Kris Pickel | NBC WKYC TV Cleveland
KRIS PICKEL: Welcome back everyone. There is a lot to be excited about here in Northeast Ohio these days — new development, new businesses, lots of new opportunities. There's a lot to appreciate and no one sees that more than two best friends who started a business here forty years ago and still feel like they're just getting started.
RECEPTIONIST: [answers phone] Hello, Nottingham Spirk. How can I help you?
PICKEL: You might not have heard of Nottingham and Spirk, but there's a good chance you own one of their ideas. From the Crest SpinBrush to a Twist 'n Pour paint can, or maybe a Swiffer Sweep+Vac.
JOHN NOTTINGHAM: You take new things and combine them with the existing things to make something wonderful.
PICKEL: John Nottingham and John Spirk have been innovating together since graduating from The Cleveland Institute of Art in 1972, setting up shop in an old garage in University Circle.
JOHN SPIRK: We had the opportunity to go anywhere in the country and start a business. This was the place for us.
PICKEL: The Pittsburgh natives found their niche right here, in Northeast Ohio. Design work for early clients, like Little Tikes and Royal Vacuum, helped them grow — right out their second set of offices and into a new space that was far from typical.
NOTTINGHAM: Somebody at the university said, 'You gotta look at this church—'
PICKEL: ...for sale by a shrinking congregation. Developers wanted to buy the ornate landmark only to tear it down. Nottingham and Spirk took one look inside the huge five-story structure and felt right at home.
NOTTINGHAM: When you're in the innovation business you have to be inspired, to think beyond yourself. And in a church you think beyond yourself.
PICKEL: Thinking beyond also meant thinking ahead. As the manufacturing landscape changed in Northeast Ohio, some companies crumbled. Nottingham and Spirk adjusted and thrived.
SPIRK: It's part of our training. It's part of our culture here. We have to see the invisible.
PICKEL: The company is at the forefront of medical technology coming out of Northeast Ohio. For example, they developed this medical kiosk, the Care4Station. It's like a doc-in-the-box,
where you can go to get minor ailments, like a sore throat or an earache, checked out. A doctor in a different location can check out your symptoms and prescribe treatment. Nearly a thousand patents line their wall, a testament to their vision and success. Inventors who reinvented themselves and see their adopted home following the very same path.
SPIRK: It's just a vibrant place and we're thrilled because we kind of knew that all along. We wanted to be here for that moment and it's here. We're looking to the next forty years. I'm telling you, the next forty are going to be unbelievable.
PICKEL: And they do believe in keeping talent here in Ohio. They have great internship programs with Case [Western Reserve University] and other Ohio universities and they hire their interns whenever it's possible. And Russ, even with all that space — a five-story church — the two men still share an office, which makes it a lot easier to share their ideas.
RUSS MITCHELL: Wow, very cool. Very cool guys. And they're getting ready for the next forty years...
PICKEL: Yes, and we wish them well! Close to a thousand patents... they really are incredible.
MITCHELL: Really fun stuff.
About Nottingham Spirk
Nottingham Spirk is a world-class product innovation firm with an unrivaled record of developing and commercializing disruptive consumer products, medical devices, digital IoT products and connected industrial products. We collaborate with Fortune 1,000 companies, middle market companies and funded venture companies to discover, design and execute product innovation programs and strategic business platforms that will delight customers, grow markets, and generate new revenue streams. Learn more about our innovation approach.
Submit a comment