Gropen was founded in 1982 as a design, print and production company by Neal H. Gropen. In the last 15 years, our emphasis has shifted to the design and production of museum exhibits, custom donor recognition systems and architectural signage. Gropen has diversified in equipment, practices, and personnel to allow the development of a more refined end product. From the nuances of color selection and materials specification to the complexities of sign programming and sealed vitrines, Gropen possesses the depth and breadth of experience required for fine design and fabrication. Our most distinct characteristic, however, is the supportive relationship we develop with our clients. Gropen’s aim is to produce thoughtful, pragmatic designs with beautiful, functional, and cost-effective results. We rely on our years of experience, controlled in-house fabrication, and affable personalities to provide our clients with the absolute best in customer service.

Services: Consultation - Whether you are an board member, curator, architect or engineer, Gropen specializes in finding solutions to bring your vision into reality. Expect help with design direction, implementation, purchasing with consensus and the specification of materials to maximize durability and minimize cost. Site visits, along with code, aesthetics and needs assessments are standard. Specific areas of expertise include new construction, adaptive reuse and both traditional & sacred spaces. Decades of experience are available to aid the decision making process.

Design - Gropen’s in-house design team is experienced in both graphic and industrial design. With fabrication taking place in the same facility, our designers are granted a more holistic perspective regarding their projects. This expertise translates into clean, effective and most importantly beautiful finished works.

In addition to standard print design – including branding, business cards, posters etc. – Gropen is capable of utilizing the latest in computer technology to draft and specify complex architectural signage and exhibits. Scaled photocompositions and prototypes are typical of larger projects. Professional photography is available upon request.

Fabrication - Production abilities include routine and custom fabrication of aluminum, wood, acrylic, stone, composites and various composite panels. Tempered glass, specialty adhesives, custom hardware are used regularly. We are experienced with TIG welding, CNC routing, sand blasting, hand carving, screen-printing and engraving. Large-format high-resolution printers produce photo quality prints on a wide variety of substrates. The media may be fabric, banner, canvas, highly formable, rigid, transparent, or adhesive backed. Our downdraft spray-booth is 25 feet in length and is used with low-VOC acrylic polyurethane paints. Color matching is done to virtually all specifications imaginable. Finished coatings have exceptional exterior life. Edge polishing and profiling is performed here. Forklift, warehousing and freight handling is available.