Fine-art metal

LAFAYETTE — A focus on community, creativity and marketability goes a long way in setting up business for success. In the case of Living Design Studios in Lafayette, it also brought in national recognition and a cash award.

The company designs, fabricates and installs metalwork for residential and commercial customers. In January, Living Design Studios joined 12 other small businesses across the nation as winners in the 2013 Chase Bank Mission Main Street grant program.

The award includes $250,000, a Google Chromebook Pixel laptop, a marketing workshop from Google at company headquarters in California and the opportunity to network with the other 12 winning companies.
With 16 employees working in a 12,000-square-foot space, Living Design has come a long way since co-owner, Jessica Adams, turned her passion into a business.

“This is the quintessential success story of a small business,” she said. “I started it with a passion for art and an interest in learning how to make a living at it.”

Along with co-owner, Jonathan Falk, Adams founded Living Design Studios Inc. in 2000 after doing the metal work for five years as a sole proprietorship. Today the company handles projects like creating and installing metal and glass perimeter railings for the Denver International Airport renovation. The final piece will be 2,200 linear feet.

Each project can include numerous creations — such as stairways, countertops and stove hoods. They range from $1,000 to $1 million.

Combining the grant money and current projects, Living Design Studio will bring in about $2.5 million in 2014, Falk said.
“We discussed what we’d do with the grant money prior to submitting all the papers,” Adams added.
Once they’ve figured out the tax requirements, they plan to use the money in a five-year plan to purchase equipment, train staff on techniques and improve collateral.

“With commercial projects you have to put out a lot of money prior to receiving payments, so it will help in those time spans between awards and payment,” she said.

Nearly 35,000 small businesses from all 50 states submitted applications for the $250,000 grant from Chase bank. Requirements included being in business for at least two years, having fewer than 100 employees, demonstrating a positive impact on local community and receiving at least 250 votes on the Mission Main Street site.

“We tapped into huge reservoirs to get votes from high school friends around the nation to people we’ve done volunteer work for,” Falk said. Their final tally was 271 votes.

“I’m the major owner so we’re a woman-owned business – the panelists had an interest in minority small businesses,” Adams said.

Keeping business dollars in the area added to Living Design Studios’ appeal.
“We’re keeping our manufacturing in the U.S. A lot of our raw materials are manufactured in America, and we build things here,” Falk added.

For example, Living Design Studios had a company in Arvada cut the steel needed and had the glass manufactured by a company in Denver for the DIA project. Falk said Living Design Studios has spent a half-million dollars on subcontracting with other small businesses, showing that the company has a positive impact on the local economy.”

The company also had to explain why it was poised to maintain success.

“We do custom ornamental metal work that has its roots in fine art,” Adams said. “Colorado is a perfect place for us from projects like the new Justice Center to Union Station.

“There’s a high-end market here where we can innovate and then bring more solutions to other designs and meet more budgets. It gives us a competitive edge.”

Marketing efforts that keep Living Design Studios in the running include giving workshops during the lunch hour on the advantage of green and metal craftsmanship and membership in organizations like the Hispanic Contractors of Colorado.

“They work to lobby for large contractors to use small contractors like us,’ she said.

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