Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Ray.
Hi Greg, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
In 2016 I started making hippo statues because my wife wanted to have something small and unique for our flower beds to represent Hutto and Hippo Nation. The community saw my statue and wanted to purchase it. From there we purchased a few other molds and started Set in Stone Statuary. We bought a few 3D printers and started creating our own unique molds. We currently have roughly 25 hippo designs, which we cast, paint and deliver locally! We have won several local awards for “Best place to purchase concrete hippos” and “Best Hippo Painter”.
We continue to come out with new designs and products, all out of our garage!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the beginning, we had very low orders. Sometimes months with none. As we increased our selection and the launch of our website, we started seeing a steady stream of orders. With no background in this field, there were many challenges in getting the right concrete mix, learning painting techniques, many 3D print failures, learning how to make the molds. All of which I am still learning to this day.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We specialize in custom concrete hippo statues. We are known for bringing the statues to life with unique painting and customization styles. We are proud to be part of hippo nation here in Hutto, which is the only city in the United States that has a Hippo for a mascot.
We are also the only Hippo statue maker that the entire process from design, mold, cast, and paint is done exclusively in Hutto. We offer our customers the option to personalize their hippo painting in many different themes and designs.
We also provide restoration services of concrete statues of all types.
How do you define success?
We define success by our customers’ satisfaction. We have many repeat customers and referrals that come to us time and time again. When our customers see their finished piece and it surpasses their expectations, we know we have succeeded.
Contact Info:
- Email: Setinstonehippos@gmail.com
- Website: setinstonestatuary.com
- Instagram: @setinstonestatuary
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SetInStoneStatuary
