The Global C.O.B

The Global C.O.B. Team (Community of Biobuilders) consists of trained cob builders of all nationalities, ages, specialties and in all areas of the world, ready to teach a workshop or lead a project…all in support of more earthen construction replacing concrete on the Planet and increasing awareness and experience of natural building everywhere, especially in the non-Western countries where the awareness and need is greater for well-built earthen housing.

Please refer to our For Students pages to learn how you can proceed on the journey to becoming a Cob Workshop assistant, teacher, intern and builder with CruzinCobGlobal.

Here is our international team of teachers….we look forward to having you join us soon!

 

CLAUDINE “COB QUEEN” DÉSIRÉE

MASTER COBBER/COB INSTRUCTOR

 

Learning to build cob houses has been an unexpected gift in so many ways.  The joy I see on people’s faces at my workshops when they roll up their pants for the first time and stick their toes in the cool soft mud, the laughter and heart-to-heart conversations ignited while mixing and building with a partner, the meditative concentration of working on a sculpture, the satisfaction of stepping back and seeing your beautiful trimmed wall section, the excitement at embedding bottles and sculpting an art window, the bliss of relaxing with good food and a cold beer after a full day’s building in community, and the gratitude of leaving confident in starting a dream project….are why I do this work.  Over and over again, all over the world, cob building creates childlike joy, love, community, and empowerment.  It has shown itself to be much more than a building technique.  It is a remedy for a better Life on Earth.  It creates Happy People living in Happy Houses. May the legacy of CruzinCobGlobal continue to heal the World one workshop at a time and one cob house at a time. Aho.

 

VIVA HANSEN

COB INSTRUCTOR/MASTER COBBER

 

As a kid Cob was this weird, empowering thing my mom did to build us a bigger home. I participated when I wanted, and skipped out when I didn’t. Though as time went on the Cob effect was undeniable. Every time a build was underway there was music and laughter and food and wisdom from people of all ages and backgrounds.
As I matured through my high school years I was able to involve myself with enough earthen building to feel its practical magic. Then one summer I created an opportunity to build a meditation room with my high school physics teacher. His passionate involvement with our Indigenous community transformed the project into a spiritual experience. Throughout the summer we made long trips to sacred rivers and hand-picked beautiful stones for the foundation, often walking for miles on a trail with three or four stones in a backpack. Then as I finished my college experience and returned to California, the opportunity to join my mother on her journey bloomed.
For me, Cob is primarily a physical experience. It has always been about sweat and breath. The feel of different dirts and sands, straws and rocks. And it is a mystical experience, bringing me back to the earth. But what I have learned from the last year is that Cob building can be a tool to sew communities back together. To bring “strangers” into a common space and make them family. In that vein, Cob really is a product of my life philosophy. Something that I can stand behind fully because I know that from top to bottom it is peace, hard work, sustainable and love.
As I continue to learn in this life I will continue to share what Cob has shared with me.

 

NICOLAS PIMENTEL

COB INSTRUCTOR & MASTER COBBER

I was born and raised in Santiago, Chile, and had a childhood deeply connected to the arts and nature. From an early age, I felt a strong curiosity to travel and learn about other cultures, people, and places. During my university years as an architecture student, I went to study in Porto, Portugal in my final year. There, I first encountered the idea of natural building while attending a conference in Prague. After this brief introduction to theoretical knowledge, I wanted to get hands-on experience.  In 2017, while searching online, I found a CruzinCobGlobal workshop taught by Claudine in the Azores Islands, and that was the beginning of this amazing journey of fascination with and passion for Earthen Building, as well as a great, long friendship with Claudine. After spending a long time on the islands, I returned to Chile to receive my degree in architecture. I also went to Colorado to assist in a CCG workshop lead by Claudine, and then assisted & co-taught 2 CCG workshops in Chile.

I also learned other natural building techniques at TIBÁ in Brazil, and continued working independently in Chile, where I built my first light straw clay house in southern Chile.  This is when I eventually settled in the northern Patagonian mountain town of Pucón, where I co-founded my architecture studio, PIWA.  My focus is designing homes in rural areas, integrating bioconstruction and bioarchitecture techniques. Parallel to this, I returned to the Azores Islands to teach a light clay straw workshop on Claudine’s land in 2021 and a Complete Full Build Workshop in 2023.

My motivation to keep learning has never waned, and this drive took me to Marrakech to learn Tadelakt from ancient masters. I also constantly return to books to learn more about various techniques and experiment with them.  In 2024, I began teaching online workshops as well as in-person workshops on earthen plasters in southern Portugal and southern Chile.

Currently, I work as an architect in my own studio, mainly designing in southern Chile. I am also co-founder of a conservation project called Jungla Peumayen, located in the central region’s mountains, where we focus on the conservation of flora and fauna, conducting rewilding efforts by reinserting wild animals, among other activities. I also co-founded Kalina, a creative space in nature located in northern Patagonia, where I reside and am currently building my second light straw clay home.

I love teaching these techniques and learning from other students. I believe every interaction is an opportunity for learning, and bringing earthen building to new environments and professionalizing it is a crucial task in contributing to this paradigm shift. The earth has built me and I am constantly growing and learning from it!

 

KRYSTAL ALEXANDER

ELLIOTT BEDFORD

COB ASSISTANT/COB INSTRUCTOR

 

My name is Elliott ( L for short ).  I was born and raised in a little beach town off the East Coast of Florida. I grew up with a solid work ethic, helping my step Dad with his lawn service/landscaping company as well as home projects and repairs, before I could drive.  I learned at a young age to work on roofs, due to Florida hurricanes. Always my step Dad’s right hand man on land as well as on the ocean, I spent many early mornings fishing between the days of hard work. 

Over the years I had second and third jobs in the marine, boat, and fishing industry, while attending community College. One memorable place was Honest John’s Fish Camp, a family homestead since the 1880s. Here I drove a tractor to move and launch boats, rented kayaks, and enjoyed meeting many wonderful people. While working there, I had the opportunity to help with small tasks on a geodesic dome home build. It was the first non-traditional building I would experience. 

When my step Dad retired from the lawn service industry, it was my turn to take the reins. For the past 7 years I worked to keep the customers very happy, some may have said I was better than the last guy (lol).  Florida summers seemed to get hotter while good help became hard to find. I started to realize I was going to be doing the same work week after week year after year if I didn’t make a change. 

When I first learned about Cob, I was infatuated with its beauty and sustainability. As someone who had the experience of ceramics classes in school, I thought “Wooowwww!” I can sculpt fish! Finding CCG was the next step. I felt that I had found something to do with a greater purpose. I hadn’t traveled much outside of the bubble I was living in. The idea of spending time seeing new places and meeting new people sounded pleasant to the ears. My partner and I wanted our two boys to have this opportunity of learning and growing as a family. We started to put thought as to how we could do life differently. 

As of 2024 we have begun spending summers in Murphy, NC while I travel to develop my Cob knowledge with CCG. I have had the great opportunity to meet amazing people building in California, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. I’m very happy to have begun the ability to continue building physically and mentally with CCG.  I feel so much joy in helping others learn and grow on this path.

 

JAN PRITCHARD

COB ASSISTANT

I’m Jan, half English, half German. Growing up, I was lucky enough to go to a Steiner Waldorf school, where creativity, crafting, and movement were valued and taught alongside academic topics, giving me a balanced grounding for life (and cobbing).