00:00 What does the factory do?
00:01 Oh boy.
00:03 Oh, we make a lot of stuff here.
00:04 (upbeat music)
00:07 - The factory's been around for 10 years.
00:29 We opened in 2013, March, on my birthday, in fact.
00:33 We joked that Louie got me a company for my birthday.
00:35 - Paul and I met at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.
00:38 - We were both in the sculpture department.
00:40 That's kind of where our friendship started.
00:42 After graduating, moved to New York.
00:43 I think I kind of convinced Louie to move to New York
00:45 and come work in the fashion photography set
00:48 and event industry.
00:49 - Neither one of us are traditionalist sculptors.
00:52 We're really artists and we work in a variety of materials.
00:56 That really translates well to set and event fabrication.
00:59 - We worked for another company for a number of years.
01:02 We thought that we could be successful
01:04 at trying it on our own.
01:06 In the beginning, hunger had a lot to do
01:08 with our ability to tell any client
01:10 that we're capable of doing anything that they want us to.
01:13 Even if it's a false bravado,
01:15 it's a level of confidence in yourself
01:17 and your ability to adapt and learn very quickly
01:20 that really made this company possible.
01:22 - That first year was really tough.
01:24 The second year we made a profit.
01:25 The third year we doubled.
01:27 The fourth year we doubled again.
01:29 The fifth year we doubled again.
01:30 Before, we were doing a lot of magazine photo shoots,
01:33 advertising and editorials, small stuff.
01:37 And then the rest is history.
01:39 The experiential marketing blew the doors
01:43 off of everything that we were doing here.
01:44 And it's also like a lot more fun.
01:47 - We don't create and build the same thing every day.
01:50 And that's where we excel.
01:51 And that's what kind of sets us apart
01:53 from a more traditional fabrication shop.
01:55 - The biggest challenge was just starting.
01:58 Just telling yourself,
01:59 "Get out of the comfortable zone and just go for it."
02:01 - We really scrapped together
02:03 whatever Louie and I had in savings,
02:04 enough to buy us a couple of months on the lease
02:07 and the bare minimum amount of tools that we need.
02:09 We had to dump whatever money we had
02:11 into our next investment in order to grow the company.
02:14 So that meant taking a huge leap of faith.
02:16 - I went home and I talked to my wife about it
02:17 'cause Paul and I were, you know, we were mulling it over.
02:20 We were like, "Man, I think we could do this."
02:23 And I'm like, "How do we pay for it?"
02:25 I don't know, we'll figure it out.
02:27 I went home and I talked to my wife and I said,
02:29 "I could keep the job I have now.
02:31 "It's a good one.
02:32 "It's a little stressful,
02:33 "but it pays for everything we need.
02:37 "Or I can go take a shot at doing our own thing.
02:40 "And you're not gonna see me much.
02:41 "I don't think you're gonna see me much at all
02:43 "for a few years."
02:44 And she said, "Louie, I'll support you if you stay
02:47 "at the job that you have,
02:49 "but I'll support you more if you...
02:52 "But I'll support you more if you go out on your own.
02:55 "So go do it."
02:56 (upbeat music)
02:58 - Equipment investment is a huge part of what we've done.
03:03 And now we've really kind of recognized the future
03:06 of 3D printing and digital fabrication tools.
03:08 It's making our work more efficient.
03:10 It's making our products better.
03:11 - We have a massive 3D printer.
03:13 It looks like a giant microwave oven.
03:14 The objects that it can print in a single go
03:17 are four feet deep, roughly, five feet wide, six feet tall.
03:21 - The internet is essential to what we're doing here.
03:23 We use cloud-based storage and cloud-based transfer
03:27 for just about everything that we do.
03:29 - The ability to share information immediately
03:31 and to watch someone work on something
03:34 simultaneously as you is huge.
03:36 I mean, it's a game changer.
03:37 All the information that we share with clients
03:39 and also with all the team here at the factory
03:41 is usually under locking key.
03:42 And because of the amount of digital work that we do
03:45 and the amount of work we do on the cloud software,
03:47 the cybersecurity is a huge, huge part of us
03:50 keeping our clients' information safe,
03:52 keeping our business safe.
03:53 Our staff here is one of the features of our company
03:55 that we're most proud of.
03:56 We search for the highest skilled possible people
03:59 for whatever position that we need to have filled.
04:01 And once we get these people here,
04:03 we do everything that we can to keep them.
04:05 - It's not boring, and work can be very boring.
04:08 We're not an assembly line business.
04:10 We're not installing doors on cars
04:13 over and over and over again.
04:14 That's not fulfilling enough for a lot of creative people.
04:18 This is kind of that creative incubator for us.
04:20 That's what we hope we're creating.
04:22 - One of the reasons that we did start this company
04:24 is because we wanted the space, equipment, tools, materials
04:27 to be able to continue our art practice.
04:29 And we find that same mentality translates
04:31 into our employees as well,
04:33 because we know that's a vital part of their lives.
04:35 And that's the kind of people that we want to attract
04:37 and who we want to work with.
04:39 We like to think that we're one of the best in the business.
04:41 In order for us to continue to grow and expand,
04:43 we'll have to go into new markets.
04:45 - I know that I always want to make something bigger
04:46 and better and cooler.
04:47 We're addicted to growing our business.
04:49 - We like to make cool stuff.
04:51 That's really what we want to do.
04:52 And so why do we just have to make it in New York, right?
04:55 Why can't we make it in Vegas and LA and Miami?
04:59 Somebody's got to do it.
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