edesse designs blog

So...

Hello Ladies and Gentleman!

Okay, so, yes...I am phasing out edesse designs, ask patrick, and the blog. Not completely but a lot less than I have in the past. I have received quite a few emails about what this all means so I have compiled them into this mini Q & A:

Q. I really like your STUFF, will you stop making STUFF completely?

A. No. I'm just REALLY cutting down on what I do. I have invested so much time, energy, and money into all of this. I just can't walk away completely. I just need to focus the majority of my energy on new pursuits! I will continue to take wholesale orders on select items and will, from time to time, offer really awesome "limited edition" goodies under the "ask patrick" business name. At this time, I don't know when this will be but check the blog for any new updates! I do think that I will do craft shows from time to time. However, as of now, I have no idea (or time) to figure out actual logistics. Oh...I will be announcing a really cool sale pretty soon as I need to get rid of a lot of inventory....I just need to take pictures!

Q. What about your furniture? Will you continue to make furniture?

A. Absolutely. Furniture is my first passion. Although time (and money) consuming; I love it immensely. I have given myself the goal of making one piece a year until I can do more. Right now, I am currently working on a piece that I hope to have up and ready for sale at the beginning of next year. Hopefully January...but I am writing my thesis this year so...who really knows! Again, please check here for any updates.

Q. Will you still blog?

A. Yes. Although I am in the process of starting another blog that is more relevant to my current research and the ins and outs of all that goes into that beast. I will eventually phase out this blog but I honestly don't know when that will be. However, giving up food inspired bliss will be pretty hard! Everything will be in phases...

Labels...Or Something Like That....

I'm just playing around. I don't know what these are for. These are just "works in progress" mostly inspired by my summer working as a research assistant at The Institute For Human Centered Design. The researcher I worked with was really interested in universally understandable advertisements. So, some of the information I learned while working under him have managed to creep up within the design of these labels..errrr..images.

As you can see, each image represents a different product in my shop complete with all the nuts and bolts that come with them. So far I feel as if I have a solid frame work, but am lacking the design element that creates order and flow throughout. Did that make sense? Kind of like when you have a flow chart with all the boxes but none of the connecting arrows.

I'm thinking I may use them when I get around to redesigning my website, or, I could use them as labels. I'm not sure yet. There is much work to be done with these, but I like what I have so far--little picture menus of my current shop offerings. These images are a bit blurry, purposefully, as these are markups. I'm curious to see where this ends up and how they will actually look.

 

Working...

This has been a surprisingly productive weekend! I'm working on my business logo, my shop banner, and...eventually...my blog banner. My designs are super bold so, I want my image to be really, really, simple. Simple font, simple design. I just uploaded my new shop banner (which is the essence of my new logo). Here's what I have so far...what do you think?

Epic Win For Johnny Cupcakes!

 

Let's see, food-inspired (check), Boston based (check), insanely creative (check), independently owned (check).

I consider Johnny Cupcakes to be a great inspiration. He's only 26 but has built this amazing food themed business from the ground up and was recently named 2008 Best Entrepreneur 25 and Under by Business Week. Now, I have followed Johnny Cupcakes LONG before he became the household name he is today and first caught wind of him when I'd JUST sent off a portfolio of my furniture designs to Urban Outfitters and could not shake this unexplainable uneasy feeling. I'd just started making furniture and had NO copyrights or trademarks on any of my designs. So, I googled "Urban Outfitters steals designs" and Viola, Mr. Cupcakes. I learned that one of his t-shirt designs was ripped by Urban Outfitters. 

I thought I'd been punched in the gut. I hate people who steal. That, along with lying (okay, lying is my number one pet peeve) is THE ultimate deal breaker for me. To see an artist who has worked so hard on his designs only to have it ripped right out from under him from by a HUGE company, made me ill. AND, I just sent my unprotected designs to the VERY same company.

