Creating Memories One Chart at a Time
Q&A with John Guptill, Co-Owner of CHART Metalworks
You’ve seen their pieces around town, in magazines, and now even The First Lady has a piece. CHART Metalworks has made a name for itself not only in Maine, but nationwide. And it all happens right here in Portland at their studio on Pleasant Street. MainelyMara was lucky enough to sit down with CHART Metalworks to find out more about this inspirational company.
What was the inspiration behind starting CHART Metalworks? Tell us how you’ve grown into having your products offered nationwide.
Charlotte began creating jewelry as a creative outlet in 2002. It was more of a vintage style with oxidized silver and pearls. She was working a 9-5 as a loan officer in the corporate world and jewelry making provided her a means to tap in to her artistic side. It was mostly as a hobby, she made about enough to support what her friends described as her “bead addiction.”
In 2006 she began to seek a means to turn hobby into profession. In one of the many programs, business classes and seminars she attended ranging on subjects from “How to write a business plan” to “Creating a trade show booth display” she had the opportunity to ask a well known figure in the jewelry world some advice about her line. He said she was talented but that her work was too common for market. She was slightly devastated and shut down the studio seeking inspiration. A sailor with a collection of nautical charts lying around her home; one day she got the idea to incorporate the beauty of the charts into her work. Not knowing how the idea would work, she didn’t want to cut into her Casco Bay, ME charts which served her well as navigational tools, so she cut into a random South Carolina and Georgia chart she had hanging around and made her first pieces.
Later when displaying the initial results to a group of friends, one asked, “Wait, could I get Kettle Cove where I got married?” That was the “aha” moment that brought the work to customized nautical chart and map jewelry. She started slow doing some home shows and working with some local stores until in 2008 she left the mortgage business and opened CHART Metalworks with production taking place at a studio here in Portland called Running with Scissors and a small retail boutique outlet within O2 Salon on the corner of Congress and High St. I, John (Charlotte’s Fiancé) joined shortly thereafter to assist with the growing orders and growing the business.
In winter of 2009, an opportunity to collaborate with Sea Bags opened up which was a great fit, so we moved production and sales down to Custom House Wharf to share space with them. Sea Bags provided us some good introductions and we also hit the road and the pavement, which allowed us to grow from Portland-based to more of a Maine and North East regional based company in 2009. In 2010, we got some great National press in Coastal Living that really assisted in bringing us to the national scene. In 2011, with more hard work, lots of travel and elbow grease, we continued to expand. In June of this year we moved to our new studio at 1 Pleasant St, which provided us more space, to deal with the increasing business and for us to combine all of our production and retail into one building with the artist on site to assist customers and design custom pieces with them in real time.
You recently moved into a new studio on Pleasant Street. Tell us about this new space and what customers can find there.
The new space has been great because it provides customers the opportunity to interact directly with the artists for a truly unique shopping experience. We have on display here available for immediate purchase a HUGE selection of Greater Portland and Casco Bay pieces (over 100 pieces). We also keep on hand our complete Petite Necklace collection, which has become very popular this year!
One of the greatest aspects about the new studio is our new interactive design station where our customers can design their custom pieces in real time with the artists. They can view exactly what their desired piece will look like and once we get started making it right away, providing quicker turnaround times on custom pieces.
What are your best-selling products?
Our Small Silver Pendant on Ball Chain (1” diameter, size of a quarter) is always right on top. Our Cuff Links and Key Rings are always very close and the perfect gift for that man on your list who has everything. Our Petites are doing really well. The best sellers for Christmas this year were between the Small Silver on Ball Chain, Silver Cuffs or the Key Ring.
You must hear some amazing stories as you’re designing pieces for your customers. What’s the most romantic story you’ve heard? Most unique?
Romantic: (From Mac M) “My wife and I have always been in love with the ocean (swimming, sailing, fly fishing, sunbathing, boating, etc.) and we love Ferry Beach…it’s a beautiful location, relatively uncrowded (or it used to be) and the fishing is also very good. It kind of became one of our special places…swimming/bathing/fishing in the summer, x-country skiing in the winter, walks year-round, etc. Our dogs love it there too.
