Our Team
Get to know our talented crew steeped in ecological literacy with a flair for artisan regenerative and permaculture systems
Meet our wonderful team!
We are grateful for the opportunity to help restore native and sustainable ecologies throughout San Diego and beyond. Our team consists of permaculture designers, native plant specialists, agricultural + farm specialists. We look forward to working with you!
Josh Robinson
Founder & Permaculture Designer
Josh, a San Diego native, is a master ecological artisan and infuses Ecology Artisans with his wealth of regenerative design, installation experience, and creativity.
Josh is a father, gardener, farmer, teacher, and ecological instigator. He has over 20 years of experience in the field designing, installing, and teaching about creating ecological abundant gardens, home, farms, and businesses. Josh is recognized throughout the Southwestern US as a leader in water harvesting and permaculture. He holds a Master’s Degree in Ecological Landscape Design.
His work has received multiple awards as well as being featured in Toby Hemenway’s Gaia’s Garden and Art Ludwig’s Create an Oasis with Greywater. In addition to his work with Ecology Artisans, Josh is the Director and co-founder of the San Diego Sustainable Living Institute, where he is training the next generation of sustainability experts. Josh enjoys spending time traveling, hiking, and planting trees with his family.
Christopher Marciello
Founder, Landscape Designer, Arborist & Agroforester
Christopher is an International Society of Arboriculture certified Arborist and has been a student of Permaculture and regenerative design since 1995, having been introduced to Permaculture theory while studying desert ecology and plant identification in Nevada, and simultaneously undertaking the task of drylands farming sustainably in the Mojave Desert.
Working with a small group of fledgling Permaculture designers lead to experiments with water harvesting, integrated planting patterns and earthen building materials.
Christopher returned to the east coast in 1999 and began farming with Golden Rule Farm, at the Soule Homestead Education Center in Middleborough, Massachusetts to practice small scale organic farming.
After completing a Permaculture design course with San Diego Sustainable Living Institute in 2013, Christopher began working professionally as a Permaculture Designer creating the design firm C2 Agriculture.
As a Permaculture designer, Christopher has installed and managed multiple food forests, as well as regenerative water harvesting landscapes, residential graywater systems and cistern based rainwater harvesting systems.
Christopher has been actively designing and managing agroforestry systems utilizing alley cropping, hedgerows, windbreaks and timberbelts, forest farming and cover cropping with animal grazing to develop soil fertility.
In service of professional development and the necessity to advance the science of Regenerative agriculture, he is currently completing an A.S. In Horticulture at Mira Costa College.
He is the designer and chief forester of Trees and Bees Regenerative Farm in Valley Center, CA., an Agroforestry farm.
Evan Capps
Landscape Crew Leader
Evan grew up with an appreciation for the land, living in the Mountain West, Pacific Northwest, and then settling in Southern California. After learning hardscape and landscape construction in the Northwest, he joined Ecology Artisans in 2018 and gained an understanding and appreciation for the importance of Regenerative Landscaping. Evan is passionate about building sustainable and regenerative systems that benefit both the land and the landowner.
Emmanuel Olivares
Landscape Crew Leader
Born and raised in Villa Nicolas Bravo in Guerrero, México with six siblings, Emmanuel is a humble, hard working and detail oriented person.
Emmanuel’s early years involved harvesting corn, beans, pumpkins and other farm items with his grandparents and uncles. He was also tasked with firewood collection using his axe and machete. Growing up, he began working on construction jobs with his father who taught him a “little bit of everything,” which helped serve him when he migrated to the United States with his father over 15 years ago.
Since arriving in the US and obtaining his Green Card, Emmanuel has worked his way up through the ranks of landscape technicians and shows for it. He consistently noodles on irrigation challenges until the most elegant and simple solution shows up. Detail oriented, skilled in most everything, and humble and caring, Emmanuel is another wonderful addition to the Ecology Artisans team.
Connor Bass
Landscape Technician
Connor grew up in Minneapolis, MN and moved to San Diego to attend SDSU to study Environmental Science. During his time in college he discovered his passion for connecting others to the outdoors. After graduation he moved to Seward, AK to work as glacier hiking, and ice climbing guide. After one extremely rainy season, he moved back to San Diego and continued guiding long distance backpacking in the southern Sierra.
Through the COVID pandemic he rediscovered his love for plants and built a garden utilizing permaculture. Since then, he has taken his inspiration from 5+ summers of outdoor travel and has been learning all he can about landscape construction and landscape design to increase enjoyment and connection with the natural world closer to home.
In addition to his B.S. in environmental science from SDSU, he also holds an A.A. in Landscape Architecture from Mira Costa College, and has taken a Permaculture Design course. When he is not working, Connor enjoys working on his motorcycle, cooking, and as many outdoor activities he can find the time for.
Tor Heggelund
Landscape Technician
Tor has worked with Ecology Artisans since 2021. Working in restaurants in his adolescence, he became passionate about food, and eventually became very interested in growing it himself. Naturally, he found Permaculture, and it aligned with his vision of a sustainable and regenerative food system. He finds satisfaction beautifying and regenerating landscapes and ecosystems for future generations to enjoy.
Our Mission and Vision
Get to know our company vision and philosophy to see if we're a fit!
REVIEWS
"Ecology Artisans did a great job with my landscaping in delivering an easy to maintain, environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing work of art. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to reconfigure their landscaping to a more efficient and layout that is a better fit for the climate in SoCal." -Jimmy Troy
Professional Landscape Design Consultation
Our landscape designers are available to help you envision all the opportunities for maximizing your sites ecological potential.
