BUTLER, Wis. — Tucked inside a studio above his brother’s junk removal business, Ike Wynter spent 39 long days, with little sleep, repurposing unwanted furniture into emblems for millions to see.

The NFL Draft, known for its big names and high-stakes selections, is now spotlighting a local artist from Butler, Wisconsin.

Wynter, a Milwaukee native and self-taught wood artist, was commissioned by the NFL to create handcrafted logos for all 32 teams ahead of the league’s draft in Green Bay.

It was a request he said he never expected.

“Yeah, the initial reaction, especially after we got on that first Zoom call, was like, ‘Oh, this is real. This is the thing,’” Wynter said.

He estimates the project took more than 500 hours. For three nights in a row, he stayed in the studio until sunrise.

He cut, carved and sanded each team emblem by hand.

“It was the first time I ever saw the sunrise in my studio,” Wynter said.

There’s no stain or paint on the logos. Just raw texture from more than 50 discarded furniture pieces gathered across Wisconsin.

“Honestly, just out of curiosity, picking up wood on the side of the road and turning it into like coffee tables, and art and stuff,” said Wynter when asked about why he started. “It just came out of need of repurposing materials and curiosity.”

After the draft, the pieces will make their way to NFL headquarters.

But Wynter, who shares his process with a huge TikTok audience, said this moment transcends art and even football. It’s about legacy. 

His grandfather, Raymond Kuffel, was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1944. Carving the Bills logo, Wynter said, held special weight.

“Now to be his grandson, 81 years later, making this art is just, it’s the coolest thing I’ve got to do with that side of my family,” he said.

Despite being a diehard Green Bay Packers fan, Wynter said he carved each logo with the same heart.

“It’s a very humbling experience that I got chosen out of the thousands of artists they could have chosen all over the country,” he said.