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Brooke International
02/04/2008
Change in generational ownership – technological changes – B2B wholesaling activities - all these changes have come together at Brooke International, a small, women-owned company in Hansville by mother and daughter team Paula and Cindy Brooke. They would like to re-introduce themselves to the business community in Kitsap County. This family design/manufacturing business has been successfully operating in North Kitsap for many years. Now they are expanding with new products and services available to businesses and organizations and a logical move for Cindy Brooke as Managing Director of the company to join the Kingston Chamber of Commerce.
Jack Brooke entered the photographic business in the late 1950’s. He was a dance and event photographer in the Seattle area during the period when college & high school sorority and fraternity dances were so popular. Jack developed several photographic equipment lines
and was a forward thinking designer for technologies in the photo (and now photo-imaging) industry.
In August of 2004, Jack Brooke passed away. Daughter Cindy Brooke along with Jack’s widow, Paula, vowed to continue the BROOKE tradition of excellence with “Cutting Edge Solutions by BROOKE” products and unsurpassed customer service which has made them a well respected company in the photo-imaging industry.
In late 2004, the company embarked in a new direction and took on the first of several innovative product lines - the HOPE Jigsaw Puzzle Cutters for producing photo jigsaw puzzles on demand. These roller die cutters are manufactured in South Korea and imported to the U.S. market exclusively by Brooke. “We literally can watch our ships come in via the shipping lanes as our equipment and supplies head toward Seattle.” Just a few of the business types using the puzzle machines include specialty retailers, fund raising, tourism and souvenir businesses, printing industry add-on items including wedding reception gifts, sports items, and so many other value-added possibilities for marketing and promotion using the personalized puzzles as an exciting and FUN way to share memories.
Brooke International received the “Innovative Digital Product Award” in 2006 for the HR-1218 Jigsaw Puzzle Machine from the Digital Imaging Marketing Association (DIMA) at the annual PHOTO MARKETING ASSOCIATION (PMA) conference in Orlando, Florida. More than 75 companies were in competition for an award at this international event which drew over 23,000 attendees.
Brooke International was recently featured in an article in Stroke Magazine (September/October 2007), “Navigating the Memory Maze”, in which the healing power of puzzles for stroke victims is described. “Just a puzzle” has a completely different meaning to someone who has suffered memory loss and cannot remember their loved ones, children, grandchildren or spouses. Puzzles provide a key to unlocking those memories. They also provide a fun, interactive activity for both young and old.
Brooke has also become a service provider for the puzzles on a wholesale basis. Businesses or organizations send photographs to be mounted and cut, to Brooke, or uploads photos to their web-site for online ordering of puzzles.
Other products Brooke International distributes include: 1. Kodak Document and Photo “Shoebox Print” auto feeding scanners. Put a stack of documents or photos on the equipment to automatically feed 30 pages a minute and scan to a digital file. 2. Heritage Makers which is storybook publishing for on-demand supply for hardbound books with photos and stories, greeting cards, calendars, and posters. 3. Crystal Imaging, a unique, specialized system to place a color image on crystal or any hard surface, including plaques, jewelry and pendants.
Brooke International and their staff would like to thank the business community for their warm welcome to our Kitsap Peninsula Business family!
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