a high level of creativity, commitment to history and urban place-making. Lake Flato’s work “calls attention not to itself, but to other, more pertinent aspects of the human experience.” (Kengo Kuma)

The Home Edit

Clea Shearer + Joanna Teplin

We are big fans of creating order out of chaos. Ashton Kutcher recently shared in Architectural Digest, “To feel tranquility in a space, everything needs to be in order. If the world around you isn’t in order, it’s hard to get your brain in order.” The Home Edit is a room-by-room, how-to guide to edit, organize, display/store and enjoy your possessions. It can be a little overwhelming (and extra), but if you feed off of your built environment like we do, there are definitely some strategies here that you can make your own.

30A Living

Eleanor Lynn Nesmith

If you follow our travels you have seen images from Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach and Seaside, Florida - all coastal towns along Highway 30A. From town planning principles from the creative minds of Andres Duany + Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk to the architectural fabric and details created, we find inspiration again and again. This book is a curated view and escape into nine different communities with Jean Allsopp’s photos of exterior architecture, interior design and gulf views.

CHARLESTON FANCY

Witold Rybczynski

We are a little late to the party of Witold Rybczynski’s “Charleston Fancy - Little Houses + Big Dreams in the Holy City” published in 2019 by Yale University Press, but we are here now. Rybczyncki, the celebrated architect, professor and author captures a compelling movement in Charleston metro’s built environment, urban planning and architecture world. This book shares layers of historic renovations, lessons from medieval town planning and new urbanism through interviews with local master builders, developers and designers on the reverent and humane places they have created.

Click here for our Musings Blog for a more in-depth description.

New homes for today

Paul Williams

Continuing our study of the noteworthy African-American architect, Paul R. Williams (1894 - 1980), we have been pouring over his book published in 1946, “New Homes for Today.” The plan book is light on words and heavy on images which is just how us visual learners like it. While Mr. Williams had a wide multi-faceted career based in Los Angeles, including the design of public buildings, working for the Navy and designing over 2,000 homes (even that of Frank Sinatra!), this book focuses on smaller homes, perhaps for the middle class. The structure of the book itself allows just two pages for each house design and includes the description, floor plan and classic-now-vintage perspective renderings. Home names like “The Flamingo” and “The Country Gentleman” start to paint a picture of each home’s character.

Click here for our Musings Blog for a more in-depth description.

rural studio: Samuel mockbee + an architecture of decency

Andrea Oppenheimer Dean + Timothy Hursley

This book chronicles the genesis and early years of Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction’s “Rural Studio”, a design-build architecture studio located off-campus in rural Alabama. The studio educates what founder, Samuel Mockbee, calls “citizen architects” through feet-on-the-ground researching, community immersion, collaborative design and hands-on construction in Hale County’s ‘pockets of poverty.’ What started as a new house per year has grown into chapels, community buildings and structures for much needed economic development. Paramount lessons beyond design and construction are those in human decency, class and racial differences and how both client and student are equally helping one another.

Click here for our Musings Blog for a more in-depth description.

the new old house

Marc Kristal

Practicing architecture in the history-rich Charleston metro area often has us thinking about how new buildings or additions should interact with historic ones - the coexistence of present and past. Marc Kristal tackles the dialogue in his book, “The New Old House” with eighteen built examples of homes that combine historic and modern architecture. This discussion becomes one of preservation (sometimes with a flexible approach), function, aesthetics, respect and sustainability.

Click here for our Musings Blog for a more in-depth description.

fire island modernist: Horace Gifford + the architecture of secuction

Christopher Bascom Rawlins

Architect Christopher Rawlins crafts this comprehensive look at the often overlooked architect Horace Gifford (1932 - 1992), his approach to design, portfolio of seaside pavilions and houses with in the broader context of personal challenges, social and cultural movements. “As the 1960s became The Sixties, architect Horace Gifford executed a remarkable series of beach houses that transformed the terrain and culture of New York's Fire Island. Growing up on the beaches of Florida, Gifford forged a deep connection with coastal landscapes. Pairing this sensitivity with jazzy improvisations on modernist themes, he perfected a sustainable modernism in cedar and glass that was as attuned to natural landscapes as to our animal natures. Gifford's serene 1960s pavilions provided refuge from a hostile world, while his exuberant post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS masterpieces orchestrated bacchanals of liberation.” Rawlins

Click here for our Musings Blog for a more in-depth description.

