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Sometimes, Aalto said, they even want to take pieces of scrap home with them, "because they find the scrap as interesting as the product."

In addition to creating custom works, Creative Edge also sells readymade products, such as medallions for floors. Aalto estimated 30 percent of the company's business comes from people order­ing products off of its Web site, which is located at www.cec-waterjet.com.

"Residential products have become a more and more impor­tant part of our business," Aalto said.

Creative Edge tries to stay involved in the community. For example, the company arranged for Pekin High School band and choir students to spend several months working folding boxes for sample squares, earning $15,000 to fund a trip to Chicago. The company also helps out schools that want Creative Edge to create their logo someplace like a gymnasium floor, by letting the schools extend their payments instead of paying up front.

And several Creative Edge employees are working on an effort to create plaques for every member of the United States Armed Forces killed since Sept. 11, 2001, for a memorial to be located somewhere in Iowa.

"We love doing the pretty things," Sawyer said, but the pro­jects that give Creative Edge's part­ners the most fulfillment are the memorials — "the things where we memorialize somebody, and we do it in stone." That way, the memory will last longer than anyone alive today.

Sawyer said the heart of Creative Edge is its employees. The compa­ny employs about 40 people — but Sawyer likes to say it employs 40 families, since there are 40 families who do well when Creative Edge does well.

"This is not your typical compa­ny somewhere else where they're in just for the check," said Sawyer.

"It's very unusual for a high-tech, artistic company to be in Iowa," Aalto said, but Fairfield has the work force to make it possible. "It takes every one of us to make this work," said Sawyer. "We have a crew that is phenomenal. I'm extremely proud of our work force."■