The Factory Workers is a 1920’s Movie Theater that has been converted into a Woodworking and Metalworking Studio during the week and then transforms into one-of-a-kind Wedding & Event Venue by the weekend! Tom Marchetty, the owner of The Factory Workers Building has a family owned machinery repair business called Marchetty Machinery. Marchetty Machinery had been servicing industrial machinery in factories in the Philadelphia region since the early 1970’s. Slowly one by one these factories started closing up and going out of business due to overseas competition. So one-by-one the factories would call Marchetty Machinery and tell them that were closing up and if they had any use for the machinery they had been servicing for all those years. Marchetty Machinery started buying and selling all those machines. It was bitter sweet.
About The Factory Workers Building
A Part of Historic Collingswood, NJ
Every once and a while Marchetty would keep a machine for himself that he really wanted for his own use. Several years later Marchetty had a stockpile of machinery that he had collected and found this incredible old Movie Theater that was foreclosed on in downtown Collingswood, NJ. He purchased that building in 2010 and created a community makerspace and coworking space with the funds he had saved up and the machinery and equipment he had acquired over the years. When he was deciding on a name for this new business, he decided to call it, THE FACTORY WORKERS. This name was to pay tribute to all the men and woman he had known that lost their factory jobs over all those years.
Today, the Machinery in the building is still used to make beautiful furniture during the week. During the weddings and events, custom tabletops have been fabricated to attach to all the machinery creating some amazing and unique tables and serving stations for the host and guests to enjoy at the events held in building. The building itself has so much soul! From the original plaster architecture, tall ceilings, original oil canvas paintings incorporated with the industrial chic look from the machinery and several large communal dining tables, it is truly something you have never seen before and most see in person to appreciate!
About Owner Tom Marchetty
The man behind The Factory Workers, Tom Marchetty, designs, fabricates, and hand-makes each Heirloom Piece of furniture in Collingswood, New Jersey. The old 1920’s movie theater, which is now home to The Factory Workers, has been converted into a state-of-the-art woodworking and metalworking studio.
Tom Marchetty’s family business, Marchetty Machinery, has been servicing woodworking and metalworking machinery for large businesses, schools and factories in South Jersey and Philadelphia since the 1970’s. Tom Marchetty has a competitive advantage to woodworking due to his extensive knowledge and experiences with fine tuning and repairing those woodworking machines. Tom always says, “You need to listen to the machine, it’ll speak to you!” which means if you are taking too much material off, the machine will scream and you will get poor results. If the machine is whispering to you, it means its happy because it is tuned properly and that you are running the machine the way it should be ran, giving you precision and excellent results.
WEDDING VENUE
& EVENT SPACE
The Factory Workers Building is available for wedding receptions, bridal showers, private events, birthday parties, photoshoots and film locations.
CUSTOM FURNITURE SHOP
During the week, TFW is a fully-functional woodshop. Owner Tom Marchetty uses reclaimed, locally sourced wood to create sustainable tables.
COWORKING SPACE,
OFFICES & STUDIOS
The Factory Workers Building is home to twenty small businesses such as screen printers, graphic designers, musicians, and coffee roasters.