The Town of Wake Forest boasts a diverse collection of businesses and industries. In work hubs across the community, creative innovators can be found paving new paths in their respective fields.
Peter Ruocchio of Ruocchio Designs, Inc. is one such leader. Wake Forest is home to Ruocchio’s sprawling workshop where he and his team design and craft a wide array of commercial art. From corporate interiors to intricate sculptures, Ruocchio has earned a reputation for quality design and seemingly limitless versatility. Clients across the country seek Ruocchio’s designs, and big or small, each project emerges from his impressive workshop right here in Wake Forest.
In 1995, while studying industrial design at NC State, Ruocchio began painting murals at night as a side business. Patiently building his business client by client, he saw that his lucrative efforts had the makings for a promising full-time endeavor. So, in 1997, Ruocchio took the plunge with $200 and a small storage facility as a makeshift workshop. Ruocchio’s entrepreneurial spirit and lean business practices helped him to quickly secure work and turn a profit.
Ruocchio Designs found its first client in an unlikely, and downright ironic, source: a dentist who left his practice to open a candy shop. Ruocchio designed and sculpted a mascot for the candy shop -- a small and colorful creature which now greets visitors of the Ruocchio Designs workshop.
The Ruocchio Designs workshop, an impressive 12,000 SF brick building located in Wake Forest’s South Forest Industrial Park, is outfitted with state-of-the-art tools and equipment. The sophistication of the Ruocchio Designs workshop allows the versatile team to tackle any project that a client presents. Ruocchio and his team are skilled in nearly every medium imaginable. From wood to stone, from metals to plastics, and from fiberglass to high-density foams, no material is a stranger to the Ruocchio workshop.
Ruocchio’s most impressive work is certainly his sculptures. Ruocchio explains that his process begins by meticulously hand-sculpting styrofoam. After the model has taken shape, the team then covers the sculpture in fiberglass, and he “sands and bonds until [he] just can’t sand and bond anymore.” The studio’s sculptures range from whimsical characters to realistic models. His favorite project, completed for the Greensboro Science Center, required him and his team to carefully craft life-like dinosaurs to scale.
Ruocchio professes that he pursued commercial design because he loves art that appeals to everyone. After all, who wouldn’t love a gigantic, purple, drumming octopus? It is the eagerness to please that truly drives the success of this innovative company. From designing excellent products to delivering matchless customer service, Ruocchio’s sole aim is to please. As an entrepreneur, Ruocchio believes that the secret to success lies in one’s ability to so thoroughly satisfy a client that they feel indebted. This feeling almost always translates into word-of-mouth advertising. In fact, Ruocchio confesses that he spends very little on marketing because his clients do the marketing for him.
Technology, both within and without the field of design, has advanced dramatically over the history of Ruocchio Designs. Ruocchio has proven himself uniquely adept, staying ahead of the curve with 3D-modeling and digital rendering. Nonetheless, Ruocchio insists that commercial design will remain a durable industry, citing the value of “human touch” in design. After all, it is Ruocchio’s decidedly “human touch” that earned him business from larger clients like Golden Corral and RDU International Airport.
Although Ruocchio launched his business in Raleigh, the company has called Wake Forest home since 2006. Ruocchio explains that Wake Forest was an obvious choice for relocation because the Town offers available and affordable commercial space large enough to accommodate his workshop. “When I was growing up, Raleigh was quiet,” said Ruocchio, “and when I launched my business, I decided to stay here and grow with the Triangle.” As both Ruocchio Designs and the Triangle grew substantially, Ruocchio determined that the Triangle’s most alluring growth is found in Wake Forest. Ruocchio continued, “I knew I couldn’t find two acres of available property in Raleigh, but that kind of land is accessible in Wake Forest. When I first came here to visit, it felt like we were going to the end of the world. Of course, now the world is here.”
Ruocchio has watched Wake Forest grow around his workshop. When he bought the land in 2003, a gravel road led to the property. Today, Ruocchio is surrounded by a thriving business park and is positioned adjacent to the up-and-coming, 74-acre Merritt Capital Business Park slated to open this fall. Wake Forest’s phenomenal and ever-increasing growth offers a distinct advantage to entrepreneurs who stand to gain from the community’s appreciating property values in addition to its flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem.
According to Ruocchio, Wake Forest possesses invaluable qualities that help to account for its staggering growth. Wake Forest is perfectly positioned in the Triangle with easy access to neighboring city centers, the Research Triangle Park, and numerous universities. Wake Forest, in Ruocchio’s experience, also consistently demonstrates its pro-business posture. The Town’s support has empowered Ruocchio to make confident decisions in the best interest of his company.
“It’s fun and exciting to be part of something that is growing,” said Ruocchio. While the Town has seen a 253% population increase over the past 20 years, projections show that the Town’s growth is yet in its early stages. Entrepreneurs who launch in or relocate to Wake Forest have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the Town’s tremendous growth prospects.
Ruocchio expressed his relief that Wake Forest’s growth is not coming at the cost of its small-town charm. “At Wake Forest’s growth scale,” said Ruocchio, “it is rare to see a town maintain its charm so well.” Wake Forest has and will remain the “beautiful, quiet town” that first captured his attention. Moreover, Wake Forest’s enduring small-town spirit is preserved in the close-knit business community. Ruocchio takes pleasure in contributing to a business environment that values personal relationships and provides neighborly support.
So, what is next for Peter Ruocchio and Ruocchio Designs? Ruocchio shared that he is motivated both by passion for his work and the joy of doing something new each day. Disney sits atop Ruocchio’s bucket list of clients. Judging by the quality, scale, and diversity of Ruocchio’s work, the opportunity is well-deserved for Wake Forest’s resident jack-of-all-trades.
The diverse business community in Wake Forest helps to set the Town apart as a hub for creative and entrepreneurial minds. In a town so rich with industry leaders, you never know what kind of innovation might be happening across the Town. One thing is certain: innovation is never far away. Peter Ruocchio is one of countless innovators whose exciting work enlivens the Wake Forest economy and fills the Town with unique stories. With new innovators moving to Wake Forest each day, there is little doubt that both new opportunities and this collection of stories will continue to grow.
