Denver Small Business Collectives Find Opportunity in Local Markets

Photo: Founders Ian Saunders (foreground) and Eric Dinkel stand near their table saw in the Hidden Gnome Woodworking woodshop.

The shed is covered in wood dust and barely big enough for two people to move around in, but with help from the community, it is now home to one of Denver’s newest small businesses.

Small businesses in and around Denver are finding more support and more opportunities for selling in their local communities. Denver Handmade Homemade, the Denver Flea and other small, “farmer’s market” type selling opportunities are allowing hobbyists to turn their dreams into realities. For many, the dreams are fluid and continue to develop naturally as the dreamers discover better and more lucrative ways to connect locally. 

Hidden Gnome Woodworking is located in a shed in Eric Dinkel’s backyard, snug between a budding garden and a chicken coop. Dinkel and Ian Saunders, founders of Hidden Gnome, got their start in the same way many small businesses do: working on hobby projects in their down time. 

“I’ve been tinkering in the garage for a long time, not really knowing what I was doing, just trying to have fun,” Dinkel says. “Ian asked if I wanted to take a woodworking class with him at Red Rocks.”

Friends Ian Saunders (left) and Eric Dinkel stand in their woodshop in Denver.

The two began collecting used woodworking tools: a dust filter off of craigslist, an antique planer from a yard sale, a band saw, a drill press and a wood joiner. For the 2013 holiday season, they gave family and friends handmade, hardwood cutting boards, and got lots of positive feedback.

“They were a big hit,” Saunders says. “My mom and sister-in-law said we should make and sell them.”

Hidden Gnome set up booths at two Denver markets for the 2014 holiday season, the Denver Flea and Denver HAHO. They had two types of items – cutting boards and children’s toy block sets – and sold all their small cutting boards at the Denver Flea within a few hours. They had brought 10 toy block sets and only sold one. 

 A children’s toy block set – each set includes a gnome hidden on one block.

“We were a little bummed,” Saunders says. “There were only one or two other woodworkers there, and one came over to us and he said, ‘Your stuff is amazing.’ It felt good to get that validation from another woodworker.” 

Given the interest from the markets and support from the community, Hidden Gnome set a goal to create 10 new items. So far, they have a cache of pepper grinders, magnetic knife holders, bottle cap openers, candle holders and step stools that will be heading to upcoming local markets. The items feature as much reclaimed, locally-sourced wood as possible, including some Colorado beetle-kill pine and Douglas fir. 

 A finished magnetic bottle opener by Hidden Gnome Woodworking.

Dinkel and Saunders do consider their growing project to be a small business, but they say it’s more of a collective. 

“Our friends work here with us,” Saunders says. “It makes so much sense to keep everything in the community. We want to make high quality items that last. The throwaway culture kills me. We don’t need to buy stuff from China.”

A local economy is, in some ways, more flexible than traditional commerce. Small selling markets offer opportunities for bartering, which can support small businesses as they grow into bigger businesses. 

“When we think of the local economy, we’re thinking of stores that have one location or several at the most,” says Stephen Toma, director of the community market Denver Handmade Homemade. “No one thinks about the moment before that.”

Toma and Danielle Langworthy have been running Denver Handmade Homemade, or HAHO (pronounced “Hah-Ho”), for three years. Part of HAHO is a selling and bartering market, and now, the search is on for a workspace location for local creators to use, as well as a place to permanently reside the market. Woodworkers, candle makers, web designers, accountants, artists, chefs and bakers will be able to use the space as an all-in-one workplace.

“Imagine a work environment where a chef or baker can finish his shift in the commissary kitchen, clean up, then grab his computer, finish up his marketing plan for the month and check your business mailbox,” Toma says. “All of that will be intertwined in the same space.”

A critical step exists between hobby and small business, Toma says. Hidden Gnome had the location to work, but wanted a local place to sell. Others have the skills and business plan, but no locations to work out of beyond their own kitchens and living rooms. Denver HAHO aims to provide a location, opportunities to sell and local community support to anyone looking to capitalize on a natural ability or hobby. 

“You’re not just born with a recipe for salsa,” Toma says. “You start from scratch. Who’s taking care of you in the process? What resources are being provided to help you from making salsa for friends and family to selling regionally at Whole Foods?”

By April Nowicki