Well, nothing came from Urban Outfitters, they were not interested in my work, but they still had my portfolio and I worried for months that I would one day walk into on of their stores and see a ripoff of one of my designs. It never happened but the whole experience made me grow up real fast.

Note to business owners large and small: Protect Your Designs. Period. No matter how much it costs, do it.

Recently, Johnny Cupakes got wind of a bunch of Syracuse University sorority girls wearing JC fakes, ended up doing a lecture there months later, and decided to pay these girls a surprise visit.

According to Johnny Cupcake's Blog:

"Before taking legal action, I thought I'd pay them a surprise visit. Nearly everyone in the class laughed, yelled, shouted - "I know where those girls live!" and "They're having a giant sorority meeting tonight!" - So I told all of the students that I was going to walk over to their sorority house after my lecture, and get to the bottom of this. Out of the entire class, a TON of die-hard Johnny Cupcakes students anxiously stuck around to march over there with me."

AND HE DID!

"I walked up their stairs and knocked on the door a bunch of times. I was in a good mood, so I told them I'd like an apology. They thought I was pulling out a weapon when I reached for my camera bag. I got many sincere apologies and they offered to cook food for me, as well as raise money for a charity of my choice. I have a list of things they gave to me, that they offered to do to remedy the situation. I told them to never ever wear those t-shirts in public(I might have them send the shirts my way) - and I explained to them that what they did was illegal and looked down upon."

You can get the details from the school's newspaper, The Daily Orange.

Amazingly Sweet.

The New Year!

 

It's so hard to believe that 2008 is almost over. I'm very much looking forward to the new year as I have so many things in store for both my business and personal life--including running the Boston Marathon! I'm currently training and it is so intense but I love the way it makes me feel.

As for the business, I have a lot in store including new products and new advertising campaigns. I'd like to work on getting my products into more stores and I would love to finish up my newest furniture line!

Happy New Year ALL!

Oh, and I will start the New Year off with a giveaway. I'll be giving away some notepads like the one pictured above. Stay tuned for more details!

Why Did Not I Think Of That?

Seriously. What a great idea! Meet the ultra unique business Hearts Challenger, an adult version of the classic ice-cream truck. No, not adult as in XXX adult, but as in life beyond the Bomb Pops and creepy music. I'm talking about Russian ice-cream bars, Japanese treats, white chocolate hearts filled with berry sorbet, gourmet sandwiches, and Marimekko-styled interiors. In other words, my kind of truck.

I'm always in awe of great business plans like this one. They inspire me to no end. Oh, and I can totally see my notebooks up in this truck!

Drafting proposal in 3......2......1.....!

Okay, I actually did send an email to the owner! We shall see!

Etsy Features I Really Like

I spend waaay too much time on etsy. In between managing my shop or discovering other etsy sellers, I can still find time to blow through precious time discovering the odds and ends of etsy. My two favorite features du jour?

1. Showcase:

I recently participated in a showcase. I LOVED the experience! You can't beat the price point!

2. Storque

Especially the Quit Your Day Job feature! The woman above was really inspiring (and she makes yummy soaps that I plan to order for my stocking stuffers this year). Her shop: RIGHT HERE .

Poppytalk Handmade?

I just wrapped up my month on Poppytalk Handmade and I have to be honest with you--I'm still scratching my head at the whole experience as I am not quite sure if it was really worth the 60 bucks I shelled out for a table.  Now, I can't 100% say that "It was not worth it" as there are so many other variables that need to be taken into account such as: Where my photos sub par? Where my prices reasonable? Where my descriptions descriptive? Where the items I chose to display an eye-catching selection that drew people to my table?

I would be a fool to say that everything was on point on my end so I really need to sit down and answer the above questions truthfully and try my best to remedy anything that will work against me when I decide to do something like this again.

However, there are MAJOR questions that I do have about the Poppytalk Handmade Venue and I will try to answer them here.

