Friday, December 28, 2012
(Left to right: NPR reporter Elizabeth Blair, Heather Noss, NPR producer Liz Baker)
If you heard a recent interview on NPR with a local wedding invitation designer in DC who got her start on Etsy, it was in fact me, “Rose”, aka Heather Noss! Since I have heard from a lot of friends and clients who heard the story and had other questions, I thought I would expand on the story here!
NPR’s Elizabeth Blair came to the Digby & Rose studio in NW DC recently to talk to me about my experience starting the business, from a the perspective of a seller who successfully grew a business through Etsy. The story focused on Etsy’s growth and how it has changed over the years. Although it’s true that the focus of the site and profile of sellers has changed, when I started my own business at the end of 2008, it was a perfect place for a “micro” business to get a start. (At the time calling it a “small” business would have been too generous!)
I read once that every small business entrepreneur has had a moment of insanity, which strangely enough happens to coincide with the very moment they decide to start the business. My moment came when I decided that October 2008 was the perfect economic climate in which to quit my government job as a Foreign Service Officer at the State Department, become a professional artist and inventor, and start my own handcrafted paper business out of my home. The kitchen table became my workspace, and over time every other available space in my apartment became the home of boxes of envelopes, printers, paper cutters, and stacks of paper. Thankfully I had early encouragement, as within 3 weeks of starting the business I had my first sale, a box of 6 handmade thank you cards.
As a generous boss, I gave myself a lot of opportunities to work on all the sections and departments of the business. I was the head of Accounting, Chief Photographer, VP of Customer Service, IT guru, lead consultant for Special Projects, and of course “the one who makes the stuff”. Once I even scored Employee of the Month! For a long time it was on Etsy alone that my sales grew, and at the same time I was able to grow as an artist and a business owner.
At the beginning of 2010 the limit of operational capacity in my apartment was reached, and I was able to move into a first studio space, which is now one of three studio spaces at the current Digby & Rose retail location in NW Washington, DC. The business naturally moved beyond just selling on Etsy, as referrals from previous clients and a local reputation grew. (Also a worldwide reputation, as I’ve now done invitations for clients as far away as Uganda, Switzerland, and Argentina…and we’re really big in Australia!) By now I think we’ve graduated from “micro” to “small” business!
So I now get to work with customers that are at a particularly happy moment in their life, on a very personal item, their wedding invitations. It’s a chance to be creative and indulge a love of letterpress, where every finished order is like a new present. A big thank you goes out to all of my clients who have put their trust in me to make invitations they love. There was a lot of hard work involved with many of the ups and downs you’ll hear from many small businesses, but getting started was really made much more possible by the ability to sell my first items through Etsy. For all it has changed and all of the criticisms mentioned in the NPR piece, for myself I can only say Thanks Etsy for Helping Me Grow a New Life!
Posted in Washington DC Event Resources, Wedding Resources
Sunday, December 2, 2012
The Christmas holiday season brings with it an amazing combination of tradition, spirituality and consumerism. No other holiday season is embraced by such a diverse cross section of the public and, as a result, controversy surrounding the holiday is bound to make local headlines during the season. Often, the grumbling has to do with how ‘adult’ Christmas has become. Traditionally, Christmas and the entire holiday season has been treated with a kind of childlike wonder. Card companies and retailers would play up the images of the ‘Good Old Days’ and most decorations and themes revolved around a Normal Rockwell kind of Americana. Families gathered around a golden brown turkey, children cuddled on a couch playing with toys, dogs lounging by a fire. But, as society has evolved so, too, has the way we think about these holidays. These views typically poked fun at the traditional scene and instead focused on themes of families fighting over the last drumstick, children wailing because their batteries have worn out already and dogs rifling through the holiday kitchen garbage in the middle of the night.
