Recap: 11/12/2014

The November meeting was hosted by Carly Cannell of weetu at her live/work space in the West Loop. Carly invited her friend and colleague Linnea Gits of uusi to share her work with the group. Linnea gave us a look into the work her studio creates, including her experiences from the early days of Kickstarter (2012), when her and her husband first launched a campaign, and through several successful campaigns. She talked candidly about working with retailers vs. direct with customers, and the real work that goes into seeing a project through to completion. She shared examples of her decks of cards reproduced from hand created illustrations, and objects made from reclaimed Chicago water towers.

• Discoveries about playing cards
  • break boundaries: age, gender, language
  • can be approached as object of design
  • magicians were the first community they connected with and they had unique needs/ desires in cards

• Notes on Kickstarter
  • Backers tend to want to develop the product with you
  • None of the feedback can be dismissed
  • Constant customer service
  • Teaches you everything you need to know about running a small business because you wear every hat: design, fulfillment, customer service, business plan
  • Directly connects you to customers
  • “Pushes down gatekeepers that say no”, meaning, typical barriers or hurdles are gone; more opportunities present themselves
  • Has potential to track sales numbers, measure monetary gains

• Uusi journey
  • Didn’t want to be limited to being a ‘playing card company’
  • They have moved beyond cards into object design and creating; some connected to card playing
  • New doors have opened and new connections have been made through card business success
  • Exciting collaborations are on the horizon

Resources & Links:

Uusi

Kickstarter