NewHavenBIZ

10 n e w h a v e n B I Z | O c t o b e r 2 0 1 8 n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m T R E N D I N G M E E T T H E M A K E R For Whom the Bells Toll AT A GLANCE Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Co. Year founded: 1832 Headquartered: East Hampton CEO: Matthew G. Bevin No. employees: 25 How many bells does Bevin Bros. make in a year? And how many employees do you have? We sold just under one million bells last year, and we have 25 employees. Our workforce is something we're very proud of. We have employees who have been with us for more than 30 years. As a family-owned business we like to celebrate that we also have many family units among employees: three married couples, mother/son, cousins, siblings. We also have employees from many countries including Bosnia, Somalia, Guatemala, Mexico. And the camaraderie among this diverse group is fun to see. Tell me about your own history with the company. Did you grow up working here? Did you always want to be in the family business? Much of my adult life I wanted to be a part of Bevin Bells. My great- great-great grandfather was one of the four founders. I am actually sixth generation in the business. My father, Douglas Bevin, worked in the company with his cousin, Stan- ley Bevin, in the 1970s and 1980s. My brother, Doug Jr., worked here as a summer job growing up and then came back to work in the factory for over a decade in the late '90s and early 2000s. I don't think I was too interested in factory work as a teenager, but throughout my By Wendy Pierman Mitzel I n a 21st-century business world dominated by digital technology, there's one company in Connecticut that still rings true across the years: Bevin Bells of East Hampton. e Good Humor truck wouldn't be the same without the bell chime that portends cold ice cream on a hot day. en there's the boxing-ring bell that signals the start of a bout. In the movie classic It's a Wonderful Life, angel Clarence gets his wings thanks to a Bevin bell. And a Bevin cowbell is the object of the iconic Saturday Night Live "More Cowbell" skit. Bevin Bros. might use a few updated manufacturing techniques these days, but the familiar and unifying sound of a bell never goes out of style. Wendy Pierman Mitzel spoke with Bevin Bells' CiCi Bevin about her work with the company and how her connection with bells was something she just couldn't shake. career I would tell people that some day I wanted to work in the family business. Yet you didn't work here until later in your career. My life and location were never in synch with doing that. I worked in marketing and PR much of my [earlier] career, then moved on to run operations for a national non- profit focused on human trafficking — I called that Career 2.0 — always living in the Boston area. About eight years ago, my cousin Matt Bevin, also sixth generation in the business, took the compa- ny over from his uncle Stanley. I continued to watch the company from afar. en Matt was elected governor of Kentucky at a time (2015) when I was considering making a career change. I reached out to him acknowledging that he likely wouldn't have much time to focus on bells, and maybe he'd want another Bevin to help run the company. So that's how I finally realized my goal of making bells — Career 3.0! What was the first product the company ever made? The most recent? How are bells made? What has changed over the years and what has stayed the same? When the company began in 1832, they made four categories of bells: cowbells, hand bells, tea bells and sleigh bells. All of these were used to serve a purpose. You can imagine that travel by sleigh was common and the bells were very important since it was silent traveling on snow. Cowbells and sheep bells helped to keep track of the animals; and tea and hand bells were used to call for help, dinner, organize a class, etc. We made a huge variety of sizes and styles of all these bells. Doorbells also became a significant part of our business and old catalogues feature dozens of styles. How were those bells fabricated in the old days? Historically, most of our bells were cast or forged using heated metal. Today, we stamp bells out of flat metal sheets, either steel CiCi Bevin: Six generations and counting

• Cover