I grew up in the North of Winnipeg and just never grew out of my love for history and dinosaurs. They sort of melted together and evolved over time. My background in welding and fabrication helped and working to uncover fossils for several years added, so they just went together.
I moved here in Drumheller when I was 29 and had my company incorporated in 2006. I saw Drumheller as the perfect environment for me, considering that it is the Dinosaur Capital of the World, and I do a lot of hiking and exploration. Since then, we have had two industrial locations in town and bought this building in East Coulee in 2015. This location worked out wonderfully as it was used by a company with a similar background as us. Now, we have four full-time staff and hire contractors or part-time people as necessary.
The bulk of what we do is natural history exhibits - whales, dinosaur and etc. Second, it would be corporate, like a few of the themed dinosaurs we did around for town. Lastly would be the film industry, where we do design, fabrication and site location.
Our previous work has created a reputation in the field, and of course, social media has helped our clients to find us. But also, because we can accommodate different types of exhibits, our client base has expanded worldwide.
We often use moulds that either our clients' supply or we create. Or also with digital scanning, where we replicate from digital scans and make replicas to any scale. We'll have our artists research a specific animal if they want a very accurate depiction of their display or come up with a more cartoon-like design.
I think they're surprised about the diversity of our projects. We do other exhibits than dinosaurs, and the creativity certainly piques the interests of others.
Coming up with something unique for each individual, and building an exhibit that is both aesthetically- pleasing and durable is one of the factors we highly value. But each project has its own set of variables that we need to consider, so our challenges depend on those elements.
We managed to make our way through it fairly well. We didn't have to lay anyone off, and we had several projects at the start and had a portion all the way through. We were somewhat fortunate, but it still affected us and slowed our business. Travel is a big part, and as corporate became limited, it trickled down to us as well. With materials, we had enough in hand, but we noticed some increase in costs.
Access to communication between other chamber members. It helps that we are able to learn about each other in one network.
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