In 1997, my father-in-law Andy started making trophies in his garage. It was supposed to be a retirement project — something to keep him busy. A few years in, it wasn't a project anymore. It was a business.
In the busy seasons, the whole family pitched in. Kids, nephews, in-laws — all elbow-deep in resin and brass plates, assembling trophies late into the evening and sharing pizza when the last one was boxed up. That's how the shop ran. That's also how I learned the craft: building trophies, cutting nameplates, sitting down with customers.
In 2005, Andy's health took a turn, and I took over the shop to give him room to heal. He checked in from time to time, and I kept him in the loop on what was happening. Andy passed in 2017, but by then I'd been running the business for more than a decade — and I wasn't about to stop.
Twenty-one years later, Big Andy's is still a family-run shop in a garage in Carson, California. A lot has changed — the technology, the product lines, the level of customization we can pull off. The people haven't. We still have customers who've been with us since 1998, coming back year after year.
If you're new here, welcome. If you've been with us since the beginning: thank you. We're not going anywhere. Let's build yours.
— Brian, Owner