Small business, “CREA Company,” helps people combine art and technology

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) -The walls were lined with strange machines, and sci-fi weaponry sat on racks throughout the room. No, this isn’t a mad scientist’s garage. This is the CREA Company, a small business where creatives can combine art and technology in unique ways.

“It’s a maker space,” described Chris DeHart, CREA Company’s Shop Manager, “We tried to say, ‘Oh we’re a traditional maker space,’ but we’re anything but traditional. It’s pretty wild. Like, we’re artists and engineers, scientists and philosophers, magicians and wizards.”

And that wasn’t an exaggeration – a magician named Brandon Owen was there working on his new act.

“...Putting together a costume, stilt costume for events and everything. It’s going to be a big ostrich standing nine, ten foot tall. This place has been great. Normally, this would take me thousands of bucks to, like, outsource fabricate. Putting it together for a few bucks here, you know, membership fee and all that stuff like that,” says Owen.

The CREA Company is a small business that helps other small businesses as well.

“...help people figure out what kind of paint or glue they would need to make their product finally gel or get better or figure out what kind of wood they need or maybe they need to learn what kind of machine to buy to start their business and get it going. They don’t want to spend five hundred dollars on a t-shirt press, so, ‘well, come use ours for a month,’ and maybe they want a better one or maybe they don’t want one,” says DeHart.

The space offers many machines for customers to use including 3D printers, laser engravers, and more.

DeHart adds, they’ve had some unique projects get made there, including tabletop game miniatures, Christmas ornaments, and even props and costumes for a zombie movie. Hours at the CREA Company are nine to five on weekdays. Membership fees are $60 a month, not including material fees.

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