Need a set built for a commercial, special effects for a film, or custom architecture, furniture, and lighting for a store or business? One-stop shop 3 Ring Scenic in South Minneapolis brings together artists, designers, and builders to tackle any creative build-out, temporary or permanent.
“We seem to take the crazy jobs, the ones that most contractors would never touch,” says the company’s president Chris Hand. “Basically, our market is any creative-build project.”
The majority of 3 Ring Scenic’s business is split equally between two categories: architectural and scenic. Architectural projects include interior build-outs, furniture, signage, and fixtures for retail spaces, restaurants, and offices. Notable clients include Edina clothing boutique Len Druskin and Minneapolis restaurants French Meadow Café and Bryant Lake Bowl.
Scenic design, which yields a higher profit margin, includes creating sets, props, and special effects for commercials and film. Its set work includes commercials for Best Buy and Target and music videos for Prince and local rock band the Honeydogs.
3 Ring Scenic principals Hand and Bryan Axell attended Minneapolis College of Art and Design (Hand studied sculpture and media, Axell painting and drawing). After graduating in 1992, they went to work for local scene designer Harmony Scenic. But toward the end of the decade, the local film and design market slumped, and Harmony Scenic folded. 3 Ring Scenic opened for business in 2000.
“3 Ring Scenic became the phoenix of Harmony Scenic,” Hand says. “Same idea, same tools, but smaller platform—and our market scope was broader. We wanted to work more with architects and designers while still catering to the local film market.”
The company doesn’t have employees as such. Instead, it has built up a list of artisans and fabricators to whom 3 Ring Scenic subcontracts out projects. This helps the company manage the fluctuations in its work flow.
After grossing $200,000 in its first year of business, the company’s revenues hit $700,000 in 2006. Hand attributes that growth in part to the increasingly broad capabilities of its artisan subcontractors. “Bryan and I used to do all the work ourselves,” he says. “Now we have better people that can do what we did so that we can concentrate on getting more work into the shop.”
There has also been an increase in higher-profile work, such as building out Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. “We are constantly looking for new markets that need creative things built or displayed,” Hand says.
