FrameLok
Michelle Hamilton asked her son Ian if he could help her solve a needlepoint problem…the frame she was stitching on wasn’t staying square. Using a 3D printer, Ian designed and manufactured a set of small brackets that did the job.
One Saturday afternoon a couple of months later Michelle showed them to Jane Hudson and the girls at Two’s Company Needlepoint in Rock Hill, SC and they went crazy. Right away they said Ian had to sell them.
Ian’s initial design took just a few days, but the fine-tuning happened over a few weeks with input from his mom and from Jane and the girls at Two’s Company. He went through four or five modifications of the bracket, before it took on the present design. Ian is skilled at CAD programs; he designed and 3D prints each bracket himself.
Ian handles design and manufacturing. As the stitcher in the family, his mom Michelle is in charge of marketing. Ian’s dad, Mark, manages the business side of things. Ian is 14 years old and has taken lots of trips with his mom from Charlotte, NC to Rock Hill, SC to “Jane’s.” He’s gotten to know the ladies in the shop and has received lots of great advice on his product. It’s been a fun few months watching Ian fine tune his product and start building a business. The product name, logo, and bracket design are all his.
FrameLok brackets come in a set of four, packaged in a clear box, in assorted colors.