merry go round

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Failure sucks, but instructs

October 30, 2009 in Wren by wendren | 12 comments

Huletts Sugar I have been fortunate becuase I cannot recall feeling as though Wren’s floor has fallen through taking me down with it at any point in its journey. This is either becuase I have not had such an event (touch wood), or becuase I have blocked the memory of it out. I have lots of little failures that always teach and guide me on my road ahead so I thought I would share the list of these that I can remember:-

It sucked when I approached shops to stock my products (in Wren’s early days) and they turned me down. This was a big part of my original business plan and it broke my spirit. I eventually gave up on this and now I have shops contacting me asking if they can stock my products. I have learnt to not take a turn-away personally.

It really sucks when a bag you design does not sell as well as you hoped. Instruction: stop making the style. Can you guess which style this was?

It sucked big time when becuase I used the same password for all my accounts, my accounts were hacked and Wren was left broke. I learnt a lot but the most significant thing was to use different passwords and to change them regularly.

It sucks when you realise that you made no profit on a bag style. This happened to me in the beginning of Wren and I have since learnt to design products in such a way that their actual value is less than their perceived value. In other words, I have learnt to design a bag that I can make a profit on and one that I can sell wholesale without loosing out.

It sucks when you ship a bag to the wrong person. This has happened twice. “Once fooled, twice a fool” – I know. Now I complete each order individually (no more packing production line).

It sucks when you quote for an order and then realise that you under-quoted (and by a LOT). I am praying that this will not happen to me but it might becuase I under-quoted for an order that I cannot go back on and if is accepted then I could be in serious trouble. Oh dear, just thinking about it makes me reach for the chocolate spoon…

Tasting Chocolate Sauce

…but I still have not learnt that tasting the Chocolate Eclair sauce whilst hot always results in a burnt tongue

Read about the other Merry-go-round bloggers ‘hic-ups’ along their business journeys: Mariana, Lily, Jenny, Sara, Agathe, Fabienne, Charlotte and Ruth.

A New Chapter

September 25, 2009 in Me, Wren by wendren | 13 comments

brown paper

When Wren started I was at a very difficult point in my life. I was struggling for direction and although I knew I had to go forward, I was making it up as I went along hoping for the best.

My first product was made out of necessity. I liked it but never felt it ‘true’ to myself but I did not know what the ‘truth’ was so it had to do. Now a year and half later I am starting to find my feet, lift my chin and stride proudly ahead. I have a much stronger feeling of where I want Wren to grow to and the products that you will see introduced over the next few weeks (hopefully) will clearly show this new direction.

Upside Down me

I am taking a much more natural and upside-down design point of view. Now that I know a little bit about bag designing, sewing and marketing I have started to push this knowledge. – I have a laptop bag made from paper that is coming out soon. It is awesome beyond belief. – I have an antique linen and leather bag that is so close to be finished I am bursting at the seams. It is beautiful in every sense. – Made from my favourite fabric: the coffee sack, is a new bag that has taken over a year to collect the parts but hopefully not another year to make it.

I am finding the challenge of pushing materials to their limit the greatest adventure ever and in this, I am finding direction, peace and pride. I am having the time of my life.

Read what the other Merry-go-round bloggers say about their NEW CHAPTERS: Mariana, Lily, Jenny, Sara, Agathe, Fabienne, Charlotte and Ruth.

Merry-go-round : The story of Wren

July 31, 2009 in Me, Wren by wendren | 10 comments

This month’s merry-go-round question is ‘What inspires us: a peak into journals, pinboards, folders or wherever we keep our little snippets of inspiring stuff…’ Ive written quite a few posts on this topic in the last while and I’m afraid I have shown you all my inspiration secrets. See here, here, here, here, here and not forgetting to mention my last merry-go-round which borders on this topic.

Rather than taking a back-seat from this month’s merry-go-round Ruth and a few others directed some questions my way as a replacement.

Why birds?

There is no reason ‘why birds’ really. But I will tell you how Wren and the label came about…
Whilst I was hating my old job and dreaming about starting my own business I was creating a logo for a bed-linen company. I used birds for some of the samples.The client did not select any of my designs but I liked them, so I kept them (and I now cannot find them to share with you -sorry).

In high school I made and hand-painted a bird cloak that was quite a hit and when my school friends heard about my bird label they all picked up on the connection – I on the other hand had completely forgotten about it.

I guess birds have somewhat always been there but honestly, I just think I drew something and liked it. It probably didn’t help though that at the time of my label everybody was going through a phrase of loving cute little birds.

