Welcome to 12 to Watch in 2012, a new web series profiling some of New York’s top minds doing innovative things with technology and design.
This week we’re meeting Kristen Wentrcek, the CEO and Founder of Wintercheck Factory – a design and manufacturing company based in Bushwick that creates, sources, and manufactures products like furniture, clothing, and accessories, with an eye on forward-thinking design.
Ms. Wentrcek started Wintercheck Factory after working her post-collegiate years in real estate development in New York. After learning how to put together buildings, she switched careers to focus on creating products to use instead of places to live – similar processes, she says, although vastly different in scale.
Now Wintercheck Factory designs and produces everything from solid walnut desks to swimsuits to utility shower curtains that have space for your toiletries. As for how they create their designs, Ms. Wentrcek recounts the creation of one of the more sentimental products she manufactures and sells – a ring based off of her great-great-aunt’s handcrafted wedding band. Because of its intricate design, the first casters she approached were hesitant to take on the replication, until she found someone who could scan the ring and use 3-D printing technology to create a physical model, allowing Wintercheck Factory to commence mass creation of the product. The 1907 Ring is now available in brass, silver, and gold, allowing a treasured family heirloom to be shared widely.
