Going with the grain: Cape Breton man making wooden holders for high

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SYDNEY, N.S. — When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Rob Calabrese and his family to work and learn from home they quickly discovered their home wasn't ideal for hosting video board meetings and history lessons at the same time.

They purchased desks and other equipment that would make it easier to use their smartphones, laptops and tablets but he was disappointed by the quality of those products.

"There was just an avalanche of plastic and black aluminum stuff you can get. It got me thinking about making things for people who are working from home that would last a generation, that are made out of wood," said Calabrese, who lives in Mira Gut with his partner Erika Shea and two children.

"When Erika was working from home, she had to work at the kitchen table — that's the coldest place in our house. The whole thing started as a way for me to make something she could (move) so she could work in the living room. That was my goal."

The result is Norté, a small design business that creates beautifully crafted and functional wooden holders for high-tech devices.

The products include an adjustable wooden phone and tablet stand, a lightweight wave shaped stand that allows people to prop their phone at 70- and 40-degree angles, a pocket-sized keychain phone stand and a desk that can be quickly assembled and taken apart for easy storage.

They are available in Cape Breton ash, as well as cherry and maple from Ontario and Quebec that he sources from Valley Lumber in Margaree and Jamie Dellavalle in Whitney Pier.

"The combination of a hunk of ash from the woods in Cape Breton being made into something used to house an iPhone — I found that kind of interesting," said Calabrese, a former radio personality perhaps best-known for creating the website Cape Breton If Trump Wins and a cidermaker at Island Folk Cider House in Sydney.

"Where the device maybe has two more years left in its life, the thing holding it can be used by your grandkids — that's what I was hoping for."

DUE NORTÉ Norté products are available online at https://nortedesign.co/ as well as these shops:

Calabrese said launching the business wouldn't have been possible without the Nova Scotia Power Makerspace in Sydney.

The 4,000-square-foot space at New Dawn Centre for Social Innovation on Nepean Street in Sydney has dozens of tools and equipment that help local entrepreneurs, students and businesses design and build a wide range of innovative products.

Calabrese said the computer numerical control router — a specialized milling and carving machine that allows him to make accurate and consistent cuts up to a thousandth of an inch in precision — is his go-to tool.

"Maybe a human being can cut that precisely, but not me so that's what I primarily use," he said.

Matt Swan, executive director of the Makerspace, which is now managed by Navigate Startup House, said they’ve helped "dozens and dozens" of people like Calabrese build businesses and their skills.

"We have become Sydney's workshop. Anything you would need a workshop for, we have become that. Whether it's people who are exploring career options, or it's people who are looking for particular training, we’ve seen professional engineers use the space, we’ve seen artists use the space, we’ve seen local businesses use the space for some equipment that they don't have.

"We’ve seen just about every kind of use in the space, so we really have become Sydney's workshop where people go to do whatever they want to make," he said.

"At the end what ties everyone together is the necessity and the love of making, so that's why they come here to do that."

Calabrese said the membership he received as a Christmas present from Shea in 2020 showed him what a valuable resource the Makerspace is. Since starting Norté about a year ago, he's sold his products across Canada and the U.S., as well as Europe and South America. This past Christmas there was so much demand he had to reach out to the woodworking clients at Pathways to Employment for help with sanding.

"The Makerspace was essential — and it still is essential. I just couldn't exist without access to their equipment and their staff is very helpful as well. I certainly see the value of the place as an incubator for businesses like mine, and there are others who are working on things like that every day as well. And part of the value of the Makerspace is not only their tools but the other members who have great ideas."

Chris Connors is a multimedia journalist at the Cape Breton Post.