Building an Epoxy Business Community Ft. Kevin Patanella

July 19, 2022

Building an Epoxy Business Community Ft. Kevin Patanella

Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Epoxy Business Podcast. Today your hosts, Steve and Jake, sit down with Kevin Patanella, an epoxy artist, ambassador, and friend to Ol Loggin Epoxy.

“Like many, I feel like I got pushed into starting something because of COVID. I was working in masonry as a laborer, and we were put on hold for six months, and that’s before they began to help everyone out.

My father is a framer, so I grew up with tools, but I didn’t really have the attention span to start a house and frame it out, and I wanted to do little projects and knock them out quickly. So, I started with his old tools, a table saw, a circular saw, a belt sander, and an orbital. That’s all I had.”

Kevin Patanella

The Draw of Epoxy

Every person who works with epoxy, whether they focus on river tables, artwork, or anything in between, is drawn to the material for a reason. Sometimes it’s the durability, the inherent creativity, or some other factor that draws a person in. In Kevin’s case, it was a little bit of everything.

“So, I was a chef for a while and was in the kitchen for probably close to 18 years. Executive Chef or Sous Chef for the past five, going between restaurants. I’m not with my daughter’s mother, but I was getting her on weekends, and as anyone that’s ever worked in that business knows, you can’t say, ‘Oh, I want Saturdays and Sundays off.’ So I had to make a choice.

Luckily my father owns his own company, so in between finding what would be next, which I do a lot of times, I’ll work for him for a while. And then you know, go on to the new job.

But having the server drop off a plate that looks like it costs $300, and the people are ecstatic. It’s the same thing when you ship out a new table or a new board or something; just to see the reactions is worth it. But I mean, obviously, I’ve got to make money too.”