Even though he’s a broom maker, Chris Nibbe’s creativity can’t be swept under the rug.

Based in Rochester, Nibbe’s Sweet Corn Brooms makes more than just sweeping tools.

Though Nibbe insists that making brooms is basically “tying grass to the end of a stick,” he’s made brooms that incorporate everything from old curling irons to trombone parts. He’s even been commissioned to make a double broom for a wedding, and his brooms sometimes end up hanging on the wall as art. Although always functional, their complex weaving, unique designs, and beautiful fibers turn Nibbe’s brooms into showpieces.

In 2012, Nibbe had a chance conversation on a bus ride that got him into something of a family trade. The conversation included a mention of broom-making equipment owned by the Days of Yesteryear history show that were sitting idle. Nibbe says he vowed to learn how to use the equipment.

Nibbe grew up with woodworking and broom-making demonstrators in his family. He remembers his great-grandpa demonstrating how to make brooms and an uncle unsuccessfully trying to teach him how to make a broom when he was in high school.

Now, though, Nibbe’s caught the broom-making bug.

Sorghum fiber, or broomcorn, is the material that Nibbe uses most frequently for the sweeping ends of his brooms. He binds this fiber to a handle of some sort. Frequently he uses nylon crochet twine to bind and sew his brooms. The process requires tools like a side cutter to cut the wire or twine used in binding, a hammer to pound in an occasional nail that makes the fibers more compressed, and a stick or cage braced with his feet to anchor the sometimes-colorful twine that wraps the broom fibers.

Nibbe estimates he’s used more than 800 pounds of broomcorn since 2015 and might have made more than a thousand brooms. His brooms have found their way to both the East and West coasts and even places further removed like Puerto Rico and Argentina.

In the past, before factories supplied brooms, Nibbe said that each homestead would make its own brooms, frequently several a year. Farmers might grow broomcorn in the summer and then spend their winters making brooms.

Local artist Susan Waughtal from Squash Blossom Farm says that Nibbe’s brooms “make you want to sweep something.”

She says that for those who might not love doing housework, it helps to have artistic tools.

“Chris’s brooms are beautiful as well as functional,” she says.

“I really love how it usually doesn't take hours and hours to complete one piece,” said Nibbe. “I can quickly explore ideas and complete them.”

Nibbe also enjoys the novelty of being a broom maker since it isn’t a common art form. He can frequently be found vending his wares at art fairs. “I never anticipated (broom making) would take me to the art world,” he says.

Broom making has also taken Nibbe into the music world.

After meeting Aaron Tafoya, a cajon drum-builder and founder of the St Paul-based Empowered Percussion, Nibbe had the idea to try his hand at making percussion brushes for cajon drummers. The brushes are made from courser broomcorn attached to a retooled drum stick so that one side of the brush is perfect for striking the wooden surface of a cajon and the other might be used for a harder metal surface like a cymbal.

The brushes are called TaNi brushes, and they require extra special attention to detail.

“While I already use a digital baker's scale to help create my brooms, I have to be hyper precise making these so they can be sold as weight-matched pairs,” said Nibbe.

Nibbe says he frequently thinks of his great-grandpa while making brooms, and his family say that his great-grandpa would have been pleased with the unexpected directions his broom making has taken him.

“Because I didn't let past failure direct my decision,” said Nibbe, “this crazy brooming thing has led me to some amazing opportunities.”