A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the pens made by artisans Chad and Jessica Schumacher present these storytellers with limitless possibilities.
The story behind Allegory Handcrafted Goods – a Joliet company that makes wooden pens and leather goods with materials as unique as each of its customers – started several years ago. The couple was working for the same telecommunications company – Chad as a marketing and business development professional, and Jessica as the head of a project marketing group. When that company was forced to close amid the Great Recession, the Schumachers and their 2-year-old son were left with nothing to fall back on.
But out of hardship, came hope.
Chad’s father – a retired barber and woodworker – taught his son how to make wooden pens and gave him the idea to start a business of his own. Thanks to a series of successful Kickstarter campaigns, the entrepreneurial couple quickly turned that idea into a unique and traditional business.
Recently, the Schumachers were featured on the television show “Handcrafted America” – a new series on the INSP network that unearths talented artisans across the country.
“The team behind ‘Handcrafted America’ has been really impressive to work with, and I think they did an outstanding job on the finished product,” Chad said of the episode, which aired last month.
During their segment, Chad and Jill gave show host Jill Wagner a tour of their business and took her through the process of making a one-of-a-kind pen, using wood from a World War II battleship – the U.S.S. North Carolina.
“They have one of the most unique set of skills that I have ever heard of,” Wagner said of the Joliet artisans.
Every Allegory pen is made using reclaimed wood with some historic or personal significance. That meaning could be anything from the beam of a family’s old vacation home to a 50,000-year-old piece of ancient kauri – a prehistoric tree found in New Zealand.
“While our woods have all these really cool stories, our favorite [stories] are always when people bring us wood that means something to them personally and is part of their story,” Chad said.
One of the most sobering stories came directly from Allegory’s segment on Handcrafted America. The same week the episode aired, Chad and Jessica were contacted by the family of a police officer who had recently died after his car collided with a tree.
“They are going to send us a piece of that tree to make pens for a lot of his colleagues on the force and their family,” Chad said. “Those are the [stories] that really hit home for us.”
In addition to pens, the Schumachers also make a wide variety of leather products, such as wallets and journal covers.
Jessica, who oversees the company’s leather working shop, said the idea to start making leather products happened by chance. After purchasing a $4,000 laser engraver to add the Allegory logo to their wooden pens, the couple decided to get more use out of the “most expensive piece of equipment” in their shop.
“It was definitely a coincidence but it grew out of having underutilized equipment,” Jessica said. Now, they use that laser engraver to cut out pieces of leather that Jessica sews together to make leather products with a different kind of unique story. Because reclaimed leather is inconsistent and harder to work with, the Schumachers use leather they said is “responsibly sourced.”
“What we did instead, was try to find leather that had a really good story behind it even though it was new,” Chad said.
Kangaroo leather was the first material used by Allegory because, in addition to being an ecologically friendly product, it is also the thinnest and strongest leather in the world. For products such as wallets and pocket notebooks, this type of leather translates to items that are both durable and long lasting.
The Schumachers said their business’ social consciousness grew directly out of their experiences in the telecommunications industry and what they called an impersonal corporate culture.
“In a lot of ways, starting this company was about getting out of that corporate-America cycle,” Chad said.
Jessica agreed, saying the ability to create custom pieces is the most rewarding part of her job.
“We don’t get to really dig in with all of our customers as much as I would like, so really getting to know someone, getting to know their story and being able to make a lifetime piece specifically for them is my favorite part of our work,” she said. In addition to a corporate culture based on ethical sourcing, reclaimed materials and personal connection, Allegory is also partnering with the Ecuadorian government to help create programs in that country to preserve its own artisanal tradition.
“With Allegory, we were trying to rediscover something that [America] has lost,” Chad said. “Their country is really now in that point of modernization, and there are several of those generational, artisanal businesses trying to preserve those traditions as they modernize.”
He said Allegory is working with ProEcuador – an entity within Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Trade that is in charge of assisting in the promotion of export and investments in the country – on several initiatives to create opportunities for those within the Ecuadorian maker community. Additionally, Allegory recently launched a new Kickstarter campaign intended to expand its selection of leather goods. Because Allegory owns its success to the crowdfunding community, Chad said they are going back to Kickstarter for this new product line.
For more information on Allegory Handcrafted Goods or to commission your own personal pen, visit www.allegorygoods.com. To see the Schumacher’s segment on Handcrafted America, visit www.insp.com/handcrafted-america-episode-6.