In most cases, the story of American manufacturing begins strong, becomes devastating, and—if you’re lucky—ends with a forward-looking glimmer of hope. Yesterday I was able to tour Axiom, a local success story that’s seen a completely different trajectory.
Founded in 1996 by Woody Stratton, Axiom began primarily as a cabinetry business, and has since grown into one of the most diversified one-stop manufacturing/design/fabrication studios in the nation, if not the world. They recently relocated from an over-stuffed space under the St. Johns bridge to a 95,000 square foot space abutting the Columbia Slough, where they employ almost 100 people to create a huge range of custom projects. Unlike many of their peers, they don’t require minimums, and Director of Business Development Tacee Webb—who I know from her long stint in retail, particularly a run opening stores for American Apparel—reached out because of Axiom’s potential as a resource for the small manufacturing companies who are beginning to unify as an economic force around entities like Portland Made.
One of the problems small manufacturing businesses consistently run into is in scaling up without sacrificing their commitment to local or national manufacturing, and one of the things that’s helped Axiom find its niche is that, as Webb quotes Stratton, they’ll “take a check to cut a single board as long as it allows us to make a profit.” They also don’t try to limit their focus—clients come to them because they’ll take on as many aspects of a project as possible, even acquiring new equipment (like their vacuum forming machine) and learning how to use it in order to complete a request. If anything, they specialize in taking on what other shops don’t want to deal with—the weird, challenging stuff is what they thrive on. They do large-scale sculptures for fine artists and international corporations, as well as tiny projects for start-ups and even backyard inventors from the neighborhood. (And yeah, they still do specialty cabinet work, too.)
Despite its portfolio high-profile clients, Axiom has historically been run on word of mouth. Webb first contacted Stratton for retail build-outs, and can’t even remember how she managed to stumble across him. They’ve had a web site for less than six months, and employees got their first business cards the day before my visit. Yet, you’ve almost certainly seen their work: That bonkers tiger (lion? panther?) that Katy Perry rode during the Superbowl half-time show? Yep, that was Axiom (designer Michael Curry is one of their best clients).
Giant sneakers for Adidas? Axiom. Larger-than-life sculptures of basketball players for All Star Week at the New York City Niketown? They just did that last week. If you’ve ever been inside Bamboo Sushi or Produce Row (RIP), you’ve been in environments they helped create, too. And not all of their projects are that glamorous. It sounds corny, but one of their keys to success literally seems to have been a good old fashioned “can do” attitude a healthy respect for deadlines, and a welcoming attitude towards challenge.
Another key: the sheer number of services they provide under one roof. They can do virtually anything with wood, and in addition to their vacuum former they have multiple CNC machines, a 7 axis robotic arm, 3d printers and scanners, a painting and powder coating shop, a metal shop, an in-house mural artist, and an electronics department that does everything from experiential installation and performance work to signage. They’ll do upholstery, custom lighting fixtures, countertops, staircases, resin casting and pouring…
And despite it all, you may well have never heard of them, but that might start to change. Webb is considering hosting an open house for small furniture makers in the area to let them know they’re here, and even has a fantasy about throwing a concert on the Slough right behind their workshop. It’s awesome to know a company like this, that’s driven by process and teamwork rather than the soullessness of a bottom line is thriving in the US, and this city should have the opportunity to be proud of them—not to mention they’re an excellent source of employment hope for all those PNCA sculpture students in the house.