JunE 2016 BCBusiness 57 PHoto CourtEsY oF aDX PortlanD
Portlandia
Inc.
T r a v e l
Known for "keeping it
weird," Oregon's biggest city
is also •ghting hard to keep
it local
by Matt O'Grady
it's 2 p.m. on a typically wet winter after-
noon, and the 14,000-square-foot hub of
Portland's maker movement is buzzing,
quite literally, with activity. The sound
of saws, grinders and welders echoes
through
ADX Portland's facility on the
Central Eastside as dozens of small
businesses owners, artists and hobby-
ists beaver away on electric guitars,
upholstered chairs, beer tap handles
and clothing racks.
My tour guide is Matt Preston, 29,
who moved to Portland from small-
town Florida almost two years ago. "My
father was a master carpenter and the
šrst few years of my life were spent in
his workshop, which is where I got the
inclination to work with my hands,"
he says as we pass by the metal shop.
Following a stint in alcohol sales after
college, he moved west to pursue his
dream: "I wanted out of the corporate,
soulless work that I had been doing for
so long and to šnd a job that gave me a
sense of purpose." He wanted to make
things.
Preston started working at
ADX
šrst as a work-trade member—putting
in 10-hour weeks cleaning and doing
maintenance and small construction
jobs in trade for a full membership and
free classes. Eventually
ADX founder
Kelley Roy o¤ered him work full-time
as the organization's communications
director. "I think that this place really
is a great example of the community-
focused mindset of Portland's creative
community," he says. Since launching
šve years ago,
ADX has grown its mem-
bership from 20 to 185, with about 40
of those representing small businesses—
sharing space, tools and knowledge.
ADX also o¤ers teambuilding exercises
for some of the region's top corpora-
tions ("We recently had a group of
Nike lawyers come in who wanted to
build a custom bench for their cafeteria
with a beer cooler in the middle," says
Preston).
Portland—famous for its quirky
and experimental culture—has proven
fertile ground for the maker movement,
which shares much the same ethos of
the 100 Mile Diet movement: local busi-
nesses producing on a sustainable scale
for local consumers. Among the success
stories are
ADX graduate Portland
Razor Co. (one of the few handcrafted
straight razor manufacturers in the
world), Jacobsen Salt Co. (whose sea
salts are the šrst to be harvested in the
Pacišc Northwest in over 200 years) and
Spooltown (a small-run sewing outšt
that makes handbags and accessories
for local designers).
While the Central Eastside rep-
resents the heart of the city's maker
Meet your Maker
Artists, hobbyists and small
business owners share
the space at ADX Portland to
create their wares
