Life as a Professional Pumpkin Carver

Marc Evan and Chris Soria have been best friends since 6th grade. They bonded over horror movies, once designed a haunted house at their school, and went to art school together. They worked their way through school at restaurants and bars, where they had opportunity to carve pumpkins and put their design skills to work. Over time, they became really good at it.

Around Halloween of 2007, Marc and Chris began taking photos of their pumpkins and posting them to a Flickr account. Fortuitously, an editor at Wired Magazine came across one of the images and published a short write-up on them.

The results of this tiny feature could not have been forecasted: almost immediately, Marc and Chris were flooded with inquiries and orders -- including a massive request from the New York Yankees. Marc recalls:

    “It was right around the World Series, and Yankee Stadium called us to make fifty pumpkins for their skybox seats, each with this intricate logo design. At that point, we figured it was probably time to start a business.”

With little experience in the business world, the two artists charged the Yankees $50 per pumpkin, and ended up taking a loss on the deal.

That first professional experience was the beginning of what became Maniac Pumpkin Carvers. Marc and Chris now employ several other carvers and work 18 hours a day during the eight-week pumpkin season. One of their works will run you between $150 to $700 or even more, depending on the job. Read about their business, their technique, and their tips for making your carved pumpkin last, at Pricenomics.