The Vision vs. The Reality
The truth is that this ability to embrace the holiday season with a ‘warts and all’ attitude can go a long way in making people feel better about their own crazy families. When cards, decorations and the like all focused on the idealized family holiday, it drove some revelers straight over the edge. But the 90s brought with it a relaxation of these ideals, a point driven home every year on the national scale with the popularity of family shows like Married with Children and Roseanne, which featured episodes focused on the family drama and stress associated with the entire holiday season.
The Cards You Might Not Send to Grandma
This relaxed and more open attitude can be seen in a variety of holiday decorations and shows but, by and large, the easiest way to see it is by checking out modern Christmas and Holiday cards. Initially, the market branched out simply to include other religious, spiritual or cultural holidays and, since then, has branched out even further. From Kwanzaa to Festivus, every conceivable holiday is now covered by a selection of greeting cards. On the other end of the spectrum, there are cards featuring rude and crude cartoons, scientific explanations to disprove Santa and, of course, a host of cards which celebrate the FUN in dysfunction.
This progression towards the inclusion of adult themed and more tongue in cheek holiday greetings work not to divide the holidays, but to actually bring them closer together. The winter holiday season appeals to a wide variety of people across social, religious and economic backgrounds. As a result, the things we all use to celebrate the holidays—from home decorations to greeting cards—have expanded to reflect everyone who celebrates the season in their own way. The wide array of new holiday cards also gives people the chance to really customize their own celebration of the holidays. After all, you might not send the South Park Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo card or the Festivus card to your Grandma, but it’ll do nicely for the best friend who sends out a card declaring ‘The Grinch Had it Right the First Time’.
Posted in Washington DC Event Resources
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Holiday greeting cards are often most closely associated with Christmas. While this may have been true in decades of the past, the fact is that now holiday cards come for just about any winter holiday or festival you can think of. With a range of options including both religious and pop-culture influence, there’s a holiday card for absolutely everyone.
The Perfect Holiday Card
There’s no denying a certain religious bent to many different holiday cards. From Hanukkah to Christmas with plenty of room for Kwanzaa, Diwali and other winter holidays. Although Christian and Jewish holidays may be well known, other religions hold end of the year celebrations. In order to reflect each of these holidays we offer a wide selection of card and letterpress designs which play on both the religious and cultural themes associated with them. These days of observance stretch beyond traditional organized religion and also play into cultural and even astronomical occurrences. Winter brings with it the Winter Solstice, which has been celebrated by ancient cultures and is still celebrated by people today.
But in order to remain truly modern and relevant, cards have also grown to encompass pop-culture holidays, including the infamous Festivus. Originally introduced on Seinfeld in 1997, the anti-holiday was adopted almost instantly by Seinfeld fans and has since grown into a worldwide movement. Card makers routinely offer special Festivus cards in spite of the holiday’s tongue in cheek rules regarding the trappings of typical holidays.
Show You Care with the Right Holiday Card
Holidays aside, cards have simply opened themselves up as a way to embrace the feeling of the entire holiday season. The holidays have come to mean more than any one specific day. As the calender begins to come to its end, we all get that urge to stop and move a little slower, to be a little nicer and to, in short, get into the holiday spirit, whatever that means to us personally. The holidays have expanded and evolved to be more inclusive and holiday greeting cards have followed suit. Even for those who simply want to celebrate the season as a whole, holiday cards have it covered. Cards that celebrate the season as whole make it even easier for people to stay in touch and the levity they bring to the season adds a bit of humor, which is welcomed anywhere.
Society has embraced Christmas as more than just a religious holiday. No other holiday enjoys the secular crossover Christmas does and, as a result, the entire holiday season takes on a warm and unifying glow. The end of the year brings out a surge of nostalgia in all of us and it’s natural to want to reach out and make contact with our family and friends. Luckily, holiday cards have evolved and adapted to meet the need while lightening the mood. So, get in the spirit and share your love of Yuletide Christmas Festival Sweater Day on December 22nd and Wren Day on the 26th, in addition to the more traditional holidays. (Insert your grandmother’s voice here…) Would it kill you to send a card?
Posted in Washington DC Event Resources
