CarArtWork, Inc. Creates Timeless & Unique Pieces

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When Diane Everse’s car-enthusiast husband wanted a unique piece of artwork for his office, Everse and her husband began searching for various forms of art to resemble his 1966 Corvette. They found someone who could create the design using plasma cutting. After finding this unique form of art, Everse had a great idea, stating that she “knew there was a market,” for this type of artwork. Everse wanted to create a business where this type of stainless steel, laser-cut artwork, which can be done through a laser cutting machine, could be produced specifically for car logos and designs. She knew she had to contact General Motors in order to obtain a licensing agreement to produce and sell these designs. Once they had created a 42-paged agreement with Everse, CarArtWork, Inc. was established.

After leaving her job at a life insurance company in the late 1990s, Everse founded a consulting company before creating CarArtWork in 2002. Once she found herself spending more time building this new business, Everse eventually devoted all her time to CarArtWork.

“It quickly became apparent that I was spending more time on CarArtWork than consulting and I was really enjoying the creative and marketing aspect of the new business,” Everse says.

She admits it is difficult to manage the business but that it comes with being a small-business owner.

“The most difficult aspect is juggling the many responsibilities essential to keeping the business viable,” she says.

Everse described the transition from the consulting business to owning CarArtWork as an “evolution” for her and not difficult for her to adapt. Everse and her husband own three Corvettes themselves as well as several collector cars.

“We both share a deep appreciation for sports cars, muscle cars, and street rods,” she says.

Everse admits that her husband is the “ultimate” car enthusiast, stating that he subscribes to several auto publications and “devours them all from cover to cover.” She goes on to say that, “he is incredibly knowledgeable about all aspects of the hobby, has rebuilt engines, built and raced a drag car and raced sports cars.” When Everse decided to start the business, she says her husband was very supportive. While working a full-time job, he would often take vacation days to join her for automotive events.

The process of creating these products begins in the Middletown area, where the stainless steel goes through laser cutting and hand-finishing. They use AutoCAD, a designing software that produces 2D and 3D designs for their CarArtWork products. These products include mounted sculptures, wall hangings, business card holders, ornaments, photo frames, photo albums and much more. Everse states that most customers know what they want created but have CarArtWork build the design for them. The busiest season for the business lasts from April until November. This time is usually spent creating inventory for an event or show as well as preparing products for orders and creating more inventory once one event ends in preparation for more upcoming events. Everse says that show season lasts until Christmas, leaving January and February as the only real down-time for Everse and her husband.

The most unique pieces CarArtWork has created, described by Everse, includes a stainless-steel rock band album cover for a fan and custom emblems for a retired professional basketball player’s Mercedes Benz. Another memorable product came from a long-time customer, who wanted a six-foot-long chocolate bar replica of the sign from Hershey’s Chocolate World. This location was meaningful to the customer having taken his family there every year when his children were young and taking a photo together every time they visited in front of that sign. The customer wanted to recreate the memory with his grandchildren since the sign had been removed from that location. CarArtWork produced a replica, which sits in the customer’s lawn today.

The company was founded on producing Corvette designs but later obtained licensing from Ford and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2012. Along with its distributors and features in automotive catalogs such as Corvette Central, CarArtWork is also sold in the gift shops of the National Corvette Museum and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Most of CarArtWork’s customers use their products for personal use. Today, CarArtWork has over 200 products that are currently available for purchase.

For more information about CarArtWork, visit them online at carartwork.biz.

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