Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal • May 25, 2015 www.wbjournal.com Joshua Swalec is one of these tradesmen. After black- smithing for nine years, he co-founded Eternity Ironworks two and a half years ago. He was introduced to the craft at Worcester Vocational Technical High School while learning how to weld. Swalec now connects his classic style with clients looking for a unique, hand-made look. Eternity Ironworks has clients throughout the Northeast, he said, frequently taking on projects in the Boston area. But he's also working on a large project for a New York City bar. "People want things that look handmade and there is a whole market for reproduction work as well. They don't want something that looks like it is laser cut and came from a factory," Swalec said. "It's about crafts- manship and learning how to do things the way people traditionally did them." Like many artisans, Swalec has found it necessary to tap into higher-end and custom markets to justify the added expense that comes with handcrafted items as a result of time and materials that go into the process. Woodworker Ian Anderson, who graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2008 and is educated in modern engineering techniques, spent more than two years making traditional timber-framed homes and recently expanded into furniture making. He said it's a struggle to keep costs down while making a prod- uct in a traditional, often time-consuming way. "I like that time and care that goes into it. If you have someone putting that much energy into a piece, it comes out as something special … it's something that is built to last generations and be handed down," Anderson said. "In modern techniques, everything is geared toward efficiency and much of it is pre-done." FOCUS Entrepreneurship/Innovation/Small Business Old skills in a new era W ith most consumer markets populated by mass-produced items that are cookie-cutter images of each other, entre- preneurs in Worcester are capitalizing on goods that emphasize customization and craftsmanship through the use of time-honored skills in a 21st-century marketplace. Industrial buildings around Worcester are home to various craftspeople who are keeping traditional trades alive as they toil away in styles that have changed little over the centuries. Even in the information age, local entrepreneurs ply industrial-era crafts and trades Joshua Swalec, co-founder of Eternity Ironworks in Worcester, uses fire, metal and old-fashioned care to craft pieces for his customers. BY SAM BONACCI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer >> Continued on Page 18 P H O T O / S A M B O N A C C I

• Cover