It was no coincidence that Andre Landau, owner and founder of Van Life Collective, found himself in the Gorge and never left.
“A couple of friends moved here and said it was the coolest place in the world,” he said. “So I checked it out, expecting to continue exploring Oregon, but ended up staying.”
As a full-time resident now, he spends his time between skiing, kayaking, kiting, and working on van build-outs for Van Life Collective. The journey to get to that point began around seven years ago.
“I had two near-death experiences six months apart, both while skiing,” he said. “The first was in 2016 on a glacier in Chile, and the second was a tree strike at Alta Ski Area that left me with a skull injury.”
Andre Landau in an empty shell of a van, creates fully customized vans, as pictured below.
Contributed photo
With multiple close calls from a sport he was so passionate about, he asked himself the question, “What do I have if I can’t go skiing anymore?”
Not wanting a blank answer, Landau decided to lean into creative ventures. “Two things happened: I picked up a mandolin and then wanted to build my first van,” he said. “I had to rewire my brain for creativity, not just sports. It was like beginning to learn again.”
Staying true to his word, that same year, he built out his very first van to live in full-time with his then-partner. “We wanted to live the dream in a van down by the river. We were raft guides in Banks, Idaho, festival chasers, snow chasers, and we wanted to get out of our conventional jobs,” he said.
While that original van was sold in 2017, the spark for building and creativity had only begun.
Inside the Meadows Van buildout.
Contributed photo
Inside the Meadows Van buildout.
Contributed photo
Soon after, Landau Living started as a mobile collaborative project in Salt Lake City, Utah, for collaborative building in 2018. Landau himself didn’t have the most conventional background for building, but quickly found a passion for sharing the knowledge with others.
“I learned how to do very specific woodworking and manufacturing through building skis for PRAXIS and 4FRNT in Salt Lake City,” he said. “Other than that, I have a mechanical engineering degree, but I mostly learned building by just doing it.”
The makerspace itself opened in August 2020 in Hood River after coming out of quarantine, but was unable to be covered by insurance. It later morphed into Van Life Collective that same month due to an overwhelming number of custom van requests. The company now offers full van builds, partial van builds, van rentals, and more, but stays true to the original Landau Living values with an emphasis on community and wanting to help others live fully.
“Now I’m in a really good spot where I get to be creative with people and do all the sports that bring me joy,” said Landau. “The collective aspect comes about in listening to other people’s ideas and existing as a company whose goal is to elevate the people involved, the employees especially.”
Inside the Meadows Van buildout.
Contributed photo
Van Life Collective generally works with two types of clients. “The first type is probably similar to a lot of full build companies, where there’s generally a couple who is established and is looking for an adventure rig,” said Landau. “Most people aren’t looking to live full-time in a van but instead using it for the weekend or a trip to Baja, Mexico.”
Wanting to remain accessible to those who can’t afford a full build-out, the company offers standalone services such as the electrical, heater, cutting into the body of their van to create windows, and water systems.
“The other type of person who might be a live-in-your-van type person is the DIYer. They tend to be more involved in the little details and building their van,” said Landau. “I do my best to support them with ideas and get some of the more difficult parts done and get them set up to do the rest on their own.”
Noting that vans are a huge investment, Landau’s next step is to continue building a rental fleet, including offering syndicated low-cost investments in the form of a van.
Above, Landau lands a trick at Alta Ski Area.
Sam Watson photo
“If someone is on the fence about owning a van, I’d ask: Do they feel stuck doing something in their life? Is a van going to give them freedom?” Added Landau, “There are always rental vans to test it out.”
As for Landau, owning a van still suits his lifestyle perfectly, even if he no longer lives in one full-time.
“I can fit all my gear in one vehicle and not need to go back to a home base,” he said. “I can chase snow, chase wind, and rivers.”
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