How it started

In 2022, I (Andre) left a decade in IT — years of field tech and AV work at Fidelity and Pfizer — to start making things instead of fixing them.

The first real product was a wooden clock. Before I quit, someone had asked me to build a play clock for their kid and it went over well. It stuck with me. Clocks are useful, personal, and give you a natural surface to put a name, a date, or a message on. And I could build one with the tools I had.

The first production clock came out of the 7.25-inch cherry boards I could source locally. I designed around the wood instead of the other way around, and only machined one face, because carving both sides would have doubled the labor for no real gain to the customer. That first clock set the rule I still work by: make the nicest object possible with the least wasted material and the least unnecessary labor, then pass the savings on in the price.

Two and a half years of figuring it out

I started with essentially no manufacturing experience. The first big machine I bought was a 150-watt CO₂ laser with a 63-inch bed, a piece of equipment roughly the size of a car. I wired it up wrong on day one and fried the motherboard and the power supply. Shipping it back wasn't really an option, so I cracked it open, replaced components at the board level, swapped the PSU, and got it running.

That was the pattern for the next two to three years. CNC, CO₂ laser, a fiber-laser galvo, a fleet of 3D printers, product photography, copywriting, Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, packaging, fulfillment. All of it learned the hard way, one problem at a time. The work was steep and stressful, but it was never close to giving up. It was just the price of learning how to make things well.

Somewhere in there, the products started getting good.

What makes our work different

Over time I developed a fiber-laser engraving process for 3D-printed parts that we haven't seen used at volume anywhere else. It's how we get permanent, crisp engraving on our clock bodies and desk accessories. No printed labels, no vinyl, no paint that wears off. Just the material itself, marked for good.

It's also why we can offer deep personalization without pricing it like custom work. The process is fast enough, and clean enough, that your name or message on a clock face costs you about the same as the version without it.

Khanin joined full-time in 2024

Khanin runs operations. Accounting, print management, fulfillment, the daily rhythm of the business, and most of what you see on Instagram. She came on full-time in 2024. She'd been watching our November and December holiday revenue for a couple of years, and eventually the math was undeniable: one good month out of the workshop paid more than a good month of her day job. She took the leap, and we've been running the shop together since.

Where you'll find our work

Everything we sell here is our own design and made in our own shop. You'll also find us on Amazon and Etsy, where thousands of people have picked up one of our clocks, desk signs, or reading tools over the last three years.

We also make for companies. If you're looking to put your logo or a personal message on 50, 100, or 500 desk pieces for your team or your clients, we've done runs like that before and we'd be happy to do one for you. Reach out through our contact page and we'll talk.