Today we’d like to introduce you to James Hixson.
James grew up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in southeast Ohio. Even at a young age, James was always building and tearing things apart; so, he majored in Sculpture at Ohio University. After graduating college, James spent a few years as a high school Art teacher, while creating and exhibiting sculptures throughout the south and east coast. After a few years, James realized that he wanted to pursue design and woodworking full-time. So, after transplanting to Denver, Colorado, James started his business, Black Hound Design Company, in 2013.
James now employs over 17 talented folks, consisting of metal workers, wood craftsmen, fine artists and more to create highly creative furniture and commercial art. With works in restaurants and hotels from New York to Los Angeles, Chicago to Atlanta, Black Hound Design Company is proud of their coast-to-coast custom furniture and art solutions.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting and operating a small business is never easy, especially in a highly creative field like commercial design. We work primarily with interior designers and architects, as well as a variety of sub-contractors ranging from upholsterers to millworkers. Some of our biggest challenges boil down to communication across the various audiences and ensuring that everyone is on the same page. Since we only do custom works- inherently, this means that it’s never been done before. So we have to start from scratch every single time. This involves a lot of brainstorming, problem-solving, edits and change orders. We rely upon Design Thinking and prototyping to try to mitigate roadblocks upfront.
However, on-site installs can be extremely tricky too. Huge commercial projects like hotels or large restaurants involve lots of different folks in different trades. Coordinating with General Contractors, electricians, painters and more involves very in-depth scheduling, but it often goes awry. Delays are inevitable in commercial projects, which makes planning challenging. Likewise, we do a ton of cross-country installs and shipments. Purchasing plane tickets, lining up semi-trucks and labor crews all get impacted by delays. This presents huge headaches- but the pride of seeing our works in places all over the country is definitely worth it!
Black Hound Design Company – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a one-stop-shop for our client’s full range of furniture and decor needs. From tables to art walls. Host stands to fire pits, we hand make it all in our big old dusty Colorado workshop. The breadth and diversity of our capabilities really set up apart. We don’t just make a table; we create entire restaurants and hotels. We use a ton of problem-solving to meet our client’s needs. We collaborate with them to bring their dream to reality.
Most of our clients are repeat, which we believe is a strong testament to our work. And for several high-profile clients, we created not only their restaurants but also works for their personal homes. There’s no higher compliment than that!
We take great pride in our creativity, exceptional quality and national reputation. But we’re also at heart- just laidback guys who love to make cool stuff. We love meeting other creative folks, and working together on crazy creative projects!
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My wife, Kate, is our co-founder and COO. She heads up our business development, marketing, and leads the management team. Like all of us, she wears many hats at the company and has helped out with sanding logs, rolling polyurethane onto tables, and even creating an entire diorama of an airport out of candy. She is indispensable to our company.
We also have several long-standing employees who are crucial to our growth and success. Andrew Lavey, Ismael Sandate and Hunter Bassett have all weathered many storms with Black Hound, and have shaped the company in so many amazing ways. They say it takes a village, in our case- it takes a small army!
Also, one of our longest-standing clients is Punch Bowl Social. We started building all of their art and furniture back in 2013. We’ve grown up a ton alongside them. Their Design Team is truly world-class and the most creative people that we know. They put up with all of our BS with a smile, and keep pushing us to new limits of commercial design.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4935 Allison St., Suite 10
Arvada, CO 80002 - Website: Www.blackhounddesigncompany.com
- Phone: 720-441-3949
- Email: james@blackhounddesigncompany.com
- Instagram: BlackHDesignCo
- Facebook: BlackHoundDesignCompany
Image Credit:
Gigi Sukin took the photo of the wood and metal partition (with the DJ in the front).
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