Former CenturyLink executive Tom Novotney and three partners have launched Revamp Panels LLC, a young Spokane-based company that makes functional metal art and other products. 

The company opened its first showroom earlier this month in a 2,500-square-foot space at 309 W. Second downtown, roughly one month after unveiling its e-commerce web site. 

So far, the company has developed about a dozen product lines, ranging from ceiling panels to wall art to partitions. Those panels currently come in 16 sizes with 44 designs. Novotney says the company has developed the products as an alternative to the custom work that typically is performed in this arena. With set products and sizes, Revamp can reduce manufacturing times, he says. 

“If you go the traditional route, it can be two to three months,” says Novotney, who last December left his position as CenturyLink’s general manager for Eastern Washington and much of Western Washington. “We have ours down to a five- to six-week time frame.”

The company outsources its product fabrication to companies in the Spokane area. Novotney declines to disclose the name of the companies it works with, but he says Revamp plans to continue to outsource that work. 

“The whole concept behind our business plan is lean,” he says. 

In addition to Novotney, partners in the company include Damian Cronkhite, who has worked in the architectural design industry in the Spokane area for about 10 years and handles design and product development for Revamp, and Duncan Jackson, who is currently a college student and handles social media for the company. Novotney says the fourth owner is a silent partner, and he declines to disclose his name.

Cronkhite says much of the sales activity early on has involved wall art for homes in the Spokane area. As of late last month, the only commercial job the company had completed involved a piece that’s hanging at Revel 77 Coffee, at 3223 E. 57th on Spokane’s South Hill. 

However, Cronkhite says the company envisions the trend reversing as it matures, with products for commercial projects expected to far outpace work for private residences. He says he expects the products to be used mostly in large office parks, hotels, and apartment complexes, among other places. 

To that end, Cronkhite says the company is networking with architects, landscape architects, interior designers, commercial property developers, and high-end custom home builders. 

“One reason we think the design community is so favorable for us is that they’re thinking of new ways to use our products for us,” he says. 

One other aspect of the business that could change as the company evolves is its geographic reach. While its early sales have been in the Spokane market, Novotney says, “We’re thinking this product will be more appealing to designers in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.”

In the future, Revamp might consider a showroom in one of the major metropolitan markets, though it has no plans for that yet. 

Revamp’s smallest panels are 12 inches by 18 inches, and they go up in size from there to four feet by eight eight feet. The cost ranges from $150 to $950 per panel, with many projects involving multiple panels. 

Cronkhite says the company makes both steel and aluminum panels. The lighter-weight aluminum products typically are used for interior products, and steel is used outside. 

Products are powder coated and can be painted in one of 13 colors. 

The name “Revamp” stems from work the company did with Spokane-based Design Spike when that firm was designing the panel maker’s Web site. The idea, Cronkhite says, is that “we can revamp your space and give it new life.”

While Novotney says he left CenturyLink around the same time that he started working on Revamp, he had planned to leave the large company before becoming aware of the startup.

“The partners came to me and asked me to take a look at this,” Novotney says. “I said, ‘Yeah, let’s give this a shot.’”