We were lucky to catch up with Caitlin And Kathleen Curtis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Caitlin and Kathleen, appreciate you joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Caitlin:
I am incredibly happy as a business owner. Dellwood Designs provides me with a major creative outlet that I get to share with the world and I get to build my business in a family setting surrounded by those I love. The flexibility and joy in that alone absolutely outweighs the long hours and late nights that can occur as a business owner.

While I occasionally have thoughts about what it would be like to have a regular job, I always come back to the thought that this is where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to do. A classic 40 hour work week, 9-5 job certainly can seem appealing at times, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. My life is so much better as a business owner than it ever could be working a regular job.

Kathleen:
I am definitely happier as a business owner. I have worked at regular jobs and while the stability and routine can be comforting; the freedom to direct the path of a business and the risks involved in making those decisions feeds my passion to to see what’s around the corner. It allows for my creativity to be boundless. That’s what makes my job so much fun. There’s never a dull moment. I am always learning something new. Being a business owner, you need to know how to do a little bit of it all or how to hire the right people to do it for you. Marry all that with my business partner being my daughter and I feel like I won the lottery.

There’s pressure being a business owner, no doubt. Are we making the right decisions? How much risk is too much risk? The late nights can get exhausting. But in the end, the feeling of creating something from nothing that brings joy to others is a win every time. I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Dellwood Designs is a family owned and operated business, run and managed by Caitlin and Kathleen Curtis – a mother-daughter duo who bring a diverse set of passions and talents to everything they create.

Growing up, Caitlin always loaded her schedule with art and design classes, constantly striving to improve her skills and satisfy her craving to create something beautiful. After receiving encouragement from several influential art teachers and professors to pursue art as a career, Caitlin began to focus on the possibility of turning this passion of hers into a business.

Kathleen has had an eclectic professional career. Originally in Corporate Supply Forecasting and then moving to the world of admissions, Kathleen’s desire to be more creative motivated her to look towards her entrepreneurial skills to help build the business you now know as Dellwood Designs.

Come fall 2019, we decided to turn our passions into a business to share with the world. During this time the world was undergoing the Covid-19 pandemic and the demand for face masks was sky high so we started off making one of a kind face masks for family and friends in hopes of helping others feel a bit safer as the Covid pandemic grew. As the need for face masks diminished, we moved away from creating the masks to create other items to bring joy.

Dellwood Designs has gone through a variety of iterations before landing on our current product line. Following our face mask collection we worked to develop our paper goods and stationery line adding stickers, greeting cards, wrapping paper and more. Caitlin also began crocheting stuffed animals, but quickly realized the time to create each and every item didn’t make it a viable option for the business. Meanwhile, Kathleen began sewing stuffed animals out of up-cycled fabrics from a local interior design shop. While these items were fun, we were looking to add some more nostalgia and coziness to these items. This is when we turned to antique quilts.

To create the items in our quilted collection we find vintage, antique quilts that have seen better days – often full of rips, stains and holes. We then salvage the pieces that are still in good shape to use and give them new life by turning them into the collection of stuffed animals, pillows and home decor we now offer. By repurposing these quilts, we are able to keep them out of the landfill and give them new life, thus preserving the love and history that they hold.

Through our paper goods and quilted collections, we hope to bring a little happiness and joy to the world each and every day. The best part about this is with the flexibility we have, we are able to adapt to bring to life what we feel the world needs as it develops and changes.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

We manufacture all of our sewn products in house. We started the business sewing face masks during the pandemic and relied on our skills as hobby sewists and youtube tutorials to grow our skills and to trouble shoot. While we both enjoyed the occasional sewing project as a hobby prior to starting our business, we both never imagined we would be spending so many hours sewing every single day. Right now it is just the two of us doing all of the sewing for our brand which can be a lot at times but we both really enjoy the process.

As for our paper goods line, Caitlin does all of the designing herself and we outsource the manufacturing of those products. Caitlin has considered herself an illustrator for her entire life, so it made a lot of sense to incorporate that into our business. She often spends hours at a time working on hand drawing every design we have until she is happy with them. Being a perfectionist, this can take multiple days for just one design.

When looking for a manufacturer, finding one that can produce a product that is up to the standard you expect can be difficult. There are a lot of paper good manufacturers out there and we have tried a number of them, but often times it is difficult to find the right fit. Whether it be the pricing of the product, the quality, or even the location of the manufacturer we work really hard to find one that produces a superior product as well as aligns with our values and beliefs.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Business relationships can be very complicated as it is, but adding the fact that we are also mother-daughter there are a lot of things that we need to be extra conscious of to maintain a healthy relationship. One thing we needed to unlearn or leave behind once we reach our studio is that mother-daughter dynamic. We no longer follow the traditional mother-daughter hierarchy in our studio but rather see each other a complete equals. No one person has the end say in anything. We discuss everything business related openly and often to ensure our business never comes between our relationship. Luckily, not only are we mother-daughter, but we are also very close so there is already a foundation of mutual respect and enjoyment of and for each other.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Dellwooddesigns.com
• Instagram: @Dellwooddesignsofficial www.instagram.com/dellwooddesignsofficial
• Facebook: @DellwoodDesign www.facebook.com/dellwooddesign
• Other: Faire Wholesale Marketplace: www.faire.com/direct/dellwooddesigns
  Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/DellwoodDesigns