Somerville Man Sells Personalized Magnets, 3-D Printed Light Sculptures in Davis Square

SOMERVILLE, MA – Small Business Saturday is next weekend and consumers are encouraged to "Shop Small" to support the local businesses that make up the fabric of our communities.

In that spirit, we asked small business owners in Somerville to submit their stories.

Devan Calabrez, creator of My-Word-Magnets and a new startup selling 3-D printed illuminated sculptures, told Patch the stories behind both of his ventures:

The idea for My-Word-Magnets originally came to me when I was working with a couple of great programmers in 2003, Anatoly and Ilya. Anatoly was an older guy, just near retirement age, tufted with thick silver hair and a decades old penchant for chain-smoking. Ilya was a young man, in his mid-20s, extremely fit and an active sportsman and champion Motocross competitor. Seemingly opposites at first glance, but both brilliant coders - and each one as incredibly smart and kind-hearted as the other.

Being creative, I enjoy making personal gifts for the holidays. I decided to create presents for Anatoly and Ilya. They were always teaching me bits of the Java programming language and various Russian words like "borscht", so I figured a great gift would be to make them sets of personalized word magnets with those words. After a lengthy investigation, I discovered that customizable word magnets weren't available anywhere and that DIY ink-jet printable magnets were totally inadequate for the task, so I was inspired to bring the idea of customizable word magnets to the market. I discovered and worked with various companies overseas to create the different consumer products, learning international trade and patent law in the process. To create the custom magnets, I researched various materials and tested different machines until I put together a process that rivaled traditional screen-printed magnets. I connected with a materials testing company in Spokane and flew there to test the custom magnets with a professional Stylometer to measure the coating tensile strength. I then designed and programmed the e-commerce website and finally launched My-Word-Magnets in 2006.

The 3D printed light sculpture company is a relatively new start-up. It's also 100% my own business and operated in Somerville. Being a 3D animator I have an interest in 3D printing and I started creating various 3D sculptures to share with my friends and the light designs became a favorite. I decided to make them available for everyone in various colors and shapes.

>>>Click here to explore the possibilities on the My-Word-Magnet website

Photos submitted by Devan Calabrez