I grew up in Rena Lara, Mississippi, an unincorporated community on Mississippi Highway 1 in southwestern Coahoma County. I still live and work on the same land my granddad purchased in the 1930’s. My dad was a welder and known to everybody as “Hi Pocket,” due to his 6’3” stature. He and mom built a house on this land and raised my brother and two sisters on the edge of grandad’s bean field.

Living in the country shaped my activities mainly because we didn’t have any organized recreational activities available. I mostly spent my time helping my dad in his shop. I wasn’t idle very much, but when I did sit I always picked up a pen and sketched. My first designs were race cars and motorcycles that I drew on paper napkins at the kitchen table after supper.

My first chance to design and engineer came when Santa brought a bicycle for Christmas. The next day I disassembled and redesigned it with extended forks and elongated handlebars repurposed from old bikes, I put my stamp on it and it tickled me that something that was a thought turned into a sketch, then became something I actually used and enjoyed.

My dad believed in hard work and I began working with him when I was about 6. He taught me so many things and always told me that your work is a sign of your character. At 12 years old dad gave me my first opportunity to put torch to steel and a passion in me was sparked.  

Early on my work consisted of repairing and building farm equipment: plows, tanks, discs, and cotton trailers. Then in the ‘90’s I was commissioned to design and build a fence appropriate to the style of a turn of the century home which was being renovated into an office building. My creativity was sparked and I worked closely with my client to create a stunning fence design that I built and installed. A new course was set for me and I left behind the farm industry work and began working with iron artistically.

I design, engineer, build, and install projects with attention to every detail knowing that each piece will last forever.

Roland is a member of the Craftsman’s Guild of Mississippi and the Oxford Arts Guild and is featured in the Mississippi Made Catalog.