Sometimes inspiration for a venture can come from someone else’s work. That’s what happened when Shawn Hull was shopping with a friend and came across some custom made dinnerware that had simple drawings on it. “I loved the idea of hand drawings transferred onto porcelain.” Shawn had always been artistic, working in the theatre as an actor and director and helping with community outreach. But drawing and creating a product seems like a great avenue to pursue and something she could involve her husband in as well.
“I started by doing a ton of research to find out how to transfer a drawing onto china.” From there Shawn thought of the idea to create a line that celebrates the milestones in a family’s like – like weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and births. Her first creation was a Bridal Bouquet plate that she made for her brother-in-law who was getting married. “He loved it and it gave me the validation I needed to move forward.”
Shawn created designs to sell and placed them on plates, patters and cups. In addition to the Bridal Bouquet, she drew what she calls Apple Tree Fine, Apple Tree Folk, Tree of Life and Sweethearts. With very little investment, Shawn placed her new designs on the crafty web site Etsy. This allowed her to manage a store front without having to create one. (something she can also do in the VentureMom Shop) Her designs started to sell and then something big happened.
“A reporter from the New York Times was doing a story on interesting custom gifts for new couples and found our things on Etsy. We were featured in the wedding section and this created a big buzz and lots of orders.” Shawn was able to deliver everything within her normal time of 2 – 4 weeks. “In the beginning, we used a friend’s kiln to fire all our work, but as our business developed, we invested in our own kiln.”
For marketing, Shawn’s first efforts were at a crafts fair, “This wasn’t really the right venue as people like to leave with something and our designs are customized. Shoppers often wouldn’t have all the details of the event or the correct spelling of things they wanted on the gift.” So we realized we needed a web site. Shawn’s husband is the techy one of the family, so he built an ecommerce site for them to showcase their newly named company – Happiest Days Designs – their name focusing on what they sell, things for people’s happiest days.
One of their best sellers is the Story of Us Hearts which is a larger bowl in the shape of a heart and smaller hearts placed inside. The smaller hearts have special events in the couple’s lives written on the hearts and added to the bowl over time. “Many of our customers are repeat customers who shop for other friends or for more events in their own lives.”
Shawn loves the creative side of her venture. “It’s an incredible amount of work, weekends and nights after my girls (ages 9 and 11) go to bed. But I love that I’m able to create, that’s my fulfillment. I’m lucky I’ve been able to be an artist my entire life.”
Contact: happiestdaysdesigns.com [email protected]
VentureMom Tip
Find something that you like and recreate the concept in your own way.
