'Handcrafted America' will feature Joliet couple March 29

JOLIET – Start a family business? That was Chad Schumacher’s answer to unemployment.

His wife’s reaction?

“I thought he was crazy,” said Jessica Schumacher, Chad’s wife. “We had a 2-month-old, no jobs, and he wanted to make pens.”

But when the Joliet couple earned $18,000 in the first month from a Kickstarter campaign and $42,000 in the next six months, they realized their idea of crafting and selling writing tools from reclaimed and historical wood was viable.

INSP is featuring the Schumachers and their business, Allegory Handcrafted Goods Co., on its new show, “Handcrafted America.” The episode will run Tuesday.

In addition to pens, pencils and fountain pens, the Schumachers also make leather wallets, bags and journals. The leather line was a bonus. It turned out the engraving equipment the couple bought for the pens also cut leather precisely.

“So we got the idea to make some leather products to complement the pens,” Chad said.

Just four years ago, Chad said he and Jessica were working for a technology company – Chad in marketing and Jessica in project management. But when the company closed, Chad said his entrepreneurial spirit led him to notice the pens his father, Chad Schumacher of Braidwood – a retired Wilmington barber turned woodworker – was crafting and gifting.

“The feeling of making something tangible and then seeing the product at work in your hand very quickly got to me,” Chad said. “And here we are a few years later.”

The wood comprising these pens is as unique as the Schumachers’ handiwork. One such wood is ancient kauri wood. It’s from a New Zealand forest that a tsunami buried for 50,000 years and recently has resurfaced, Chad said.

Other wood includes teak from the deck of the USS North Carolina and recovered cypress logs from the days when logs were floated down the river to the mill, Chad said. Often, logs got caught up in their journey and became stuck at the bottom of the river.

“Because these trees are hundreds and hundreds of years old, the characteristics of the grain is different than from a tree grown in the last 70 years and then harvested,” Chad said.

Not only is old wood unique in its own right, the added element of lying underwater for years further changes it, Chad said.

“It gives it some different colors and brings out different aspects of the grain,” Chad said.

Jessica said customers have asked them to create pens from the wood of their childhood home. One customer brought wood from the tree house he built for his children so each of his kids could have pens.

Even Jessica has an Allegory pen, a reject from maple wood, unsuitable for fulfilling an order because of its large knot.

“I wasn’t sure if it would disintegrate, but it’s really a beautiful piece,” Jessica said.

Ironically, she added, the pen held up.

“It’s interesting to look at,” she said.

The Schumachers began Allegory in their home, eventually moving it to a 1,500-square-foot production site on Joliet’s east side. It’s still the two of them, along with several part-time employees who work for them on a project-by-project basis, but that could soon change, Chad said, as the product line expands and they add more options.

“Chad is just one of those people that can watch something and just do it. I’m definitely not that type,” Jessica said. “He taught me bits and pieces over the course of this journey, but I wouldn’t say it’s hard. It’s fun, for sure.”

Jessica said one recent order of custom pens has special meaning for the person who ordered them.

“I know they are probably going to become family heirlooms and be passed down to their kids,” Jessica said. “That’s really cool.”

Items are produced in batches, she said. She can make 10 pens in a week and 30 wallets in a day, “if I’m able to buckle down and focus on things.” Some days, 4-year-old Liam Schumacher joins his parents and works on his own craft projects, Chad said.

Chad likes the integrity of running a manufacturing business the old-fashioned way – by hand.

“There’s something interesting about making an old-world product the way it was done in the past, bringing that into today’s market and making it relevant to people,” Chad said.

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For information on the Schumachers' appearance on "Handcrafted America," visit www.insp.com/shows/handcrafted-america.

For information on Allegory Handcrafted Goods Co., visit www.allegorygoods.com.