Flux Design - the work

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MIAD AlumNews: How Flux Got Hot
An architectural fixtures company led by a group of young MIAD alums is turning heads by blending materials, and talents, in new and exiting ways.

In metalwork, flux is a material that helps fuse several elements into one. In the world of furniture and architectural fixtures, Flux is the aptly metaphorical name for a company earning widespread acclaim, and a backlog of orders, by uniting metal, wood, glass, concrete and plastics in stunningly styled combinations.

Started three years ago by 1999 MIAD alum Jeremy Shamrowicz and fellow MIAD student Jesse Meyer, Flux now employs 9 MIAD alums among its 10 full-time employees. At any given time, 2 to 4 MIAD interns supplement its work force.

ìNo question about it, we were made at MIAD,î said Shamrowicz, president of the fast-growing enterprise. ìIn fact, the very first table we made used materials left over from some of my MIAD sculpture projects.î

Business has grown rapidly since that first table. Today Flux creates handcrafted custom furniture, sculpture, signage, and functional art for a growing list of private and commercial clients, including restaurants, nightclubs, retail displays and civic groups. It displays much of its work at its Gallery 326, 326 N. Water St.

Just as Fluxís furniture and fixtures blend different elements with exciting results, so it also mixes MIAD majors.

ìWeíre very purposefully not into the separation of fine art and fine design here,î said Shamrowicz. ìI majored in sculpture and industrial design, and there are illustrators, painters, printmakers, and even filmmakers here. But everything we make, we make together.î

Flux produces its materials in mechanical, contemporary, organic and structural styles. Their work takes on many different ìskins.î Paints, finishes and coatings are designed to either accentuate or obfuscate the fundamental materials.

ìOne thing we learned at MIAD is an honesty about materials and an openness to their natural capabilities,î noted Shamrowicz. ìJill Sebastian, Frank Lukasavitz, Steve Lacey, you can see a lot of their influence in our work.î

The impressive results are scattered around their 20,000-foot-shop in Milwaukeeís Riverworks business district.

Stacked along the walls are nearly completed decorative panels destined for the median strip along a one-mile stretch of nearby Capitol Drive. From a distance the panels look like delicate stained glass mounted in graceful, curved frames. Up close, you see that the ìglass panelsî are actually thick metal sheets perforated to give the allusion of translucence.

Outlined in tape on the shop floor is the full-sized layout for ìWet,î a new two-story bar under construction on Water Street. Every interior fixture will be designed and installed by Flux. With Eve and Sauce, two other Flux-designed hot spots, Wet will give the company a trio of trendy gathering places in downtown Milwaukee.

And in the companyís reception area stands a table with a base of intertwined metal rods and a top of glass etched with leaves, a striking take off on a spreading oak tree. It is a variation on a Flux-designed table featured last year in a Chicago Tribune story on the renaissance of Midwest furniture design.

ìTheyíre very talented designers,î said John Constable of Laughlin/Constable, one of Milwaukeeís largest marketing communications firms. Constable selected Flux to create furniture and fixtures for public spaces in Laughlin Constableís recently remodeled headquarters at 200 E. Michigan St.

Constable worked with Flux designers to come up with the distinctive look he wanted for Laughlin Constableís public areas. ìIím very much into retro, refunctioned metallic objects,î said Constable. ìI had an idea of a look I wanted, and Flux proved to be very compatible and creative in the turning it into a reality.î

Constable has since commissioned Flux to create furniture for his home. Such private sales are one of the fastest growth areas for Flux designs, according to Shamrowicz.

At present, Shamrowicz says, Fluxís growth has caused it to restructure it revenue goals and long-range strategies for business development. The company is on the cusp of yet further expansion.

ìWeíve got good advisors, and we are developing the business side strategically. We wrote more orders in the first two months of this year than we wrote in all of last year, so business is definitely good.

ìBut right now weíre just enjoying the work. Everybody comes to MIAD for the same reason, theyíve got a passion for creativity. We simply found a way to keep that experience alive.î

P3-5

MIAD AlumNews, April 2003