D5 Design & Metal Fabrication Spotlight
1. How long have you been in business?
We started the company in February 2012.
2. How did you get started?
Jon Becker and I (Francisco Rivedeneyra) are friends with the same background. We are both architects and were unemployed at that time, but we have some connections in the construction industry, so we started to play with the idea of having our own business. We actually went to the ICNC to get some advice on how to start a company and I filled out an application online. We had no money, one welder and one pick-up truck. We were lucky enough to find people who trusted in us and give us our first commission that was the restoration of The Drake Hotel entrance canopy.
3. What’s unique about your story or business?
I would say that we work closely with the designers and architects to archive their design intent. You don't have to come with a fully developed design, just with an idea and we work together to completion. We will take a small project, it could be a planter or a side table, and a big one, like three miles of railings.
4. What is the biggest challenge you have faced in business and how did you overcome it?
I think the financial situation is always a challenge, but the biggest challenge is to find the right people to provide the craftmanship we want, to satisfy that we had to teach and train each one of our employees, it takes a lot of patience, but at the end what we are building as a team, too.
5. Please list a few of your most recent accomplishments.
Our accomplishments will be the projects finished. Just to mention a few examples:
We started the company in February 2012.
2. How did you get started?
Jon Becker and I (Francisco Rivedeneyra) are friends with the same background. We are both architects and were unemployed at that time, but we have some connections in the construction industry, so we started to play with the idea of having our own business. We actually went to the ICNC to get some advice on how to start a company and I filled out an application online. We had no money, one welder and one pick-up truck. We were lucky enough to find people who trusted in us and give us our first commission that was the restoration of The Drake Hotel entrance canopy.
3. What’s unique about your story or business?
I would say that we work closely with the designers and architects to archive their design intent. You don't have to come with a fully developed design, just with an idea and we work together to completion. We will take a small project, it could be a planter or a side table, and a big one, like three miles of railings.
4. What is the biggest challenge you have faced in business and how did you overcome it?
I think the financial situation is always a challenge, but the biggest challenge is to find the right people to provide the craftmanship we want, to satisfy that we had to teach and train each one of our employees, it takes a lot of patience, but at the end what we are building as a team, too.
5. Please list a few of your most recent accomplishments.
Our accomplishments will be the projects finished. Just to mention a few examples:
- The 606 metal guardrails
- The Motor Club Building cast iron facade restoration
- Will County Forest preserve trail headmarkers
- Whole Foods stores railings
- The Drake Hotel cast iron entrance canopy restoration
- Northeastern Illinois University campus "El Centro" signage