Laura Shore: Thoughts on the 1st anniversary of Felt & Wire Shop

In the paper industry these days, most people alternate between denial (“print your e-mails”) and despair. Yet here were hundreds of individuals who seemed not to have noticed that print is dead. And what was more, a good many of them were using our paper! On this quiet Sunday afternoon, exhibitors would literally reach out and pull us into their booths. Once they learned we were from Mohawk, they eagerly showed off cards printed on Via, Superfine, Strathmore and Options 100%PCW.

Felt and Wire Shop opened Sept. 28, 2009, during the “great recession,” as a way to support these crazy, creative entrepreneurs who had the nerve to defy conventional thinking. For years we have worked with the country’s best designers. We could develop a marketplace of curated products that would appeal to people who love design. How hard could it be?

My colleague, Tracy Smith, who was moonlighting as an Etsy seller (and has every Martha Stewart magazine ever printed), was the perfect person to bring the project to life. She worked with Katie Barcelona on Michael Bierut’s team at Pentagram to develop the brand. We reached out to designer friends who had sent us cool holiday promotions over the years: “Of course you’d like to turn that wrapping paper/holiday card/poster into product!” Our first sellers included Cheryl Heller, Josh Chen, AdamsMorioka and Michael Osborne. Grant Design Collaborative set up shop to promote a new-venture “Store,” Elissa Barbieri posted her elegant gift wrap line, Arianna Orland shared her funky letterpress posters, and Minhee Cho of Paper+Cup shared her charming collection of ready-made paper products.

Unfortunately, like many start ups, we were so focused on building the site that we forgot to promote it. Some early notices from bloggers gave us confidence that we had something special. Still, we learned the hard way that branding isn’t retail. We had an elegant site, loaded with beautiful, interesting products — but people were going elsewhere for their holiday cards and gifts.

This year we took Felt & Wire Shop to the National Stationery Show, where we met the intrepid Ladies of Letterpress and expanded our roster of great designers. And as the product assortment grew, so did the traffic. We were thrilled to be recognized by Cup o’ Jo and Apartment Therapy. And honored to feature curated collections by Paper Trail,  Oh So Beautiful Paper and Paper Crave.

In time, we realized we had more than a store — we had a platform for action. We reached out to AIGA chapters and invited them to fundraise through product sales on the site. The Feedback Loop project was our first attempt to use the Felt & Wire Shop in a new way: 25 letterpress designer/printers signed up to create notebooks using donated paper to support WorldStudio’s School: by Design project. Through sales of notebooks in the shop, we collectively support the efforts of designers who are helping young people understand the power of design thinking — and by doing so, we also counter declining funding for school art programs.

The launch of the Feedback Loop project on Sept. 7, 2010, was the best anniversary present I could have had. The notebooks were so much better than I anticipated. They gave our social media maven, Ally Van Houten, fodder for tweets and posts. Pam Williams and her team at Williams and House reached out to over 100 bloggers. The stories and re-tweets started coming before Labor Day and continued well into the week. Our site traffic has tripled and continues to grow. In a week we raised over $2500 for WorldStudio, and we look forward to easily meeting our goal of $10,000. This year, with our new sellers and growing traffic, we’re really ready for the holidays.

Laura Shore is senior vice president for Communications and Innovation Strategy at Mohawk Fine Papers. For more than 20 years, Shore has worked closely with the design and printing communities. She leads the Felt & Wire team.