A picture speaks a thousand words.
Meet our friend from Manhattan Beach (pictured below) and our yearly trek to the Manhattan Beach Hometown fair. The South Bay of Manhattan Beach fits: artists, surfers, community, health and a strong sense of what makes business tick. The adjoining photo is a keen insight into the how's and why's of bone bags and its ascending arc.
We know early on within our five year journey that we needed to reach as many towns, cities, festivals and street fairs as time and energy allows. We consistently pound the pavement: Ocean Beach, Hollywood, Roseville, Palm Springs, Dana Point, Tucson Arizona, San Francisco, and smaller more quaint communities like Valley Center, Upland and Julian to name only a few.
Confidence grows. It's time to design our own bags. Our partners have designed bags with us in mind. Their European designs are a mainstay but for bone bags to continually last, expand and thrive we need to make it ours. I grew up in Hollywood and went to high school in coastal Orange County. During the week the ocean is our playground. Our team of two (my wife and I) have real opinions on the bags to offer.
I take pen to paper. See what flows. Take inventory.
It takes over six months but from the rudimentary drawing above, we create the recycled beach bag photographed. The bags arrives in the fall and is a seller during the busy months of October thru December. The details of delivery, doubt and decision are a different and contentious story altogether. Bottom line- we survived the process and created a product that previously did not exist.
Then a website. We lean into family member Cousin Evan. He tackles the nuts and bolts whilst tightening the screws of the thing. It's time to make it ours. A vendor friend, Adam of theposterlist recently posted, "Sometimes you just gotta do stuff and figure it out as you go. Just figure it out."
The phone rings. Our partners are looking to button up our spring time designs. If we expect to get delivery in late March or April decisions need to be made. Pippa is in the garden photographing bags to drop on the site.
I take the call and the beginning of the next thing to figure out is upon us.........
