Breaking things doesn’t sound like an art, but Chrisma Rusch and her husband Cliff see their rage room as a studio that provides stress relief in a creative setting.
CRusched Smash & Art Studio in Manitowoc is the latest “rage room” to open in Northeast Wisconsin, joining Asylum Rage Room in Green Bay, Breaking Point in Appleton and the RUFF Rage Room in Sheboygan.
“This is new and this is scary,” Chrisma Rusch says of starting the business. “It’s a new concept for everybody.”
Rage rooms offer customers a chance to come into the business and break things — bottles, small electronics, furniture, dishes — using bats, bricks, golf clubs and more. It’s packaged as entertainment, stress relief and sometimes as art. Many of the businesses, including CRusched Smash, also offer splatter rooms where customers can throw or splatter paint or use squirt guns to spray it.
Customers can book times online or by calling and specifying what they would like their experience to be. When they come in they are provided protective gear and ground rules.
CRusched Smash opened in October and, Rusch admits: “It’s been a test of faith for me. But my faith is the strongest part of me.”
She says the decision to open a business was based in part on a desire to spend more time with Cliff and her daughter, Aria. The whole family helps, with Cliff using his building and art skills to remodel the retail space and Aria helping set up and clean up.
CRusched has been able to acquire plenty of items at no cost and accepts donations of items for customers to destroy. Customers can bring in their own small items. The smashed items are recycled as much as possible, and that includes using some of it to create assemblage art.
Rusch says creating art will help round out the business by filling time when people have to wait their turn. They hope to feature local art and already have murals, a “photo booth” and a lounge area contributing to the studio feel. “My husband and I are both passionate about the healing properties of art,” she says.
The business startup has been supported by a Propel Manitowoc Loan, advice from Progress Lakeshore and the owners of RUFF Rage Room.
