Margie Chuang - My Husband Owns a Spoon Company ... ? (Interview #000)
Prologue: My husband, Vince, is incredibly supportive and volunteered himself to be the first person I practice interviewed for Moms Who Build. Of course, Vince still had to have his fun. He created an elaborate backstory, which included a fictitious start-up and adding 20 more kids to our family. This entire post served as an opportunity for me to learn the ins and outs of preparing for, conducting, and putting together an entire interview from beginning to end. And despite not being an interview with a “real” person is still quite enjoyable and informative. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
“. . . when I didn't want to go, my wife and 22 kids would just inspire and motivate me to go sell . . .”
-Vincent Chuang
Vincent Chuang is the founder and CEO of Metalworks the world’s foremost purveyor of metal objects. Founded in 1954, Metalworks started as a one-person shop making spoons out of tin and has since expanded to making every metal object you can think of out of every type of metal. Vincent has 22 kids and they are all employed at Metalworks.
3 Things I Learned From Vincent
Build something you’re passionate about and just start doing it. If you work on something you love, it makes the process easier, happier, and you can genuinely share your passion with the world.
It’s ok to say that you don’t know how to do something. No one is born with all the skills they need to be who they want to be. It’s ok to go to the library, watch YouTube tutorials, and do whatever you need to do to keep learning, practicing, and improving your knowledge and skills to achieve personal growth.
Make things a family affair whenever possible. Share what you’re building with your family, ask your kids if they want to be a part of making something with you, talk or brainstorm with your partner. Family and work life is always a balancing act; we’re all trying to do the best we can.
The Interview
What is your full name?
Vincent . . . it's too hard to come up with a different name. Let’s just roll with it.
This project is called Moms Who Build. In your own words or however you would like to define it, what are you building?
My company is called Metalworks.
Originally we started off in the silverware business, because I'm a huge fan of silverware myself. It's one of the things that I obsessed over growing up. Tablescapes, spoons, nice knives, that sort of thing.
I started making silverware back in 1954. And it turns out that people really like metal things. And we started focusing on other things that go onto the table . . . tablescapes, spoons, knives, forks, and then we went into the metal cups, metal bowls, and then eventually to other metal drinking things. Then we thought, “oh, what other metal things could we make?”. And so, that’s how we got into the chandelier business, because it turns out that chandeliers can be made out of metal too.
Our entire line of business are things that are metal based. We're coming out with a line of black chairs in the fall of next year. We just finished up the designs and we're sending them out to get the first physical version made.
Tell me the story of what led up to the moment you realized that Metalworks was something that you wanted to build?
The “aha” moment, I can remember very clearly. My wife and I had just bought a home and we were trying to fill up that home with things that meant something to us, that we love. And we ended up spending three hours in Crate and Barrel, just trying to pick out tableware. I remember very vividly, we were standing in the middle of Crate and Barrel and there must have been fifty different kinds of silverware sets of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. I looked across that board and I was just like, “wow, someone, somewhere, is putting a lot of time, effort, and thought into this” and I really like it.
Metalworks wasn't something that I quit my job immediately for. I remember that moment and it just kind of sat with me and never left. And then one day, I was sitting, eating lunch, staring at my spoon, like I very often do, just really mesmerized by its glimmer, the shine . . . that's how I knew I was passionate about it. I thought, “you know, I think this is something that I need to do.”
The spoons left a mark on me. I wanted to do something that was special to me. And I think actually one of the reasons why we do so well, despite the fact that you can go buy a cutlery set at Ikea or Target for a few dollars, is because people come to Metalworks because there's a special sort of love that goes into the things that we make. We're going to be launching a line of special love-related metal works items in February as part of our Valentine's push.
What were the first things you did to get Metalworks started?
It started off pretty slowly. I realized that I didn't really know anything about how silverware was made. And so I started going to the library, getting some books, watching some videos on YouTube, just to see what people were doing to make these wonderful pieces of art.
It took a little bit of time. I was doing other things, I was raising a family. Then, one day I just woke up and I just thought to myself, look, I really need to go buy some sheet aluminum and play with it to see what that felt like. And it kind of snowballed from there.
I started making the product and I wasn't even thinking about putting together the business at the beginning. I was just selling it on street corners, pretty much anywhere I could find a place to go where someone might be interested in buying this spoon I made. And I would say that early on, the spoons were not very high quality; it was something I was passionate about, but I didn't have a lot of practice - they weren't fantastic, but they were usable spoons. I would go to street corners, flea markets, farmer’s markets, etc. Depending on where the flea market was, maybe once a month.
