It’s not a marketing target that Forge 3D Printing Studio promotes yet, but imagine if parents displayed three-dimensional figurines of their children throughout the house instead of those annual school photographs.
It’s possible, just as a marrying couple can decorate their wedding cake with small figures of themselves, a company can design and print specialized trophies or manufacturing parts, and architects can see their designed buildings in miniature.
Those are just a few of the many projects the Forge owners, who promote the company by the more forceful FORGE name, produce and envision at their Downtown Jacksonville offices and 3-D plant.
Bryce Pfanenstiel and Adam Dukes design and print three-dimensional products ranging from Downtown bridges to architectural models to bike racks to holiday ornaments to jewelry to fist-size mosquitoes for a trade show.
There also was the 2-foot-wide shark’s jaw for a memorial plaque.
“It’s a lot of custom challenges,” said Pfanenstiel, co-founder of Forge 3D Printing in 2013 with Dukes, a high-school friend.
From Kentucky, they went their separate ways through college and into careers before reconnecting for the 3-D venture in Jacksonville.
Both 34, they operate at 112 E. Adams St., recently relocating from East Bay Street.
They design and print 3-D products for customers. A recent partnership with Germany-based Staramba created Staramba USA Corp., which started a separate focus on figurines, especially sports figures.
Staramba’s “Me and My Star in 3D” allows customers to commission a figure of themselves posing with famous people and characters that Staramba is licensed to feature, like Spiderman.
Pfanenstiel and Dukes travel to set up scans of sports figures and others that will be made into figurines.
The figurines are produced from gypsum powder, while the other 3-D products can be made from many materials, including plastics, silicone and metals.
Most of the products are made at the Downtown shop, whose front window Tuesday included 3-D replicas of a skull, brain, the Duval County Courthouse and 9-inch statues of Pfanenstiel and Dukes.
Pfanenstiel and Dukes won the 2016 Spark Tank prize, bringing more attention and visibility to their business.
As a result, they are working with Microsoft to determine the most helpful technology and business support valued at $120,000 they will access.
They also consulted for four hours with PS27 Ventures, a Jacksonville-based consulting firm that works with entrepreneurs.
As small business owners, they work with a lean team, primarily interns and apprentices. 3D Printed Evidence co-founder Josh Weinberger, who works with them, had joined as an intern.
For now, the Staramba scanner is on-site out West where they have been traveling to photograph NFL rookies.
The scanner comprises 72 digital SLR cameras that capture the person from all angles.
A digital file is created from the photographs and then the object is created by laying down successive layers of materials, called an additive process, for the 3-D result.
Those interested in having their own figurines made would pay from $175 for a 7-inch figure to $450 for a 13-inch figure.
Forge has object scanners for smaller items.
Pfanenstiel and Dukes decline to disclose revenue, but said sales have grown more than 300 percent a year.
Advice they shared in April at an Association for Corporate Growth forum featuring startups was to lead by example, be firm in your decisions, embrace every aspect of the business and, Pfanenstiel said, “I plunge the toilet when needed.”
Dukes said three years into their business, “We’re still in the trenches every day.”
They prefer a Downtown location because of the individuality and exposure not found in suburban business parks. They don’t do a lot of walk-in business, but the storefront provides a neighborly link to the core city.
“I do take pride in being able to say Jacksonville has a Downtown 3-D printer,” Pfanenstiel said. “Does your city?”
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