Fabricator by trade, artist by accident

The striking tab-and-slot pattern of this piece is accentuated by the stark differences between light and shadow. An industrial laser isn’t the only machine that could have cut this pattern, but it was probably the fastest machine for making these contoured cuts.

California is well-known for all it has to offer, which is much more than sun, sand, surf, and Hollywood. In many ways, the state is a leader—it has first-class universities, enviable careers in Silicon Valley, well-known metropolitan areas, and millions of acres of stunning natural beauty.

It’s also a leader in the goods and services it generates. The gross state product is $2.45 trillion, which is more than the output of most countries. Digging a little deeper reveals that manufacturing makes up 10 percent of its economy. At $245 million a year, its manufacturing sector is larger than the entire economies of 25 of the other 49 states.

Tom Carroll had no idea that he’d be part of that $245 million industry when he moved to California in 1972. His primary motivation was to shake brutal Michigan winters, and the climate of Los Angeles was extremely inviting. At that time, Carroll had finished college, worked a bit, and returned to college for a master’s degree. His degrees were in two distinctly different fields, metallurgy and education psychology, but in the end, his primary motivation in life was a desire to make things.

A Hobby Becomes a Career

After moving to the Golden State, he worked in several sales positions, making decent money, and slowly built up a fleet of used machines to do some fabricating work in his garage.

“Sometimes I’d buy a machine and keep it,” he said. “Other times I’d buy a machine, overhaul it, sell it at a profit, and use that income to buy a bigger or better machine.”

After 21/2 years, he had enough steady income, and too much equipment, for his residential garage, so he leased 5,000 square feet of commercial space and quit his steady job to lead the life of an entrepreneur.

Steeped in cutting and bending sheet metal, the business satisfied his creative urge, but not entirely.

“I was delivering some parts to a customer that did a lot of tube fabrication, and I saw some really interesting bent tube in a scrap bin,” Carroll said. To Carroll, they looked more like an opportunity than scrap. He asked if he could have them, took them back to his shop, and turned them into a sculpture. He was really happy with the result.

“I sort of shocked myself,” he said.

Intricate Cuts for Elaborate Projects

It might be a stretch to say that using laser technology contributed to that flash of inspiration, but it wouldn’t be much of a stretch. An early adopter, Carroll purchased his first laser machine in 1993 and has been using the technology continuously ever since.

A counterpoint to the sculpture in the lead image, this piece abandons any sense of pattern or repeatability.

“It was the best move I ever made,” he said. He has never bought a tube laser, but regardless, Carroll learned just how well-suited laser technology is to metal fabrication.

“It allows you to do all kinds of cool stuff—you can make anything you can draw,” he said.

Since that first sculpture, he has made all sort of items, including utilitarian items—a bed, shelving, and other home furnishings—and artistic pieces of all sorts. Although he has given a little thought to retiring, it’s clear that he has no intention of retiring anytime soon. He recently traded in a 12-year-old laser machine for a new machine, which he uses to support work from his traditional customers; his own artwork; and two nontraditional customers, two artists who, like Carroll, have discovered the extraordinary latitude that lasers allow.

TomCo Products, 741 N. Coney Ave., Azusa, CA 91702, 626-334-3900, www.tomcoproducts.com

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