EDWARDSBURG — A small office on Cass Street in Edwardsburg was nearly overflowing Saturday afternoon as community members shared light appetizers and drinks as they reminisced over stories from the past three decades.

“It’s a big day,” said business president Tony Leininger as he stepped away from the celebration, leaving a laughing group behind him. “It’s one of those days you kind of wonder how you got so far.”

Saturday, architecture design group Carmi Design Group Inc. celebrated 30 years of business with an open house. Over its tenure, Carmi Design Group, which relocated to Edwardsburg from Three Rivers and South Bend in 2001, has worked on several recognizable projects in the Michiana region, including the Berrien Springs Virtual Academy, the South Bend Country Club and a building for the South Bend Medical Foundation.

“We are very fortunate to have made it to this point,” Leininger, who lived in Edwardsburg for most of his life before a recent move to Dowagiac, said. “It’s a wonderful feeling. When you start a business as I did, as many do, with a wish and a prayer, it’s very humbling to make it this long.”

When Leininger started Carmi Design Group, named after his grandfather, 30 years ago, he had one goal: to be able to promise every client that he was personally going to be involved in their project. Despite the challenges that come with growing larger and taking on more projects, Leininger said for the past 30 years, he has been able to keep his promise. He believes it was this personal and family-focused approach of his business — in addition to his passion for his work — that allowed Carmi to thrive for so many years.

“I like to be able to live in and point to something I’ve created,” he said, describing why he chose to open his own design business. “It’s a very fulfilling profession. That is what drives me most days.”

So far, Leininger does not know what the next 30 years of Carmi Design Group will look like or what will happen when he ready to hang up his gear and retire. Until then, he said he is happy to celebrate 30 years surrounded by a community that supports him.

Saturday, as he looked around at the group that gathered to honor his family business, he said he would change little about the course of his business as it led him to a community of clients he has today.

“It’s very emotional to have this kind of support,” Leininger said. “This means everything. After all, our whole business is about people. Over the years, there have been new systems and computers, but at the end of the day, it is people working with people.”