Ten years ago, the quintessential tiny house was a re-purposed shipping container, industrial-modern and proud of it. That was fitting for a movement whose rising appeal was tethered to the global financial crisis, but the aesthetic is changing.

Just ask Abel Zimmerman Zyl, a Washingtonian whose company, Zyl Vardos, makes decidedly whimsical tiny-house caravans. The company specializes in organic shapes and has been happily installing undulating rooflines, circular Hobbit-esque doors, and bright expanses of cedar shingles into the tiny house design lexicon since 2007.

The tiny house movement may have gained traction in austere times, but, for Zyl, building small, movable houses is about more than saving money. “Culturally we are due for a little change from the manufactured, expensive world,” he says. “Not only is the money part of it, but also people finding a more zen way to live.”

Read the full story: http://www.opb.org/artsandlife/article/tiny-house-meet-roving-caravan-olympa-abel-zimmerman-zyl/

(Photo credit: Courtesy of Abel Zimmerman Zyl)