Forging a New Path As An Entrepreneur

Some artists paint with watercolors. Some sculpt with clay. Others make prints with linoleum blocks.

Then there’s Marcus Frem, Class of 2026. He cranks up 200-300 amps of raw electricity to produce molten metal at a blistering temperature of about 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, which he then uses to create sculptures of carbon steel.

“It’s very cool when you’re welding and you see the metal melting,” says Frem. “Then you lift up your welding mask and see what it’s solidified as, and you think, ‘Yeah, I made that!’”

Frem learned how to weld as a student at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and decided that being a metal sculptor is what he wanted to do for his career. But he also realized that he needed to understand how a business works—which is why he came to the Sawyer Business School and majored in entrepreneurship as an honors student.

“I had to figure out what I could take from the classes in terms of the intangibles, like how to write a business plan or where to start the business,” Frem explains. “I even took a real estate class to learn what type of zoning I might need when I open my own space.”

Because there are no welding facilities in downtown Boston, Frem kept his hand in working commercial jobs during the summers. And he kept building the business: In the fall of 2025, he entered an Intellectual Property Pitch Competition sponsored by the University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. Not only did he win first place, he also garnered the audience choice award.

“Marcus blends critical thinking, analytics skills, and creativity in a way that has real impact and is beautiful to behold,” says Professor Shari Worthington, associate director of the Center for Entrepreneurship. “This was on full display at the pitch competition, where he engaged with attendees and judges on all levels.”

Frem thinks part of the reason he won the audience choice prize is that he brought several of his sculptures to the competition’s tabling event, which meant people could pick up the works and interact with them.

“Every person I talked to kept saying, ‘This is awesome. Where can I get this? Are you selling this right now?’” laughs Frem. (Sadly, none of his pieces are currently for sale; he is building up his inventory as he prepares to launch the retail side of the business.)

Frem credits the pitch competition with helping him nail down more details about his venture, from simple things like creating a name and crafting a logo to more complex tasks like starting a business plan. And now that he’s graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration later this month, he’ll be able to use his business degree—and prize money from the competition—to get Frem Metalworks officially up and running and begin his new story arc as a professional artist.

See more of Frem's sculptures: