BUSINESS PROFILES
BY KEIKO OHNUMA
Ideas Are the Stock at Ideum
Ideum founder Jim Spadaccini works on one of the company’s multi-touch tables, a computerized, interactive display designed for museums.
Creativity itself is the product line at Ideum, a small company that designs state-of-theart exhibitions. Museum directors hire Jim Spadaccini and his team of eight imaginative geeks to give visitors a singular experience, whether it’s with spherical computer displays, instant video-editing applications, or online multiplayer games. “Good exhibits spark interest. They don’t teach, but inspire,” says Spadaccini. He saw how technology could be used to grab that interest. After four years creating interactive displays for the award-winning Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco, he founded Ideum. Ideum is constantly pushing to the edge of technology, so it is continually changing its product line, often in tandem with challenges presented by clients. Currently, Ideum’s cutting edge is the multi-touch table, an interactive display that allows up to eight users to manipulate on-screen information, as on an iPhone. Ideum’s clients include the Adventure Science Center in Nashville, the California Science Center in Los Angeles, the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology in Albuquerque, the National Park Service, and dozens of repeat customers. Thanks to the success of its unique product line, the company plans to double its space soon to meet demand. That gives Spadaccini the luxury of picking and choosing his projects. He won’t work for companies that aren’t socially responsible, or on projects with purely commercial aims. “It’s never been about growth per se,” he says, “but rather about compelling exhibits, pushing the techno envelope, and having the freedom to experiment.” “It has to be fun,” he says, “or why bother?” 4895½ Corrales Road, Corrales, N.M., 505-792-1110, ideum.com
As a beer lover and “researcher” at countless bars and eateries, Nico Ortiz had sense enough to know what he didn’t know. “I wasn’t smart enough to fail,” Ortiz quips, meaning he had “a mind-set of doing it only one way.” People open restaurants because they think they make a great enchilada, he explains, while the real challenge of owning a restaurant is business. So, when Ortiz set out to open a Cheers-style gathering spot, he focused on building a team of experts: a chef, a manager (now his wife), and a university-trained brewmaster who is still winning awards. Ortiz named his pub Turtle Mountain Brewing Company in honor of his late father, renowned anthropologist Alfonso Ortiz, whose Ohkay Owingeh name means “turtle mountain.” The best decision he made, though, was situating the pub across from the famed Sandia Peak in the fast-growing community of Rio Rancho. Brewmaster Mark Matheson initially thought the venture was crazy—even though he lived in Rio Rancho himself, among thousands of other educated, upper-middle-income technical workers with no place to party but Chili’s and Applebee’s. Still, Ortiz spent the first two years enduring “the fear of death,” as many lunch shifts failed to attract a single diner. But eventually word of mouth spread, and by 2003, Turtle Mountain Brewing was cranking, with crowds waiting 45 minutes to get one of the 76 seats. Ortiz quickly bought a bigger property up the street, adding a full kitchen, air-conditioning, TVs, and a larger brewing operation. It had been part of his savvy to buy rather than lease, so his overhead stays low and he has the real estate investment to fall back on. Turtle Mountain has attained the coveted status of a local institution, serving the same crowd week after week—a hard-earned reward in a restaurant-closing recession. Ortiz says gratefully of Rio Rancho’s Cheers crowd, “It’s the last thing they’ll give up.” 905 36th Place, Rio Rancho, N.M., 505-994-9497, turtlemountainbrewing.com
116 Trend » Fall 2009/Winter 2010 trendmagazineglobal.com
Inspired by the show Cheers, Nico Ortiz founded the Turtle Mountain Brewing Company in Rio Rancho. Not only is the brewpub a hit for the locals; it also brews award-winning beer.
JONATHAN TERCERO (2)
Fresh Brew in Rio Rancho