What makes success? There are lots of formulas. Personally, I think it’s hard work, creativity and just little bit of lightning in a bottle. The Painted Press had all of that this past year, and it’s turned what was once a little Etsy business into a fast-growing company with customers nationwide.
When I first met and wrote about the team behind The Painted Press several months ago, they were already well on their way to doing great things. Now, just a year after their humble beginnings selling a few handmade jewelry dishes on Etsy, they have truly taken off.
If you want to know more about the (surprisingly brief) history of The Painted Press, you can check out my original blog here. In a nutshell, the company is owned by founder Natalie Fugere and her fiance Josh Martin, while Natalie’s sister Annie serves as the company’s creative director. They sell gorgeous, hand-sculpted, hand-painted jewelry dishes that can be personalized with names, phrases and other decor. They make great accent pieces on your dresser and even better gifts for friends and loved ones.
The dishes are so pretty and unique that they have caught the eye of many. One major high-end jewelry designer (who is an on-going client and thus shall remain nameless) has used them as personalized party favors for some very famous celebrities and featured the dishes in some online campaigns. The first time around, The Painted Press made over 200 dishes for the client in less than a week. The second time, it was 600.
It was the first time the employees here really saw this could get really, really big, so everyone was super happy,” Natalie said. “We’re playing loud music, we’re just working from early morning to late at night, and we had less than a week to get that order out, but we did and it was amazing.”
The team at The Painted Press are not ones to rest on their laurels, however.
“We’ve talked a lot about being content but not complacent here. We talk about the difference between those two words,” Natalie said. “Content means, ‘I’m happy with where I’m at,’ but complacent means, ‘oh whatever, things have come my way before, they’ll keep coming my way. … You’re going to fail if you’re complacent in what you’re doing. So even when we have big orders. … Do we just wait for something else to come our way or do we learn from that order?”
It is with this in mind that Natalie and Josh are constantly looking for ways to evolve their company. A few weeks ago, they launched The Painted Press Lifestyle, a line of carefully curated stationery and accessories to complement their dishes. This was inspired by the fact that clients were constantly looking for jewelry and cards to go along with the dishes when sending them as gifts.
“The paper products, that was a huge game changer because people asked for birthday cards all the time,” Natalie said. “I cannot tell you how many trips to Target I’ve made to just buy generic birthday cards for people because they’re like, ‘I’m sending it right to the recipient? Can I just include a card?’ ”
So just like a florist writes a note for a bouquet, The Painted Press will hand write a birthday or congratulations card for you if you buy one of their gift and card combos. They will then wrap the gift up free of charge and send it off to its destination. Presto! So easy and meaningful at the same time!
And jewelry isn’t the only thing The Painted Press has started offering. They also have a new line of backpacks that, of course, have their own unique twist. The faux leather bags, which come in brown, black or white, have a gold plate on the front bearing a word of your choice, like “wanderlust” or “adventure.” The bars are stamped by another local company, Pressed Rose Jewelry Co., and then sewn on to the backpacks by Natalie herself.
“We found some great backpacks but we wanted to make them our own,” Natalie said. “Everything we do is so personalized, so that handmade touch on the backpacks really made them next level for us.”
So where can you get these amazing backpacks and everything else I’ve mentioned? You can find it all and more at The Painted Press’s website. Use the code “Joanne10” for ten percent off your entire purchase! Plus, follow The Painted Press on Instagram and Facebook to keep up with their latest and greatest new products! Happy shopping!
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