Meet The Pillyr Foundation | President, Board of Directors

We had the good fortune of connecting with The Pillyr Foundation and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi The Pillyr Foundation, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
The Pillyr Foundation has had a couple different iterations. It started as an idea to crowd fund for community projects with an online platform and knowledge resource and eventually transformed into more of a project based foundation. In 2016, Daniel Snider made the original pitch of the idea to a few friends in his apartment with a presentation and some refreshments. I was hooked and went forward from there. When setting up the first project, David came along to help and never left. Today the core team is the three of us. We all have been responsible for evolving the idea of the organization over the past 5 years.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Daniel, David & Sammy all have other day jobs outside of The Pillyr Foundation. We all met as graduate students at Georgia Tech in the Masters of Architecture program. After graduation we all chose slightly different paths. Daniel is a UX designer, design strategist and technologist with Revel Systems, David is a design professional with Blur Workshop working on mostly hospitality architecture projects and brings a background in public art, and Sammy is a sustainable design professional with HKS Inc. specializing in sustainability, resilience and building performance within architecture. We all share a passion for public service and a common goal to leave this world better than we received it. This is the glue that helps make Pillyr what it is.

We have evolved since our first days creating small installations for Atlanta Streets Alive. There have been many late nights in the shop or on site putting projects together and lessons learned every step of the way. We have had to create a way to design, build and install our projects along the way from drafting contracts to finding community partners and advocates. There is a tremendous opportunity for community projects and art in Atlanta, lots of need and lots of willing souls, but it is hard work mentally and physically, like anything that is worth it in life.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
After our big project builds or workdays we always end up in a few places either on two-wheels or in the mini-truck. Augustine’s on Memorial or 97 Estoria, pitcher of PBR with a tasty handheld or hummus plate. Both offer both. As avid cyclists we also try to move around the city on two-wheels so our tour would be on bikes. We have always been able to find workshop spaces for free or reduced cost to help our mission from Auburn Ave. to Adair Park and now Kirkwood. There have been many nights with long rides home, The city has a distinct beauty when the sun goes down. There is an eclectic culture in the intown neighborhoods where we mostly roam and seeing all the spots would be the most enjoyable of occasions.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The great people of our city

Website: https://www.pillyr.org/

Instagram: @pillyratl

Facebook: @pillyratl