# 283: From Craft to Manufacturing: How Crafted Glory’s Kwadwo Som-Pimpong Is Scaling a Furniture Business While Working the Night Shift

- Show: [Manufacturing Happy Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour)
- Published: 2026-04-14
- Length: 47m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling
- Listen: http://manufacturinghappyhour.com

## Summary

Kwadwo Som-Pimpong, founder of Crafted Glory, explains how he scales a luxury furniture business while working 10-hour shifts as a fabrication supervisor at Eaton. He details three strategies for managing limited shop time: using a clipboard for time tracking to inform pricing, leveraging Claude AI for end-of-day reflection, and strategic networking that turned a single Instagram photo into multiple interior design projects. Som-Pimpong also discusses the Echoes of the Forest project, creating furniture from trees uprooted by Hurricane Helene, and applying industrial manufacturing principles like 5S and standard operations learned from Hellman Chang's to his craft practice.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=0) Introduction: Show notes and Golden State Takeover tour
- [3:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=219) Crafted Glory's aesthetic: Blending Ghanaian heritage with Scandinavian design
- [9:42](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=582) Origin story: Building furniture out of necessity in 2015
- [11:57](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=717) Engineering background: Dual degrees from Carnegie Mellon and mindset
- [16:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=1003) Advice from How I Built This: RJ Scringe and Guy Raz on scaling
- [24:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=1476) Learning from Hellman Chang: Component part numbers and 5S
- [30:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=1804) Applying Eaton experience: Leadership, method sheets, and time studies
- [33:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=2006) Managing constraints: Clipboard, Claude AI, and networking strategies
- [40:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling#t=2410) Echoes of the Forest: Furniture from Hurricane Helene fallen trees

## Topics

- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Crafted Glory (company)
- Eaton (company)
- Rivian (company)
- How I Built This (other)
- Claude (tool)
- Etsy (other)
- Biscuit Head (other)
- Carnegie Mellon (other)
- Echosophorus (other)
- Biltmore Forest Town Hall (other)
- YMI Cultural Center (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Episode 274: Fold time back on itself](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2020-08-28-episode-274-fold-time-back-on-itself) (Making It)
- [STL277: When good enough is good enough](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/shop-talk-live/2022-10-21-stl277-when-good-enough-is-good-enough) (Shop Talk Live)
- [Episode 326: You can always sell a drumset…](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2021-10-22-episode-326-you-can-always-sell-a-drumset) (Making It)
- [Making It #016: Perfect vs profit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2015-04-10-making-it-016-perfect-vs-profit) (Making It)
- [Episode 269: Everything is an opportunity, to make a keychain.](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/making-it/2020-07-24-episode-269-everything-is-an-opportunity-to-make-a-keychain) (Making It)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2026-04-14-283-from-craft-to-manufacturing-how-crafted-glorys-kwadwo-som-pimpong-is-scaling. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Manufacturing Happy Hour.