Firm has designs on filling host of client needs

Ed Forer’s company, Blue Sky Group, is a rags-to-riches story, though Forer will be the first to tell you serendipity, however opportune, cannot be counted on for long-range, strategic planning.
The Rhode Island School of Design graduate went from cranking out vinyl banners in his parents’ basement 10 years ago and selling them on eBay to designing the interior of the Alex and Ani Newport store at One Bowen’s Wharf in early 2009 and today making point-of-purchase displays for vendors that in turn outfit stores like Home Depot and Bloomingdale’s.
The business-to-business company also provides services in design and engineering, large-format printing, computer numerical control machining, fabrication, laser cutting and even Web development.
After making and selling banners for two years, Forer started making signs and joined the peer-assisted group Business Networking International. The BNI association led to a steady stream of customers, even as he worked from the end of 2006 to 2008 in a windowless, unheated mill in Greenville with no plumbing, he recalled.
But it was when Carolyn Rafaelian, Alex and Ani CEO, founder and creative director, was looking for him to craft a sign and then “took a leap of faith” and asked the firm to design the entire interior of a Newport store that the business began to blossom.
Forer acknowledges that interior retail store design was not initially part of his plans for the company. But the firm’s job has become serving as “a medium to execution,” and helping clients find “a visual language of expression,” in a variety of formats.
Along the way, Forer felt he could rely on his instincts as a “maker” and RISD graduate to experiment and learn on the fly. That proved true, especially since Rafaelian knew what she wanted, he said.
“I went to school to design stuff and I was confident: this is all stuff I can make,” he said. “Working with her, we had a really clear vision of what it was going to look like: savage modernism, crisp and clean, and then she has this funky, eclectic style. … I got a really clear sense of what she wanted, and we had a plan and it felt doable.”
After relocating to Coventry from 2008 to 2010, Blue Sky Group moved to its current location in Warwick, in two separate buildings on adjoining properties. The technology center covers 17,500 square feet, most of that for CNC machining. The warehouse and assembly space is 18,000 square feet, he said. Around the time that Alex and Ani became a client, Forer decided after troubleshooting a problem with paint while making a sign for an attorney that he would pitch his services to Benjamin Moore, the painting company, which had plans to develop free signs for painting contractors.
“We developed the mechanism to do it,” Forer said, using in-house software, and leading to a standing relationship.
“To this day,” he admitted, “I feel like we’re making it up as we go. You can argue we are either dumb enough or creative enough to say, ‘Yeah, we can take that on.’ It’s a combination of taking opportunities as they come, and as they dry up, [creating] new opportunities.”
The CNC machine shop has created opportunities to make things “that we could only imagine doing with shop tools,” added Forer. “We’ll design virtually, take computer models and produce the parts on machines, which are robots, precisely cutting out product.”
Some of the types of products produced this way include cabinetry, big-picture frames and upright shelving units for retail stores.
Ultimately, making “cool stuff” for retailers is about having the consumer “totally enveloped” in the client’s brand “or ethos” at the point of sale, Forer said.
“When you go into an Alex and Ani store you’re in their universe,” he said. “Or when you’re at a kiosk, you’re living that company’s story. The point of sale is one of the most meaningful ways to connect with the consumer, and we’re all about making those experiences cool. We use all of these different technologies to make that happen.”
While he hopes to grow to a $5 million company in the next 18 months, Forer declined to say what some of his plans include. He did say investors are advising him to work to grow the business and be less “hands-on,” entrusting the work to his employees.
“The biggest thing we’re changing is really trying to actively name goals and pursue them and change from a business that capitalizes on opportunities,” he said, “to a business that creates opportunities.” •COMPANY PROFILE
Blue Sky Group
OWNER: Ed Forer, president and CEO
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Design and manufacturing of retail displays and interiors
LOCATION: 450 Pavilion Ave., Warwick
EMPLOYEES: 21
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2004
ANNUAL SALES: $1.5 million

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