LIVING WITH PATTERN: COLOR, TEXTURE, AND PRINT AT HOME

Rebecca Atwood

As lovers of solids (usually black or grey if we are being honest) we recognize that working with color and pattern can be our blindspot. Who better to learn from than Rebecca Atwood, artist, textile designer and a recent addition to the Charleston creative space (lucky us), with her book “Living with Pattern: Color, Texture, and Print at Home.” This beautiful reference, including photographs by Emily Johnston, is organized in three main parts in addition to resources and sourcing lists. First is a design and reference ‘primer’ allowing the reader to hone their personal point of view; second is a room-by-room guide with real life examples of inspired spaces; the third section includes projects for the reader to begin their own journey. In her words, “We are all filled with contradictions, and that’s what makes life interesting. Pattern can reflect your particular oppositions, interests, aspirations, and views of the world.”

Ruins of Glendale Mill

Our design inspiration travels are a little closer to home these pandemic days with a recent trip to Glendale, just outside of Spartanburg, South Carolina. Truth be told, it was our son who suggested the field trip to the Glendale Mill site, after researching abandoned buildings to photograph. In this case all that remains of the original cotton mill are two smoke stacks and two stair towers.

Built in the 1830s and originally called the Bivingsville Mill, this was one of SC’s most important and continuously operating mills. (Click here for a video on the history of the mill.) In 2004 a catastrophic fire destroyed the majority of the building; the remains of which and surrounding land have become a preserve thanks to Spartanburg County.

Photos by Rush David Dixon IV:

"Designing for Life"

“The great thing about getting older is living life.” Jon Hamm

Admittedly, the term “Designing for Life” is quite aspirational in terms of residential architecture because it assumes we know every current and future client need at a single moment in time. Rather, we use the term as a way to approach the design of a home while looking ahead to certain or likely scenarios in an effort to provide an inspiring environment to age in place.

Before we put pen to paper we, of course, spend time listening closely to our clients’ goals for their new or renovated home - how they want it to feel and look, budget and metrics such as number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. After capturing these programmatic pieces, we push the conversation to help clients think about bigger and perhaps, different aspects. One such conversation we are having more and more is designing and planning to age in place, or at the risk of using another aspirational term, “future proof”. This concept is certainly not new; and while waning mobility may not be a super fun thing to think about, careful design and intentional planning go a long way in adding value, ease and enjoyment in a living space.

Zero step transition from living room to outside courtyard.

To hone our perspective and approach, we recently completed the National Association of Home Builders’ Certified Aging-In-Place Specialist educational series. A welcomed aspect was the varied professional backgrounds represented in the group: product representatives, occupational therapists, builders and designers from all parts of the country offered laser focused reports from each industry. Many of the strategies have been exercised for decades and considered good practice without being labeled as “Aging In Place” and some new strategies were shared such as product offerings - all worth a little air time to keep it front of mind. Some highlights include:

• SLIDING SCALE: There is not one size fits all when it comes to designing to age in place. There are varied needs including clients with out urgent needs, clients with progressive conditions and clients with traumatic needs (short term injury or long term disability). Within each of those categories exists a different comfort level / interest in incorporating design elements. Each situation, client and budget yields a custom solution.

• VISITABILITY: Think not only about the clients’ needs, but their aging parents or friends with disabilities. If a home has even a few steps, visits from some family or acquaintances would prove difficult, cumbersome or impossible. Think about offering welcoming and safe spaces for everyone.

• OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS: For those clients who have progressing or traumatic needs, listen closely to what the healthcare providers are recommending. Often in the group discussions, those of us non-medical folks went over the top in accommodations in contrast to the OT’s approach which was usually simple and exacting to the specific challenge but sought to keep the client as active and independent as possible.

• ADAPTABILITY: Blocking - just do it. Add wood blocking at targeted locations within walls in bathrooms for future grab bars and shower seats. Other examples of adaptable design include stacking closets for future elevator, base cabinets that can be removed to accommodate a wheelchair, structural support in ceiling for future lift, size powder rooms for future showers, etc.

• BUILDING BLOCKS: Zero step entry into the home, correctly sized halls and doors, living and bedroom on ground floor, curbless or “beach entry” into shower, elevator or stacking closets for future elevator for multi-story homes, lever hardware in lieu of knobs, think about mounting heights of outlets and switches.

Beach entry into shower

Our goal as architects is to synthesize the practical and required components into inspired design that meets or exceeds our clients’ goals. Seamlessly incorporating these and other aging in place strategies into the overarching architecture direction is our ultimate plan. This is not to say that every design of ours checks every accessibility or aging-in-place box, rather we introduce the discussion and allow the client to drive the decision making. We can therefore create a built environment that allows our clients to safely enjoy their days in the place they most want to be.

“The great thing about getting older is living life.” Jon Hamm

15 Years | Rush Dixon Architects

As we mark our 15th year in business, we wanted to thank all of our clients, colleagues and mentors for being a part of our story. We consider it a great privilege and responsibility to design for our community and neighbors. In honor of this and in recognition of the opportunities we have been given, we have made a donation to each of these local non-profit clients; please check out their missions and programs if you are considering supporting the Charleston community.

One80 Place

Mission: Ending and Preventing Homelessness

35 Walnut Street, Charleston, SC 29403

Click here for their website.

Their mission to end and prevent homelessness in Charleston with a vision where everyone is housed. In 1984, community leaders came together to start a shelter to help the growing number of people who were homeless. Over three decades later, what started as a small effort to address an emergency need grew to be largest provider of homelessness services in Charleston. “While we are bigger than we used to be, we are local, regionally focused, and cater to our clients one person at a time, one family at a time.” Since the start of the pandemic, 134 individuals (including children, women, men and Veterans) have been moved into homes of their own. In addition, One80 Place tested all of the staff and clients in the shelter last month with everyone testing negative - a satisfying demonstration of their social distancing and sanitation protocols at work.

Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center

Mission: Prevent Abuse, Protect Children and Heal Families.

1061 King Street Charleston, SC 29403

Click here for their website.

Child abuse does not define who a child is or who they will become. At the Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center, children and families have a safe, child-friendly place to turn when there is a concern about abuse. Primary services include providing immediate support and assistance to children and their families through forensic interviews, medical examinations and mental health assessments. Dee Norton also provides therapy to child victims and their families where appropriate. Dee Norton is a community-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and coordinates with more than 30 partner agencies in the Charleston community to take appropriate action and deliver the critical services needed for the child and family. Since 1991, Dee Norton has helped over 29,000 children and their families.

East Cooper Community Outreach

Providing safety net services to our low income neighbors, while empowering them to create a better future for themselves, their families, and our communities.

1145 Six Mile Road Mount Pleasant, SC 29466

Click here for additional information on their website.

Founded as an emergency relief effort in 1989 after the devastation from Hurricane Hugo, East Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO) has since grown into a permanent resource for the community in need with three main program areas: Basic Needs, Health Services and Empowerment. Thousands of families a year receive emergency assistance for food, clothing, household furnishings, financial aid, and have access to dental care, medical care, prescription assistance, counseling, and educational opportunities like financial literacy classes, computer skills training, job readiness workshops. These services are all enhanced through personal interaction with staff who provide individualized support for each client, ongoing case management, and emphasize accountability and achievement.