Both the division and its parent company are based out of a 3,000-square-foot showroom/production facility in Toledo, OH, with a satellite operation in Ann Arbor, MI. David Parrish, president of both companies, says that the work has been steady on both sides, with plenty of room to expand.

Amazing Space was started by Brynn Meyers Parrish in 1987, a relative of his. A few years ago, she sold the company to him, but she has stayed on as the company's designer. Parrish, who moved from Chicago to oversee it, had no previous experience in woodworking but proved to be a quick study. At that point, the company was strictly working on closets but would get occasional requests from companies needing new resource rooms or mail rooms.

Once Amazing Case started in the commercial direction, the company invested in more sophisticated equipment and got involved in high-pressure laminating and veneering. Parrish says that although the closet and commercial work have similarities, the additional skill set was needed, as well as being familiar with the Architectural Woodwork Institute standards.

Parrish says the move into doing laminates in-house was surprisingly easy. "It was because of the group of people that we have, who are very smart," he explains. "They had some experience in this, so they knew more than I did."

A Brave New Market
One strength that Amazing Case has applied to both commercial and residential sides is the ability to value-engineer its projects. When the company is able to design, fabricate and install a project, it can gear the design to a product it can make efficiently.

Furthermore, the installation time will be less than giving the project to installers who are not as familiar with the project and the company's manufacturing processes. Parrish says commercial projects tend to involve architectural drawings and outside installers more than residential projects, but the company can provide more value when it has control over a project.

Amazing Case built reception/memberships desks for a number of YMCAs in the Chicago area, including Des Plaines (shown) and Niles.>

Amazing Case marketed itself through news releases, phone calls, mailings and introductions to architects and builders in the area. In addition to using those resources, the company held a seminar for about 35 architects and designers in its offices. Parrish gave a PowerPoint demonstration about issues with design and construction in the company's showroom, while Gary Chandler, Amazing Case's director of operations, gave a hands-on demonstration in the shop.

"We get a lot of specs through here where every surface of the cases is to be clad in high-pressure laminate," Parrish says. "In some applications, that's appropriate, but in most it's not, especially with the advances melamine has taken. There's always a balance in cost and product."

Amazing Case works with many different types of materials, including high-pressure laminates, melamines, veneers and solid surface material. This kitchenette for a computer software firm is made of black laminate with a stainless-steel counter.>

Designer Brynn Meyers Parrish works on the residential projects, so David Parrish does whatever designing is needed for the commercial jobs. Settling on a design is made easier, thanks to a client log-in feature on the company's Web site, www.amazingcase.com. Plans, quotes and 3-D renderings from Cabinet Vision can be uploaded to the Web site and privately viewed by the client, eliminating the need for extra faxes and phone calls.

This is a custom-built drafting table, with storage below for rolled blueprints, built for a local architect.>

The shop floor consists of a Holz-Her vertical panel saw and edgebander, a Linea line-boring machine and a Blum hinge insertion machine. There are a total of seven full-time employees, plus an occasional high school student who comes in to learn the process and cut stock parts. "In the last four years our volume has more than doubled," Parrish says, "and we're doing that with probably just one more person because of automation. We're producing a lot more sophisticated stuff with consistently higher quality."

Along with melamines and laminates on its residential and commercial jobs, Parrish says the company would also like to get more involved with veneered projects. The employees have recently built several pieces of veneered furniture, one of which was entered into a show at the Toledo Museum of Art. Another piece was recently sent to a local gallery.

"Not that we're developing a whole line of contemporary furniture," Parrish says, "but it lets us play around and get our [veneering] skills up."