Merrillville venture remakes the Lazy Susan.
by Kathy McKimmie
At The Image House at Home, Amy Slater dreams of the day when every home will have one of her artsy Lazy Susans.
She's no stranger to dreaming big dreams, evidenced by the fact that the year-old venture is a spinoff division of her successful large-format, high-resolution digital printing company, The Image House, established in 2005. It now has 11 full-time employees.
The Image House prints for six primary markets: displays, events and tradeshows, in-store point-of-purchase, vehicle and wall graphics, window and outdoor graphics, and its latest focus area, fine arts. A few years ago, with her sophisticated printing equipment able to print on just about anything and the economy down, Slater asked herself, “What else can we do?”
“I love art, I've always loved art,” Slater said. “I knew we could do high-end reproductive art.” She began to meet with local artists and photographers and talk about using their images on things other than traditional wall art. And she discovered in her discussions with retail specialty shops that Lazy Susans were in demand, “but the basic ones were boring.”
On the manufacturing side, the best type of tempered glass for the job was determined and durable Lazy Susan hardware was selected. On the business and marketing side, informal agreements were made with local artists to use their images, for which they are paid a commission for each piece sold. Then, with samples in hand (well, in the trunk) Slater took off and visited shops in the region that she thought would be a good match for the wholesale product. Her sister, Julie Graham, Tucson, started doing the same thing in Arizona. They have now lined up 22 retailers–patio shops, design studios, art galleries, wine and gift shops, even a museum–in Indiana, Michigan, California and Arizona, and are always on the lookout for more.
The basic Lazy Susan sizes are 12, 15 and 22 inches, but custom sizes are available. In addition to the glass Lazy Susans, The Image House prints on glass squares, coasters and tabletops. “We recently did a 48-inch custom piece for a designer,” Slater said. The company also does acrylic wall art and creative custom pieces, such as printing on doors. “You can take your door off its hinges and we'll print on it,” she said. A flat door is required, which is painted white and then run under the printer, which can take thicknesses of up to 2 inches.
Coming to work became even more fun for Amy a year ago January when her daughter Lauren, 24, joined the company, while still working on her MBA. Lauren's business acumen, computer savvy and love of art have been put to good use in tracking orders, commissions, purchasing, managing the website and maintaining customer relationships.
“Never having expected her to join us, this has been a special blessing,” Slater says. Lauren and her brother, George, grew up hearing their parents, Amy and Steve, talk shop around the dinner table at night, but they never seemed to be interested in joining them after college. Now George, 22, works with his father in another Merrillville company the couple started in 2004, Masterlink Concrete Pumping.
Amy and Steve left the corporate world 10 years ago and started both companies from scratch, initially hiring experienced people to successfully get them off the ground. Now, the second generation seems to be firmly in place. “What is really cool,” Lauren says of the At Home division, “is that it's something no one else is doing, and we'd like to see it expand.”
Visit The Image House online at www.theimagehouse.net and The Image House at Home at www.tihathome.com.