For ages I did not know what to call my business (or for that matter, what I was even going to do as my business). Often I would waste time paging through my designs and on one of the hopeless days I came across the designs which featured the little bird (now the Wren bird) and it was like it was meant to be. It was decided that I would use the bird as the logo and now I just had to find the name for the company (something that is not as easy or as fun as it sounds). I went through hundreds of names and very organically, whilst driving to collect the embroidered bird labels Jeremy suggested ‘Wren’. It’s a little bird, just like the drawing and it is a play on my name, Wendren, in a way. I did not hesitate for a moment in saying: “THAT’S IT”! …and that’s the story of Wren.

Merry-g0-round bloggers: Mariana, Lily, Jenny, Sara, Agathe, Fabienne, Charlotte, Nikki and Ruth.

Scavenging for Selvedge : Merry-go-round

June 26, 2009 in Wren by wendren | 10 comments

Topic: What is your favorite publication(s)? Is there a book, books, magazine, or website that has become the bible of your art/craft?

selvedge

I had to give this some thought becuase there is no ONE thing and of the many items I use for inspiration, they are always changing. However, their IS one magazine that is my ABSOLUTE favourite – Selvedge. I don’t own a single copy but rather have photostats stuck into my inspiration scrap books. SO, in honour of this post (and to my absolute delight) I ordered my favouritist favourite Issue: Colour, and subscribed for 6 months. This is a bit extravagant, especially seeing as I am eating Salticrax becuase my piggy bank is more anorexic than fat like a pig should be, but I justified it that in a week’s time it is my birthday and its my gift to myself. ha.

selvedge-blog

….and that’s not the only great thing: I discovered that Selvedge has a shop, a blog and a twitter feed!

I’m sooooo excited now. I can’t wait for my first ‘real’ issue to arrive in the post box.
…and I almost forgot, visit the other merry-go-round bloggers and discover what their inspiration/craft/art bibles. You can never be shy of books or links. Visit: Mariana, Lily, Jenny, Sara, Agathe, Fabienne, Charlotte, Nikki and Ruth.

5 years ago…

May 29, 2009 in Me by wendren | 12 comments

The merry-go-round topic for this month is a question: Did you think you’d be doing what you re doing now (craft/selling) say 5 years ago? What has surprised you the most?

5 years ago I was 20 and in my second year studying surface design. I was so sure that by the time I was 25 I would be some big hot-shot in the design world. I never in a million years thought that I would be helping design students with their creative ideas and running my own bag label and blog (and I have to add, just making ends meet).

bags-in-motion

The thing that suprised me the most was how different I am to what I thought I was. I thought I would love the corporate world of smart clothes and high-heels. I soon realised that dressing smart everday is tedious, that clocking in a 7.30 to leave at 4.30 is soul destroying (note: this leaves Saturday as the only day you can shop and you have to shop becuase afterall you are in the fashion world and you better look the part or else). I could not stand the office politics either. I hated how systems slowed things down and that every idea I had to improve things was shut down because it simply took too much effort to make the change. There was too little to do and this left me with too much time to think and becuase I was being paid to do a job, I could not create or allow those thoughts to become real. It killed my creativity and me.

So to nobody’s but my own surprise, I resigned and learnt that my dream could not have been more mismatched. Now I love what I do. I hardly have time to think with all my running-around but every idea I have I am able to try out. I love writing for this blog. I love sharing ideas with the students and most of all, I love having my life back.

It’s funny how things turn out. Now my life philosophy is that I will ‘make it up as I go along’ becuase after all, you really have no idea what will happen that will change your stars.

bags-in-motion-2

Check out the merry-go-round blog posts on the same topic: Le Bar du Vent, Easterya, Florcita, Beaded Zen, Crafts of Texture, Jenny Karlsson Design, Beaded Zen Designs and Birdland Creations.

Fallen Blue Flowers – Merry go round

April 24, 2009 in Wren by wendren | 4 comments

blue-flowers As I walked down the stairs from my house onto the pavement there was this little puddle of rain water surrounded by blue flowers. There were no flowers anywhere else and I could not see where they came from. It is autumn so I guess that might explain it. Anyhow, I just thought this huddle of flowers on my stark pavement was pretty.

Check out the merry-go-round bloggers (who are writing on Spring but becuase it is late autumn for me, that’s what I wrote on): Le Bar du Vent, Glamasaurus, Fancy Picnic, Easterya, Jenny Karlsson Designs, Lily Pang Art, Florcita, Beaded Zen, Crafts of Texture and Birdland Creations.

Have a nice weekend. I am going to visit family in Durban till Monday which is Freedom Day (a national public holiday) and celebrates South Africa’s first post-apartheid elections held on the 27th of April 1994.