A Message In The Lining
On prototyping, branding, and big changes...
Greetings to you all, it’s been a little quiet on the newsletter front because of all the real life stuff happening behind the scenes. I just wanted to give you an update on where everything’s at.
Prototype testing
First of all thanks a lot again to all of you who participate in this testing phase. 15 bags are out and in use. I received a lot of interesting and overwhelmingly positive feedback. Mainly I worked on the Undercover Saccoche and The Cozy One in S & M until now.
The following weeks I’ll be focussing on The Cozy One L and after that The Boat Weekender. So I’ll get in touch with you soon if you ordered one of those.
It’s gonna be different from now on
The prototyping phase unlocked something in me. I didn’t expect how much I love the whole process of making these bags. Improving quality, being precise, finding neat solutions, evolving the pattern and the usecase.
And what I love even more is handing over a finished work to someone. The response, the feedback, the human connection. It’s actually quite humbling.
Just thinking about outsourcing this main chunk of the process breaks my heart.
It‘s funny how things evolve. I remember the first months of building my own business, when I read every book on how to build it “the right way”. But in my case it’s actually quite simple:
I make bags. Dressing it up is where the lying begins.
I make everything myself. From the first sketch to handing a finished item to someone who cares. No intermediaries. No outsourcing. No shortcuts.
Only this way I can answer the question I asked in my brand manifesto last year: Why do some things stay with us, while others fade and get replaced?
Every step is a place where I can fail and grow. Hand that off and you don’t just lose control, you simply lose the education.
The process is the product. Geist is time spent making, at the speed care requires. How else can you make others care?
That’s the reason why I changed the name of the newsletter to „a message in the lining“, the old one is no fit anymore.
Branding project in progress
The moment I figured that all out something clicked inside my head and I felt ready to contact agencies to get serious about branding.
Over the past year I researched a handful of agencies worldwide that felt like fit. In the end I decided to partner with UFFICIO, a studio from Buenos Aires.
From the start I felt right at home with the team. Two weeks ago we started the project and I’m super exited about what we’re cooking.
My workshop is ready for guests
Last year I repurposed my guest room to be my workshop. So I had to find a solution to put a bed back in there. I modeled this gallery/loft bed in the 3D tool Sketch Up on my iPad.
Then I hired a carpenter and a locksmith to have the parts custom made and painted. When they delivered them I crossed fingers that everything fits and hoped that it would just be another IKEA build up job for me.
With only minor difficulties it all came together pretty nicely. First night sleeping up there was still weird though, because I kept on recalculating everything in my head and eventhough I know this thing should withstand a hurricane I cannot help but worrying. I guess that’s normal when you do something like that for the first time.
