Brush Factory takes pitch idea to reality with new "bff" furniture line

Brush Factory, an emerging high-end furniture manufacturer and winner of 2015’s ArtWorks Big Pitch competition, has launched its first ready-made furniture line, “bff.” The new line was the idea co-owners Rosie Kovacs and Hayes Shanesy pitched in the competition, and thanks to the funding they won, as well as the mentorship and networking provided in the process, the idea has now become reality.
 
“We’ve really wanted to do this for a long time, and when this came up, it seemed like the perfect opportunity,” Kovacs says. “It just seemed like a really great way that anyone could have something of ours in their house. Custom is often intimidating to people.”
 
Custom furniture has been Brush Factory’s bread and butter for several years, but the new line opens the company up to expanding audiences, who might have no idea where to start with custom-designed furniture. That doesn’t mean the new tables and chairs will lose any of their signature Brush Factory quality — each piece in the new is made to order, so there remain opportunities for customization and personalization for buyers.
 
In fact, personal connections are the name of the game. The line’s name stands for “Brush Factory furniture” but also plays off the common abbreviation of “best friend forever.” Kovacs and Shanesy have named individual bff collection pieces after their own friends.
 
“Naming them after our real life bff’s felt authentic and like a great way to get inspiration for new pieces,” Kovacs says. “If you have friend Peter, you might conjure up you’re own mental image of what the tables personality might be.”
 
Kovacs and Shanesy hope this personal but timeless style will make their work accessible to a whole new audience, which is exactly what they set out to do with the Big Pitch competition. It’s also what ArtWorks set out to do with the competition as well.
 
“The main focus of a program like Big Pitch is that we want to help local creative entrepreneurs take their business to the next level,” says Shailah Maynard, director of ArtWorks’ Creative Enterprise Division. “Brush Factory’s new line is the perfect example of how the combination of mentorship, guidance from a U.S. Bank Small Business Specialist and access to business grants can all be used to positively expand and grow a business.”
 
As the fruits of last year’s competition continue to blossom, a new season is just starting up. ArtWorks is taking applications for the 2016 Big Pitch competition through June 30.