Today is the birthday of the webshop! That really feels like a milestone. When you start something new such as an online store, there are always people who make cynical comments such as: 'most online stores go bankrupt in the first year'. Well, I'm still going strong! Here is a personal report of the past year or actually years!
I graduated from my Creative Communication studies on November 26, 2015. By insisting on my college, I was allowed to conduct research independently, instead of at a company. I had been taking photographs throughout my studies and as much as I enjoyed it, I thought it would be great to sell something. And I had an idea about making DIY materials accessible and offering them in a shop. The main question of my research was: 'How Splendith motivates young women to do more crafting?'. A super interesting topic, but at that moment it felt more like a dark chapter of my studies. Maybe you recognize that from your thesis? Haha that was literally a lot of tears and hysterical moment. It felt like a sour apple at the time, but now I'm very happy that I had this opportunity! That was the basis of Splendith.
April 6, 2016 I made the first paper flower from crepe paper. So I also have proof of this ;). I secretly made it more beautiful for the photo because the leaves were really limp. Then I started looking for better material because I wanted to make a lot of them as decoration for our wedding. Other preparations for our wedding were the wedding cards . You may have already seen this in this blog ? This was my first introduction to Finetec ;). You've probably heard more than once that I sourced a lot of materials from the US or other countries. This also applies to the materials I used for all my DIYs from that time. I missed an online store that sold this and I noticed that modern calligraphy was very attractive and that there were almost no shops for it. Making paper flowers was of course not yet a trend, but I fell in love with the material and the possibilities. This is how ideas for a range slowly grew.
Shortly after our wedding on June 24, I couldn't let go of the idea. Then I started looking for suppliers, which is a miserable process. I really spent hours looking for good suppliers. It really takes hours, and if you can't find something, you can become desperate or just keep going. And that's what I did. I also signed up for the Paper Passion: talk about a real stick behind the door. That was something to work towards. I also read endlessly, went to trade fairs and looked for new suppliers. It's funny, when I went looking for photos for this blog, I came across an awful lot of screenshots of inspiring things this period^^.
And then my first orders slowly came in. Of course, I carefully calculated in advance how much I could buy and where, and then it is so special when everything arrives! Haha, the pallet of paper was a bit too much, I now know ;). But the only way I could buy it. So, one way or the other. The driver looked at me like I was crazy when I said I lived on the first floor. Haha, yes, you have to be a bit crazy for such an order. I had been keeping an eye on the weather forecast all day, and when the driver arrived there was a downpour in 30 minutes. Like a madman, I carried all the boxes up the narrow stairs one by one. With the last layer it started to splash a bit, but luckily everything was inside before the real rain. I had sprinted for 30 minutes, because you run so fast when your investment is in danger of being rained out. You can probably guess which photo I would have taken afterwards haha.
The PaperPassion was a nice fair and a very nice start for Splendith. Haha, it was my first fair and I had no idea what to expect^^. At night I was making flowers and for the large logo, for example, I cut out all the letters by hand with a coping saw because: no money! If you don't have any starting capital, you try to make it beautiful in a different way and then it takes time, a lot of time. During the fair my gums literally hurt, oops. But after this fair I thought: 'this is IT!' All the enthusiastic responses gave so much energy! Two weeks after the fair my shop was online and I had my first sales online. I remember very well who placed the first order.
Our living room has now completely changed, just like my workplace ! The shop's range is also enormously extensive. You can read the retrospective of the first year on the blog later this week <3.
Love,
Judith