How have you gained customers and grown Metalworks?
Slowly over time, the spoons got a little bit better. People started talking about the spoons as being usable for eating, as opposed to just scooping dirt, which is what they were primarily used for at the beginning. And from there, people seem to really take to the fact that these were handmade spoons that could be used for eating.
What obstacles have you run into along the way? Have you been able to solve them?
So, after we build Metalworks and started getting more business, I ended up working on fewer and fewer pieces myself because I'm just so busy managing the team; making sure the metals go to the right places and everyone has all the tools that they need to build the things that they want to build, and enabling them to put their love into the Metalworks products.
A few years ago, we were doing a special limited run edition of “Vincent Handmade Spoons.” And we were going to release those as part of our summer launch. We do fairly frequent launches; Valentine's is coming up and the black chairs will launch next Fall.
I remember I was standing in the studio. I have a little space off to the side and I was working on the spoons; then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was like, I don’t know, kind of reddish or blueish. I looked down again, then I looked up and all of the sudden, it was Spiderman going “pew, pew, pew, pew!” and then it was Stormtroopers running in with their lightsabers and they were like “AAHHHH!”. It was my kids.
I just got so distracted and frazzled by all 22 children running around that I knocked water over effectively the entire limited run of things that I was trying to build. The process is really complex when you're building these sort of limited runs that . . . I think I was about a third of the way through the process and then we had to reset the whole thing. But you know, I can't get mad at my kids when they want to dress up like Spiderman and Stormtroopers with lightsabers and robots. It brings me joy to watch my children run around.
How do you keep yourself motivated to continue building Metalworks?
I'll be honest, the best thing about having such a supportive family is that we made it a family affair. Maybe the first weekend, baby Anna would say, “Oh, daddy, let's go!” And I would look at her and she'd be so excited to go. Then maybe we didn't do so well, but then the next weekend, baby Buzz Lightyear would be like, “Oh, dad, let's go!”
To them, it wasn't about selling spoons. To them, it was about showing up and putting the tent together and having fun as a family. They were always very supportive in getting me to go, even when I was feeling down. That’s the biggest reason we just never stopped, because we were always going to go as a family.
And maybe to my family, it wasn't about the metal like it was for me, but they just wanted to go and do things. The thing that we did every weekend was drive 36 miles to a flea market in the middle of nowhere to sell spoons to people. And to them, that was just very exciting and very uplifting; so even when I didn't want to go, my wife and 22 kids would just inspire and motivate me to go sell Metalworks spoons.
What advice or helpful tools can you give to moms who are starting to build something of their own, but who may be limited by things like nap schedules, after school activities, not having a babysitter, etc.
I think it really does happen in stages. It’s been so long since my children were very young, but I remember for the first 3-5 years when my oldest, Luke Skywalker, was still young, it was very hard. But you you make do with the time that you have, as best as you can. You incorporate your children into the activities that you're trying to do. I made my kids a part of the activity and that seemed to be the most effective way.
Can you tell me about the first time you felt the feeling of success? What happened?
The first time I felt success was when my 11th child was born, because the doctor had told us that we wouldn't be able to have more than ten. And so the 11th one was a miracle and I truly felt successful when my family had that 11th baby.
What does your morning routine look like from the time that you wake up to the time that you can start working on Metalworks?
I wake up around 4:45 every single morning. I have this wonderful coffee maker that makes coffee automatically. The night before, I'll set the coffee maker, so that it will already be made when I wake up. The first thing that I do that I found super helpful is to drink a large glass of water to make sure I'm hydrated.
At around 5:00 o’clock, I’ll take a nice bathroom break from about 5:00am-6:00am. At 6:00am, I'll drink my first cup of coffee and that’s really great because it’s nice and quiet; no one will be awake yet. At about 6:15am, it's very important to me to get in some reading time; I'll read for about 30 minutes. Then from 6:45am-7:00am, I'll meditate. And 7:00am-8:00am, I'll go to the bathroom again. And then, around 8:00am I’ll start working on Metalworks.
Where can we find out more about Metalworks?
Website: not applicable Facebook: not applicable Instagram: not applicable Twitter: not applicable
