In Sandi Bonazoli and Jim Dowd’s Warren metalsmithing studio, Beehive Handmade, equipment ranges from a 100-year-old machine to modern technology such as a laser engraver and 3D printer.
The workshop’s equipment, housed under the same roof as the business’s 332 Water St. storefront, is reflective of co-owners Bonazoli and Dowd’s designs, which Bonazoli describes as taking “a modern spin on these traditional metal objects” such as jewelry and kitchenware.
For Bonazoli and Dowd, keeping their business competitive has meant not only updating decades-old design traditions, but adapting to a changing landscape marked by many of their customers, manufacturing partners and competitors closing.
In some cases, these closures were because designers became too stuck in tradition, Bonazoli said.
“The designs haven’t moved with the times,” she said. “They’re kind of stuck in their ways. We’re not really interested in making another version of that, so we come from it from the design first, then how we produce it second, which I think is a little different from other manufacturers.”
While many of the business’s products are “traditional gift-giving objects that have been the same since the 1950s or longer,” such as baby spoons or cups, “there are little, unexpected design elements that appeal to a 30-something-year-old,” Dowd said.
These updated details could include a small engraving of an animal wrapped around a baby spoon, or everyday household items such as a spatula or measuring spoons shaped as hearts.
In other cases, Bonazoli and Dowd have needed to shift their business’s structure, opening their storefront after more than 20 years in business in August 2021, and shifting to in-house manufacturing.
The second change was particularly unexpected, Bonazoli said. Bonazoli and Dowd, who met in art school at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, wanted to be close to Providence for the area’s rich history in jewelry making. But as many of their longtime jewelry manufacturing partners – many of which had been in business for multiple generations – began to shutter, the business owners had to take matters into their own hands.
“It’s not anything we thought we would necessarily do,” Bonazoli said, “but you also have to accept the reality and pivot, so if that means doing in-house manufacturing, then that’s what we’ll do.”
While Beehive continues to work with some manufacturing partners, the new production capabilities may also be another revenue source in the future, Dowd added.
“We might be able to do production for other customers as well,” he said. “We’re really trying to see things as opportunities, and not as problems or roadblocks.”
The Warren storefront marked another step forward for the long-standing business. Store sales comprised about 5% of the business’s total revenue in the last five months of 2021, with another one-third from web sales and the remaining from business-to-business sales.
While not their primary sales source, Bonazoli and Dowd said they have felt strong support from the Warren community, as well as shoppers visiting from other parts of the state or country.
“Water Street isn’t Thames Street in Newport,” Bonazoli said. “It’s not a crazy retail environment, but people come in … and the rate of people buying things in the shop is pretty high, so it definitely adds up.”
OWNERS: Sandi Bonazoli and Jim Dowd
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Handmade metalwork
LOCATION: 332 Water St., Warren
EMPLOYEES: Four
YEAR FOUNDED: 1999
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Voghel@PBN.com.
