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Ryan Boucher and Ethan Weed, employees of Metrica in Northampton, work on a door casing last Friday afternoon. Formerly known as VCA Inc., the locally founded company was recently purchased by Metrica, a German company that is expanding in North America. -
Omar Diouf works on metal assemble for a light box frame at Metrica in Northampton. Formerly known as VCA Inc., the locally founded company was recently purchased by Metrica, a German company that is expanding in North America. -
Fergus, owned by one of the employees at Metrica, waits for her owner who was working on the shop floor on Friday afternoon. -
Stephanie Sawyer, an employee of Metrica in Northampton, cuts pieces of wood on Friday afternoon. Formerly known as VCA Inc., the locally founded company was recently purchased by Metrica, a German company that is expanding in North America. -
Mike Martindell sands a piece of furniture at Metrica in Northampton. Formerly known as VCA Inc., the locally founded company was recently purchased by Metrica, a German company that is expanding in North America. -
Mike Martindell sands a piece of furniture at Metrica in Northampton.
NORTHAMPTON — Many of the world’s richest people, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have turned to a 343-year-old company founded in Senden, Germany to create custom furnishings for their estates.
Specializing in high-end interiors for super yachts and bespoke furniture for homes worth at least $20 million, like those found in Beverly Hills, Palo Alto and Aspen or in Manhattan and Miami high rises, Metrica is having a Northampton company that once created a mahogany manuscript storage case for Bill Gates become its first American production site.
Formerly known as VCA Inc., Metrica recently bought the locally founded company with 50 employees to expand its footprint in North America.
“VCA became very appealing to me,” says Mark Mantione, Metrica’s U.S. CEO since 2018 at the American corporate headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut. “They have a legacy of quality and dealing with high-worth clients.”
Mantione said he put out feelers 2½ years ago to Bruce Volz, former VCA president and co-owner who alongside Tony Clarke created the woodshop and metalworking company in the early 1990s.
Already working with VCA, and recognizing its technical expertise, sensitivity to design and collaborative spirit, a deal was eventually put together for the acquisition.
“Our shared passion for solving unique challenges and delivering extraordinary results makes this both a meeting of passionate professionals and dedicated artisans,” Mantione said.
“VCA has always sought to produce world-class work and we are thrilled that our friends at Metrica agree,” Volz said in a statement. “I can think of no better hands to leave VCA in than Metrica’s.”
Until its recent acquisition of VCA, Metrica’s three factories were in Europe, two in Germany and one in Austria. The company was started in the 17th century by master joinery carpenters and has evolved into doing luxury interiors.
Renamed Metrica Interiors, VCA has a 20,000-square-foot factory that opened in 2008 at 209 Earle St., one of the initial businesses to plant roots as part of the redevelopment of the former Northampton State Hospital into what’s now known as Village Hill Northampton. VCA also recently acquired the Raredon Resources metal shop in Florence.
The company’s employees in Northampton are now part of a company that has 280 carpenters, technicians, engineers and architects.
Mantione said more than a quarter of the work in Northampton will be focused on furniture, millwork and casework cabinetry, trim and one-off projects, with the metal shop used for custom interior metal work for legacy estates.
Designers and architects, he said, are hired by well-to-do clients, who then come to Metrica for their visions to be fabricated. Mantione said the company doesn’t do any work for the hospitality industry, corporate officers or large developments.
For Dan Grenier, who co-directs the Northampton site with Stephen Hammer, there is relief that employees will continue to be able to do high-end millwork.
“For us, it’s pretty huge,” said Grenier, a VCA employee for 20 years. “Metrica is pretty serious and committed to growing,” adding that “everyone here is quality and goal driven, and creative.”
Bringing VCA into the fold continues a move that Metrica began three years ago, when it launched its furniture fabrication division to bring designs to life for architects and designers such as Joan Behnke, Rémi Tessier and Nicole Hollis.
The hope, Mantione said, is that VCA’s reputation for veneering, upholstery, carving, turning, metalwork, leatherwork and CNC machining, as well as finishing and materials work, will expand Metrica’s capacity.
Also with the acquisition, Mantione said major investments will come in Northampton. German technology and machines, some of which can cost $300,000 to $500,000 apiece, will be installed and upgrades will be made to the engineering, layout and flow of the plant. With the changes, Mantione said there is an expected increase in output at the city shop by 20%.
Along with upgrading the technology, there will be hiring more people and training them through apprenticeship programs in the short term, with a possibility of enlarging the Northampton building in the long term.
Grenier said he would like to see more people interested in seeking jobs right out of high school. While they won’t be hired as master builders right away, the skills they develop will serve them well. “This place is a career shop,” Grenier said.
Mantione said he expects Northampton to play a key role in Metrica’s continued success.
“We look to continue to expand across North America, and as we do so we can continue to be a leading luxury outfitter,” Mantione said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