During the summer, they have these planes that drag banners advertising this and that flying up and down the beach from Saco to Scarborough. I arranged to have one of those planes drag a banner that proposed to my wife…it said “Jill will you marry me? I love you” and I brought the ring and some champagne to the beach. At the designated time, the plane flew by very close to us, I drew my wife’s attention to it and she was blown away. I produced the ring (carefully, cleverly hidden in my fly box…a place I knew she’d never look) proposed and of course she said yes. The whole beach knew it was us and everyone clapped and cheered as I popped the champagne and poured…cool huh?”
Unique: We had a woman request a destination where she had once vacationed and always loved but never returned there. She had decided that with even only this one experience she would retire there. To make this a reality she decided she would have to have us create her a piece so people would ask her “why do you have that location,” she would have to tell the story and then would be held to make the dream a reality.
What’s the most interesting piece you’ve ever created?
Cuff Links with one link featuring the tip of Chile from where the purchaser departed and the other featuring the point in Antarctica where he landed.
Speaking of interesting pieces, we heard you designed a piece for the First Lady! Tell us more about Michelle Obama’s piece.
A very dear friend through a long line of connections provided us the opportunity to possibly have a piece delivered to the first lady, a sort of “Jimmy’s best friend’s cousin Johnny’s second wife’s sister-in-law once removed may be able to give this piece to Michelle Obama when she’s here in town,” so of course we jumped at it! We created a piece featuring the South Side of Chicago to where her roots run deep and we hear it was delivered and appreciated.
You have a new studio and are growing/expanding every day. What’s next on the horizon for CHART Metalworks?
Next year we will continue to expand our wholesale account basis across the US and internationally (hopefully). We’re going to add a few more boat shows to the list, we do really well with that crowd and it’s great to be able to interact with your customer face to face, hear their stories and their kind and supportive words. We’ll also be working a bit more on the new studio and trying to get the word out there and bring more people through the door.
One primary goal is to train our Terrier-Corgi mix Riley a bit more in customer service and to not bark as much at everyone so he can accompany us a bit more to the studio like he used too, however, if you come by and find we have not yet been entirely successful at this task, don’t fear, he doesn’t bite and if you bring a treat, he’ll be forever your friend!
The two of you are engaged and business partners. How is it working together as fiancés? Is there a wedding on the horizon?
Ummm…. this December will mark the 3rd year anniversary of what a lot of our friends describe as a perpetual engagement. We’re STILL engaged even through working together all this time. Another really nice feature I forgot to mention about the new studio is separate offices with closing doors; I think this has done wonders for our relationship (jokingly).
Even though we live and work together, we are still best friends. You’ll be apt to catch us leaving work and walking up Pleasant Street home together, catching a bite or drink at one of our favorite spots on a Friday or Brunch on Sunday. We’re very rarely without the other, unless I’m on the road at a show, which is hard. We do not have concrete plans for a wedding at this point, but it is on the horizon!
What’s one thing about CHART Metalworks that people may not know?
I don’t believe everyone knows that we’re just two hardworking people from Maine who live right here in Portland, hand cast and craft all of our pieces right here and seek to make something successful for us, our workers and community.
I also don’t think everyone knows with the new studio that we are now very accessible and want you to come visit, say hi, shop our selections and design your very own piece right here in Portland with us.
What is the most rewarding part of having your own business?
Having something that started as just an idea and seeing it grow & touch so many people.
How has Portland influenced/assisted your business? What do you love most about the city?
Well Portland is where I was born, where we now live, literally a block from the studio, where we work and play. We’re a one-car family and it’s typically only used for grocery shopping and travel to shows. I don’t know many other communities that can support that kind of life style while still having a small town feel and lots of nice people.
On the business side, Portland really seems to support the creative economy, from a larger than normal customer base for the arts and hand made goods to a huge community of jewelers and small business people not only willing but eager to share information and tricks of the trade to a large pool of talented and creative professionals enthusiastically willing to work with us. Portland has definitely assisted the growth of our business.
