Today we’d like to introduce you to Monte Martin.
Monte, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started college double major: architecture and interior design with a minor in studio art. My junior year of college I transitioned to studio art as my major. Out of college, I began working in museums, galleries and making art. My wife and I moved to Dallas for me to go through a Dyslexia program before I went to graduate school to ultimately teach art at the collegiate level.
Before I could go to graduate school, I started my fine art services business, Martin&Martin Design. It has grown into what it is today a three-division company: Fine Art Services, Exhibit Design/Custom Fabrication, and Lighting Design/Electrical/Control.
Martin&Martin services museums, galleries, architects, interior designers, custom home builders, corporate and private collectors facilitating all their ART + LIGHT related needs.
Fine Art Services: art installations, packing, crating, transporting, shipping, storage, and sculpture rigging.
Exhibit Design: display and exhibit design development, graphics, fabrication of displays and exhibits, fabrication of displays, exhibits, custom furniture and lighting, mounting-making, digital interactive, AR, and VR.
Lighting Design: lighting design, landscape lighting, electrical and control services for – new construction or remodel, residential and commercial.
We are a team of creatives that work together to make your aesthetic environments more pleasing, so from hanging and lighting one painting to packing and crating up a collection of art works, sculpture, jade, crystal, porcelain and chandeliers for a home or business move and placing them into our climate controlled art storage facility til the client is ready to move into their new home or office and then return with the packed art and install into their new home or office to designing the exhibit for a museum, we can help facilitate everything in between.
This last year we moved into an 18,000sq.ft. warehouse where we have 5000sq.ft. of climate controlled storage and expanded fabrication facilities. We are conveniently located near Preston Hollow, Highland Park, University Park with easy access to all points in the metroplex at Walnut Hill and Denton Drive area.
As well, I am an artist. I am currently working on a commission for Lake Highlands Town Center development of 7-9 constructed “drawings”. These are geometric drawings that relate to or tie into the architecture of the space then made from 100% recycled drop material from our wood and metal shop that have been discarded, but I take this discarded scraps and make these large constructed geometric “drawings”. The body of work comes from old etch-a-sketch drawings I did as a kid.
These drawings have stayed with me in the form of mindless doodles until recently when I took notice that they are still with me after all this time and I needed to develop these into a body of work. Currently, the etch-a-sketch body of work is comprised of geometric drawings, geometric drawings over landscape drawings, constructed “drawings” and light-based geometric sculptures. One of the pieces for the Lake Highlands Town Center development is a light-based piece. www.martinandmartindesign.com.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No, shortly after I started in 1999, I had a 50/50 business partner for 6 years until finally I had enough and gave him the business and walked away having to rebuild. That means buying every tool, vehicle, and computer a second time, Then, with being a 3 division company we are really 3 companies within in 1 and many times that marketing message gets lost and people only think of you how they were first introduced to you.
As well, financially growing 3 companies at one time spread the financial resources out and I am not always able to fund certain areas of growth as fast I would like to which causes us to grow slower then I would like, but slow growth equates to a strong business foundation. I am a proverbial optimist with “adult on-set ADHD” so I have to keep busy and stimulated and the entrepreneurial challenges of growing 3 companies in 1 keep me on my toes.
I have been asked before if I won the lottery, would I show up to work the next day and my answer was, YES! This means I have the financial resources to fund the all the areas of growth I need all at the same time allowing us to grow faster!
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I tell people, “I do what I love, I love what I do and therefore I don’t work.” For me, success is the ability to do what I love and educate people about the importance of art and light in their everyday environments. When you are finished with a project and the client is so happy with the design and the installation and they see their collection in a way that they have never seen it before, is very gratifying to me. Now, don’t get me wrong… if there is a pile of gold at the end of the rainbow, it will be that much more gratifying to me!
Contact Info:
- Address: Martin&Martin Design 2819 Anode Lane Dallas, TX 75220
- Website: www.martinandmartindesign.com
- Phone: 214.252.0692
- Email: monte@martinandmartindesign.com
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