Today we’d like to introduce you to Danico.
Hello Danico, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Well, Danico officially began in January of 2018 by myself, Kevin Bendtsen, and my partner/now significant other Ana Gonzalez. Before then our interest in design stemmed from a background in Architecture and Art. I myself was introduced to furniture design through a college shop course given by Professor Johnny Webb back in 2013.
Ana’s background comes from a long-time passion for art and a digital fabrication design/build studio in college given by professor Armando Araiza. After graduation, it was quite difficult to secure a job in the architecture field because most places ask for experience, and well I had none. It was also very hard to find a career that truly dove into design/build and allowed me to get my hands dirty.
Danico essentially began as just an outlet or platform to release personal creative furniture projects into the world.
Eventually, friends and family took notice and projects steadily kept coming in and it became a little side hustle of mine. I went back to Grad school in August of 2018 to obtain my master’s degree in architecture, and this is where Ana and I met.
It is really thanks to Ana and her push and belief in us that actually altered Danico’s course for the better. Before we met Danico went through many phases of company names, logos, and websites which, actually began with the name Urban Arcadia. Back then it was more of a carpentry shop to make office furniture and other cabinetry because that is what brought the paychecks in nothing too creative.
Ana really navigated us from there to see the potential in exploring areas in design and producing more of a bespoke product, and a true design-driven and design-oriented brand, which is where we have arrived today.
Now, we have actually designed products we are launching on our website by September of this year (which we should add we still make in-house in our shop through our CNC and 3D Printers). We are very proud of the journey that has placed us where we are currently and even more excited about what the future holds.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road, we would be lying if we said it has. We have faced quite a few struggles in all aspects of the business. Some have been just in the management of it.
Running a business has nothing to do with design, so that is an entire learning curve of its own. Handling money, learning to set up separate project accounts, creating budget excel sheets, creating bids, and sending invoices are all things we learned through trial and error.
We also learned a lot about marketing our products, what works and what doesn’t, what audiences to reach, and how to portray our brand image and portfolio to those audiences.
Personally, I first struggled with the identity and direction I wanted the business to head, but as I stated in the first portion, Ana was crucial in helping us really determine what we wanted to do and which direction to really head in.
We’ve been impressed with Danico, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
So DANICO is a design-build studio focusing on all scales.
We have done full room installations such as total custom 20′ tall rolling library ladders in a very Emma Hotel-like style, to multiple custom pieces of furniture for home, office, and commercial use. We have also done full kitchen re-models involving a waterfall edge concrete countertop that we ourselves poured (which felt like the longest day of our lives).
We are currently working on a cool mid-century modern lighting design that will be one of our Bespoke products we will offer later this year.
We are also currently at the tail end of developing a line of side tables that can be bought online and shipped in a “Flat Pack” manner and once received the customer will just assemble three pieces together without the use of tools and done! That way everyone has the opportunity to access some of our designs if they wish to do so.
We also do a lot of custom commissions for other designers or design groups in the area. This can range anywhere from custom tables, floating shelves, cabinets, etc.
Everything we work on is totally custom and is fabricated in our shop. We do have a CNC and 3D printer which both help us a lot with production and creating simple or very complex designs. We specialize in architectural wood and steelwork but this hasn’t stopped us from exploring the use of other materials such as concrete and leather.
What sets us apart from others is the fact that we really love exploration in design. We search for creative ways of using materials and connections to push the envelope and aren’t afraid of doing so. I would say the thing I am most proud of our brand DANICO is the flexibility and fluidity we have set ourselves up for, to really allow us to dig into all the realms in design.
Like anyone else we have multiple interests, and we want to be able to dive into the realm of furniture design, product design, fashion design, graphic design, and art. DANICO is aimed at exploring all this and blurring all boundaries between them.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I think Covid-19 taught us how to be a little more patient with things business-related.
Not a lot was happening during the lockdown so this gave us time to think and take a step back and really analyze brand identity and fabrication processes.
It made us realize that getting where we want to be, is going to take time, as well as achieving that perfect product and quality. Realizing this taught us that patience is definitely going to be a key factor and good things do take time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://studiodanico.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studio_danico/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/StudioDanico18/
Image Credits
Kevin Bendtsen and Ana E. Gonzalez