1. Was the Poppytalk Handmade audience my audience?
I don't think so. When the markets first went up, I spent a large amount of time browsing other shops. I noticed immediately that my shop was so different from the other shops. Being unique has its advantages. It also has its disadvantages and I think the uniqueness of my shop was a disadvantage. I should have spent more time getting to know and understand the ambiance of Poppytalk because surely I would have noticed that they just don't feature stuff like mine on their blog. The tone of Poppytalk is very soft and unobtrusive. My items are bold and exaggerated. Two things I noticed:

--The least "obtrusive" item in my shop was chosen as the thumbnail image of my shop.

--In all of the newsletters and banners sent out or used to advertise the tables, my store was never shown.

2. Does Poppytalk Handmade have too many tables?

Yes, I think so. Hey, I understand that business is business so I totally understand the need to put as many tables up as possible. But, it comes at a cost to the participants and to me, this was a turnoff. There were many AMAZING shops but I had the patience to go through all of them.  I wonder how many people did not.  Yes, they rotate the thumbnails but I would like to see statistics showing how equal the exposure is for all shops.

3. Is Poppytalk Handmade an organized market?

No. I think that this is where the MAJOR problems of the market are. All of the shops are clumped together in a mass of confusion. What shop sells what? Who sells note cards? Who sells journals? With as many shops as they showcase, some sort of category system needs to be implemented. Otherwise, it is a bit overwhelming. I really like what Jen does with her Indie Fixx Galleria. Her set-up is amazing and I wish Poppytalk Handmade followed her lead in terms of site design.

In summary, I do not think that I will participate in another Poppytalk Handmade gallery.  The key reason is that I just don't think that my work fits into their aesthetic and I don't feel as if their audience is my audience. In the future, I will look for advertising on sites that are more in line with my target audience.   So, if you are thinking of spending money on advertising, don't do it blindly. Make sure that you do your research. Some key questions:

1. Does this blog/magazine share my aesthetic?

2. Would this blog/magazine feature my work if I was not paying for advertising?

What I learned from studying cupcakes

Back in 2006, I wanted to see if I could sell some of my furniture designs to Urban Outfitters. At that time, I had no idea how to go about doing this so I did a simple google search

“send designs to Urban Outfitters”

unwaware that I had just opened up a major can of worms. As it turned out, many small designers and business owners such as myself have been burned by Urban Outfitters. They would send their designs to Urban Outfitters, be rejected, and look up a few months later to their designs sitting on their shelves.

Wow.

 

But that is not the point of this post.  I will say this though, it is so important to make sure you protect your ideas and designs. Yes, it can cost a pretty penny but it does give you a legal leg to stand on. My advice—purchase copyrights, trademarks, and patents when needed and write the cost off as an essential business expense. As I say, if you are going to do it, do it right otherwise, those tiny exposed seems will unravel quicker than you can cry out for help.

The Urban Outfitters rip-off story that stuck out to me the most was the one of Johnny Cupcakes and his T-shirts. Since reading about Johnny Cupcakes, I’ve become less bothered by the whole Urban Outfitters scenario as he has been able to take a horrible and make it into something quite wonderful. It goes without saying that I am quite taken with his business plan.

His whole business plan offers up much food for thought (bear with me, food for thought is one of my most favorite phrases). To me, he is everything I want my business to be and to not be.

I’ve composed a list of adjectives based on this:

What I want my business to be: quirky, fun, energetic, eye-catching, durable, cost effective, handmade, independent, exciting, fresh, solid, uniform, profitable, identifiable, inspirational

What I DON’T want my business to be: gimmicky, cultish, age dependent, selective

Gray Area: seductive, uniform, too large, too familiar

What has surprised me is that many of the things I don’t want my business to be has made Johnny Cupcakes a quite successful man. One thing is, even though I don’t see myself wearing any of his designs, I check his website regularly and count him as one of my sources of inspiration. His products and product line are solid—to me, that is the most important aspect of ANY business and despite the fact that he has become really famous, he is still independently owned.

It’s the marketing that gets me. The million dollar question is, how can you put yourself out there without sacrificing what you don’t to happen?