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December 19, 2023 | Brooklyn Eagle Staff
INDUSTRY CITY — A Brooklyn-based solar-powered fabric designer and manufacturer is following a proven Industry City model of training and hiring from neighboring Brooklyn communities. The company, Pvilion, was founded by Park Slope native Colin Touhey, and recently hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate their expansion and grand opening of a new headquarters.
Demonstrating their new technology and introducing an expansion of employees through BlocPower and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Pvilion held a press conference Wednesday, Dec. 13, in their new headquarters overlooking New York Harbor.
Showing off their new 13,500-square-foot office and manufacturing space in Industry City’s Building 8 marks a huge milestone for the small business. It also celebrates its recent partnership with BlocPower to provide valuable clean energy job training within low-income communities and communities of color to develop the skills needed to build a clean energy future.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate this huge milestone with so many members of the community! The new headquarters will provide enough space to significantly increase our local manufacturing for commercial and defense products. We have already hired more employees to help with production in this new manufacturing space, and we hope to continue to expand and create more jobs in the clean energy space within New York City,” said Colin Touhey, CEO and co-founder of Pvilion.
Through their partnership with BlocPower’s Civilian Climate Corps program, Pvilion will continue to provide green job training in their new space. Additionally, this recent growth has led to the hiring of new full-time employees from BlocPower’s training program to help manufacture clean energy projects.
This grand opening celebrates the small business’s growth, expanding upon 10 years of manufacturing clean energy products in Brooklyn for customers from New York City to Ukraine, Guam, California and Asia. Among their clients are U.S. government projects and major rock bands, whose lights and equipment normally require diesel-fueled generators at the scene of the concert. Now, their solar collecting equipment enables rock bands to be more ‘green’ in major public spaces, like parks.
Following the ceremony, Pvilion held an open house and technology demo and exhibit for guests to tour within the new space. Guests were able to tour a variety of Pvilion’s solar-powered fabric products, battery systems and production processes. The exhibit included opportunities to walk through solar-powered tents and learn more about the social, economic, and carbon impact of each project within New York City.
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