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DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I JANUARY 15, 2020 DaWSOflNeWS >COnri DAWSONVULE, GEORGIA $1.00
New on the block
Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
Employees of Hellman-Chang's new Dawsonville manufacturing facility stand in front of the new sign.
Hellman-Chang becomes 500th Chamber member
By Joshua Demarest
jdemarest@dawsonnews.com
The 500th member of the Dawson
County Chamber of Commerce repre
sents a massive milestone for the coun
ty. Not only is it a significant moment
for the Chamber, but the story of
Hellman-Chang is a showcase for the
county’s economic development arm.
Hellman-Chang officially started in
2006, but its history dates well back
before that, when it was merely a pas
time for co-founder Dan Heilman.
“It really started as a passion hobby
in my parent’s garage in suburban
Maryland,” said Heilman. “My friend
Eric Chang — we were friends in high
school and middle school — he would
come over to the garage shop that I
was setting up, and we would tinker
around and make things.”
After college, both Heilman and
Chang found themselves in Brooklyn,
New York looking to pick their hobby
back up. The pair didn’t have the
means to set up a full shop in the most
expensive city in the United States, so
they found a co-op shop where they
could rent space and have access to
professional-grade tools and machines
that they wouldn’t have been able to
afford otherwise.
'That's how we grew our
business. We quit our day
jobs, started getting
orders, and grew our busi
ness from there.'
Dan Heilman
Co-founder, Hellman-Chang
“We started funding that with our
own money from our day jobs just to
fund the hobby and have something to
do on the weekends,” explained
Heilman. “And it was expensive, so
that’s when we talking about ‘hey,
maybe we should start selling this
stuff.’”
Heilman and Chang began to
research the interior design industry
and submitting their designs to award
competitions.
“Interior Design magazine had a
best-of-year award and one of our first
designs — we submitted it on a whim
and that ended up winning,” said
Heilman.
The design, which won the coveted
award in 2006, went on to become one
of Hellman-Chang’s signature pieces
— the Z Pedestal.
The win gave Heilman and Chang
the confidence to begin showing their
designs at major industry fairs and
markets. At their first showing at the
International Contemporary Furniture
Fair the duo landed their first show
room rep, a step that legitimized their
efforts and helped them gain access to
private showrooms across the country
where interior designers buy high-end
furniture for their clients.
“That’s how we grew our business,”
said Heilman. “We quit our day jobs,
started getting orders and grew our
business from there.”
The amount of orders quickly began
to outgrow the space that Hellman-
Chang had.
“Two or three years ago, our physi
cal space increasingly became a con
straint to being able to do what we
needed to do. The type of furniture that
we were building — we were getting
orders for larger and larger dining
tables, which is a big category for us,”
said Heilman.
The company operated two spaces
across Brooklyn from each other,
which proved to be a growing inconve
nience.
Meet the BOC
chairperson
candidates
By Jessica Taylor and Joshua Demarest
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
jdemarest@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County Commission Chairman
Billy Thurmond recently announced his
intentions to run for reelection. He will
face political newcomer Renee Duren in
the May 19 vote. Duren announced her
plans to run for the chairman seat in late
2019.
For both Thurmond and Duren, the race
for the chairman seat will center on critical
community issues like communication
between the county and the citizens,
updating county ordinances and the man
agement of growth seen across the county.
Communication
“When I ran four years ago, I told the
citizens I wanted to improve the commu
nication with them as well as the staff, the
elected officials and all of our community
partners,” Thurmond said.
According to Thurmond, efforts that
have been taken to improve communica
tion with Dawson County residents have
taken shape in the hiring of Faura
Fulcher, a public information specialist in
2019. Since Fulcher was hired Thurmond
says she has helped to spread information
to residents through all available media
including an update to the county website
to be more user-friendly. County meet
ings are also now being filmed and put on
the county’s social media pages for peo
ple to access.
SeeBOC|7A
GDOT announces lane
closures on Hwy. 9,
Dawson Forest Road
From staff reports
The Georgia Department of
Transportation will implement single lane
closures on Dawson Forest Road and
Hwy. 9 South in order to begin the double
roundabout project. The closures will
occur daily from 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
through the end of the month.
Crews will utilize the closures in order
to clear vegetation in preparation for the
upcoming construction. Be advised that
the work will be weather-permitting.
GDOT reminds all drivers to please
slow down and drive alert through the
work zone.
Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
Crews begin work of preparing the
major intersection of Hwy. 9 and
Dawson Forest Road for the installa
tion of a double roundabout.
See Furniture 16A
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9 0 9 9
Inside
Volume 4, Number 68
© 2019, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
3B
Classifieds
8B
Dear Abby
7B
Deaths
2A
Legals
9B
Opinion
9A
Sports
1B
4A 2 back-to-back
fires break out
in Dawson
County
3A Mobile career
coach visits
Dawson
County
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