Nestled in the heart of Bloomington, Indiana Metal Craft has long been a name associated with excellence in metalsmithing—crafting pewter, brass, and nickel silver into products that are more than just promotional items. They are keepsakes, art, and identity. What truly sets IMC apart is not just their history or quality, but the recognition they’ve earned along the way—especially through PPAI awards that celebrate innovation, artistry, and precise execution.
Winning the Spotlight: PPAI Awards
One measure of IMC’s success is the recognition they’ve repeatedly achieved in the promotional products industry via the PPAI awards. These are not casual “nice jobs” notes—they are competitive, judged by panels for creativity, technical skill, decoration, originality, and market relevance.
These awards testify not only to the beauty and usefulness of IMC’s products but to their innovative ability to combine processes—such as metal casting/striking, fine surface finishing, graphic decoration (printing, oxidation, buffing), and tooling to create products that are both artistic and functional.
Winning these PPAI awards helps IMC in several important ways:
Trust & Credibility: Distributors looking for suppliers know what a PPAI Pyramid or Supplier Achievement award signals: high standards, proven capability. When IMC wins, it’s not just for them—it reflects on the distributor partner too.
Internal Excellence: Awards help maintain focus internally. They set benchmarks for quality, push innovation, and keep IMC’s staff engaged—knowing their work is seen and valued in a national context.
Marketing & Product Development: The recognition provides storylines for new products or collections, and helps IMC experiment with combinations of processes (casting + printed decoration, molding, finishing) that perhaps distributors had not yet considered. It pushes the envelope.
Looking Forward
IMC continues its journey not resting on past laurels but using them as a platform. With each product, they’re exploring how metal can be shaped, decorated, and finished in ways that honor tradition, yet respond to modern promotional trends—brand storytelling, high-definition graphics, customization, and sustainable materials and processes.