Who Are We?

Kolus Corp. of Placitas specializes in building southwest, pueblo-style custom homes with open, efficient floor plans.  A young husband and wife team, together Jeff and Deborah Green are involved in every aspect of building a home, from original concepts to finish details. Deborah, with her Environmental Science background, brings to the team a genuine concern for the impact of land use, the materials used in the home, and its energy efficiency.  She considers the natural environment of a given lot, then designs a home to maximize the views and floor plan, while minimizing environmental disturbance and energy use. Jeff, a New Mexico native with a degree in Construction Management from UNM, has over 15 years of conscientious construction experience.  Jeff turns Deborah’s ideas into reality. With select materials and superior craftsmanship, Jeff is a hands-on builder, involved in every detail of the construction, resulting in a high quality, affordable home. As a result of their team work, each Kolus home is unique and never duplicated.

Who is Kolus?

Pronounced (koo-loos), with the first and second syllables having equal accent emphasis.

“Kolus” is a significant supernatural ancestor to the Kwakwaka'wakw people; the First Nation people located along the southwestern shores of British Columbia, Canada.

Most people are familiar with the mythical “Thunderbird”, a huge bird who brings the thunder and lightening; but fewer have heard of “Kolus”, Thunderbird’s younger brother (some say his younger cousin). Both Thunderbird and Kolus are large and powerful members of the sky beings.

Kolus, being slightly smaller than his older brother, is constantly trying to prove himself. Endowed with great strength, Kolus is noted for carrying heavier loads than his brother. When called upon by humans, Kolus will help to raise vast, heavy logs as roof beams for long houses (large rectangular structures used by tribes as communal gathering areas during pot latch ceremonies).

Kolus is described by the Kwakwaka'wakw as being covered with dazzling downy white feathers, flecked with blue. In spite of its beauty, the down makes him hot in the bright sun, so Kolus can remove his coat of down at will, revealing a human image. He often flies too close to the sun, burning his feather tips black. Kolus has straight, horizontal tufts (or feathered horns) on the top of his head, whereas Thunderbird’s has curly tufts. Kolus’ immaturity is said to be displayed by his blue beak, yet blue is also the color of the Chiefs. Kolus is often drawn with wings outstretched like his brother, emphasizing his strength and power.

History of Kolus

A story as told by Tom Sewid of the Kwakwaka'wakw people (2004)

The name ‘Sewid’ means “Paddling towards chief giving potlatch.”

As the story goes, the Creator made the Earth, the Sea and the Air in perfect harmony, including all things natural and supernatural. However, after more than 1000 years, the Creator noticed that he had made a mistake. Something was missing. After this, there was no balance. There were too many Thunderbirds, too many deer, too many of everything. Soon there was hunger, starvation, disease and war amongst the animal world.

After much thought, the Creator traveled to the north end of the earth, where no ice melts. He traveled to the big house where the Transformer lives. The Transformer is the Creator’s brother who lives on Earth. The Creator asked the Transformer to go all around the world, and for each type of animal that existed, natural or supernatural, to make one human. The human’s family crest would then be of that animal, but the human would not know that he came from the animal itself. The humans would then kill only the animals they needed to use for food, clothing, housing, and ceremony; and there would be no waste. By this method, the animal kingdom was again balanced.

One day, Kolus was sitting on top of Bald Mountain above Si Sound. The sound was a bay of clear, mirror-like water. Kolus sat up on the mountain with his wings stretched out, admiring his reflection in the sound. But suddenly, Kolus slipped, sliding all the way down the mountain. As he fell, his wings flapped and knocked down trees. His talons stretched and grabbed at the ground as he slid until he crashed on to the beach. Upon hitting the beach, there was an explosion of white down feathers. (This is the explanation for when there is fog along the beach.) Kolus picked up his feathers and flew back to the top of the mountain, where he continued to admire himself. (This is how Bald Mountain got its name.)

The Transformer decided to make Kolus mortal. Transformer began to butter Kolus up by telling him what he wanted to hear: "You are more beautiful than Thunderbird; you are stronger than Thunderbird.” But as Kolus was soaking in the compliments and admiring his reflection, he again lost his footing, tripped on his talons and fell down the mountain with white feathers falling off along the way. Kolus was extremely hot from all the activity of trying to stop himself from falling. As Kolus hit the brown stone beach, he tore open his chest of down feathers and walked out as a man.