NWPAMade Turns Creativity Into Commerce

Jacob Sukhenko

Having just opened her first storefront thanks to NWPAMade, Anush Dulgaryan Bruno's business Sealed by Nature creates beautiful soaps, balms, and hair and skin care. Read more about NWPAMade's impact with other local maker-businesses within.

Every product tells a story, and in northwestern Pennsylvania, the makers behind those products are learning to tell a new one: how to turn creativity into commerce. Through a new business accelerator called NWPAMade, makers and craftspeople are learning to make a living from making what they love.

The program, born from a partnership between PennWest Edinboro and Bridgeway Capital and funded by the Erie Community Foundation and Appalachian Regional Commission, places an emphasis on helping maker-entrepreneurs scale and sustain their businesses.

"We've expanded upon the traditional definition of 'maker,'" explained Christopher Lantinen, director of PennWest Edinboro's branch of the Beehive Network. "Artists are still very much centered in our definition of maker, but we also want to help chefs and brewers and coffee roasters and small-batch manufacturers and software developers and craftspeople and all of those different categories. If you are making something by hand, that is what our program is for."

The program collaborates with the PennWest Edinboro branch of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Beehive Network to create business cards, rack cards, websites, and other materials for each business owner.

Lisa Hansen, owner of Hikes and Hose, creates outdoor gear from recycled materials, including firehose and sailing cloth. She was in the ErieMade program – NWPAMade's predecessor, focused on the first step of creation for Erie makers – and Lantinen used her success story to get the grant to start NWPAMade, the second step.

Hansen explained that ErieMade helped her turn her business into a reality, but there's a point where every small business owner faces a make-or-break moment.

"You either grow or stay stagnant, and that's kind of where we were at the beginning of this, and the program helped me and our business take a step forward as far as understanding our path and where our growth needed to happen," she said.

The program engages business owners in Crawford and Erie counties who have been in business for at least a year and have an annual profit of $20,000 or more. Over nine months, it covers all aspects of owning a business, from legal advice to finances, marketing, and more.

Each business works with Amanda Duncan of Chiara Consulting to set goals for the program, and along the way, the businesses meet with experts in the various topic areas.

Adam Kennedy, chief programs officer at Bridgeway Capital, explained that although Bridgeway Capital is a social impact investor focused on nonprofits, it decided to help people and projects that might not otherwise be bankable but would bring great prosperity to the region if they were. NWPAMade is a way for Bridgeway Capital to tap into those businesses and ensure all operations are in working order so they can prosper and be an investable opportunity.

Lisa Hansen, owner of Hikes and Hose, a company that creates outdoor gear from recycled materials, found success through the ErieMade program, a predecessor to NWPAMade. (Photo: Jacob Sukhenko)

For Casey Brown, co-owner of Willow Creek Barn Wood Furniture, NWPAMade has helped him get his finances in order, revamp his branding, and focus on what matters – creating.

He and his father, Chris, have a storefront in Edinboro with a workshop nearby. They began their business about eight years ago after Casey pushed his father to turn his hobby of making things into a full-time job. Chris had worked in construction and always enjoyed woodworking on the side.

Casey was studying for a degree in physical therapy at the time and agreed to take a year off to help. "I'll take a year off of school and do this with you, and then I'll go back to grad school," Casey said during a launch event for NWPAMade. "One year went by, and I was like, 'Well, I'll take two years off.' By the time two years had passed, I realized that I really liked doing this, and growing up around construction, I always knew I really liked working with my hands, so then I had not only the opportunity to work with my hands and start a business but also to work with my father."

Now, the duo finds old reclaimed lumber in the area from barns that would otherwise head to the landfill, and uses it to create custom furniture.

"As hard as it is to acquire the lumber and build it, it's something that we didn't want to lose," Casey explained. "We wanted to preserve the history of that."

They make everything from dining room tables to conference tables, kitchen cabinets, bookcases, and even cutting boards.

"Our motto is 'You dream it, we build it,' so we have a lot of customers come to us with crazy ideas and we figure out how to make it happen for them," he said.

His father was old-school in how he kept books, so NWPAMade set them up with QuickBooks and is helping them make the change from sole proprietorship to a limited liability company (LLC).

Chris and Casey Brown created the business Willow Creek, and with financial planning and branding assistance from NWPAMade, they've been able to focus on making the reclaimed woodworking projects that define their business. (Photo: Jacob Sukhenko)

Down the road, Anush Dulgaryan Bruno just opened her own storefront thanks to NWPAMade's support. Sealed by Nature (318 W. Plum St. in Edinboro) goes beyond soap and skincare, making it into a canvas for artistic expression. Bruno creates everything from bath bombs to lip balm, specialty soaps, and hair and skin care, harnessing the medicinal properties of nature.

Her venture began in 2020 when she was a new stay-at-home mom with two kids and turned to creativity as professional work. She started selling her products in Edinboro shops and on Etsy, then joined the ErieMade program's first cohort.

She said that for makers and small business owners, these business accelerators create a priceless network of support that has given her the confidence to make her dreams a reality.

"A small business is something that very often it's one person or two people," she said. "You know, you're so small you're trying to do it all yourself, and sometimes you lose that faith that what you're doing is the right thing and that you can get through the difficulties. Having a program that sort of holds your hand and says, 'You can do it, this is the way to go,' that's such an important support."

In her new storefront, she offers more than just products. People can come in and learn about the ingredients, then make their own soap or lip balm. Even children can enjoy painting bath bombs or playing with moldable soap, a clay-like substance that can be shaped and then hardens into soap.

She's already thinking of collaborations with her fellow small business owners, whether it's hosting painting classes in her shop or visiting Tia Maria Wigs to speak about scalp and skin care. She's hoping to create a hub of creativity in Edinboro, boosting the economic benefits across the county.

This program and her business, she explained, "can give that opportunity for development in the city and the outskirts" to ensure equal development.

What began as a network of makers learning the business side of their craft is becoming a connected web of creators building a stronger economy. NWPAMade's impact reaches beyond individual shops and studios, nurturing a culture of creativity that's close to home.

This year's cohort includes: Sealed by Nature, graphic artist Alex Strasser, Blissful Meads, Nancy Asmus' Nancy Under the Steps, Borgia Artistry Studios, jewelry maker and metalsmith Gideon Hermann, Hikes and Hose, live wedding painter Izzy Does Art, Millie's Morsels, Poverty Knob Farmhouse Ales, ProDome Seal, mural painter Raeann the Artist, Rhoxon Productions, She Vintage, Tia Maria Wigs, and Willow Creek Barn Wood Furniture.

Learn more at nwpamade.org

Chloe Forbes is a local journalist. Reach her at chloeforbes14@gmail.com