the Pebble Spring 2017

and I enjoy every minute of it,” Bruno said.
Bruno’s blend of hard work, passion and
superb craftsmanship has helped him gain
customers from all across the United States.
“I think with his handturned kendamas,
he can really make a difference in [the kendama
market],” said customer Andrew Benincasa,
a freshman at MPH.
Bruno
first became
fascinated with
kendama in
October 2015.
Four months
later, he started
to make the
skill toy. Before
thinking
about starting
a company,
Bruno focused
on making his
kendamas as
high-quality
as possible. It
wasn’t until
his Advanced
Portfolio class
with Teresa
Henderson,
chair of the
visual art and
design department,
that
Bruno began
to seriously
think about
selling them.
Through the
class, Henderson
developed
into a mentor
for him, guiding
him on
many aspects
of his business,
such as branding, photos, packaging and
marketing. Henderson and others who have
given him advice or assistance are why Bruno
sees being an entrepreneur while still in high
school as an advantage.
“Being able to run your own company at a
young age is really cool,” Bruno said. [It’s] an
experience [where] you keep learning things
as you run into problems and have to solve
them.”
While the idea of launching a company
was Bruno’s, his older brother and father both
influenced and inspired him. Bruno’s father
had a passion for woodworking from a young
age, and he shared this passion with Bruno,
who also found
it interesting and
decided to start
woodworking.
However, when it
came to entrepreneurial
endeavors,
Bruno’s
biggest inspiration
was his
brother Simon,
who also had his
own businesses
in high school.
Growing up,
watching his
older brother run
his own businesses
inspired
Bruno to do
something of his
own.
“I just
thought it was
cool how my
brother, since he
was my age, was
doing his own
little businesses
and just pretty
much figuring
stuff out on his
own and learning
through starting
a business,”
Bruno said. “I
While Bruno enjoys making kendamas, he finds playing with them even more always liked that
fun.
and thought it
really fit my learning style to do something
like that.”
When Bruno launched his company and
his kendamas hit the market, all five sold out.
Customers from places such as Los Angeles,
San Diego, New York City and Pennsylvania
all hurried to get their hands on one. To date,
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