We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Holly Ryan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Holly below.
Holly, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
The story of ABHR began in 2019 with a passion for fluid painting. From there, I went along to create multiple different pieces such as canvases, wall hangers and keychains. After about 6 months of this medium, I began to teach classes at my local paint store and inside my home, showing other locals how to create this beautiful art. I had a client come to me requesting I seal her commissioned fluid art painting order so I took to the drawing board to figure out the best way to achieve an incredible finish. Varnish was beautiful, but epoxy resin gave my work this indescribable clear coated & shiny protection. Since then, I have been working specifically in the medium of resin!
When I began working with resin, I started out with small pieces and using it to create functional items such as letter keychains and coasters. As I grew in my knowledge of the product I expanded into a range of both decorative and functional items both themed and customized bringing over 100+ items into my shop! This was one of the best times of the small business career as I was working with many different small businesses and local Kingston residence to bring my best work to all. After completing my dream collection “Trip to Wonderland” which included 50 pieces themed for the Alice In Wonderland movie series I realized there was a passion behind this work. My first collection sold out in less than 24 hours and so I continued to put our weekly themed drops ranging in different style pieces. It felt incredible to see people loving my work and to hear feedback about what others wanted to see! Once I started marketing my themed collections my custom order list started to grow as people were able to see just how far I could range within resin. 36 full collections, 16 mini collections and over 1500+ custom products sold in my first 2 years was the motivation to show me that I was on the right path for my career.
Now, Art by Holly Ryan has changed direction and while still working with epoxy resin I am doing something much more meaningful. I have always been passionate about gardening, flowers and keeping memento’s throughout my entire life. I thought to myself, how would I combine these all together? Thus, ABHR’s new path was created and I now focus solely in floral preservation and memorial keepsakes. These are life long special items created from someone’s important flowers or keepsakes into a beautiful variety of items both functional and decorative. I work closely with brides and wedding party guests to bring their flowers back to life to keep as a treasured keepsake forever. A special part of my business is also working with memorial pieces. Most popularly working with real items such as ashes, hair, teeth, breast milk and token items to be embedded for those wishing to remember a special day, moment or loved one. All together, I am so proud of where Art by Holly Ryan has taken off too and plan to continue doing this important and special work for the remainder of my business.
Holly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hello my lovelies! My name is Holly Ryan and I am the sole creator and owner of Art by Holly Ryan. I have been creating since I was a little girl, dabbling across many different crafts and mediums. I started with duct tape wallets, origami flowers, sewing doll clothes, knitting mittens and hats and working with pottery clay. As I have grown both as a woman and as a small business owner, I have learned many important lessons and figured where my passions lie within my craft.
In the new year of 2019 I began creating fluid art paintings and coasters. From here I would also teach multiple classes at my local paint store and inside my home, showing other locals how to create this beautiful art. I had a client come to me requesting I seal her commissioned order and so I took to the drawing board to figure out the best way to achieve an incredible finish. Varnish was beautiful, but epoxy resin gave my work this indescribable clear coated & shiny protection.
I began playing with epoxy resin more often and in different styles, starting with floral keychains and trays and then ranging in a large variety of pieces. From charcuterie boards, to functional shelves, decorative trinket trays, purses, coasters, wall hangers and SO MUCH MORE, the possibilities have been endless in this medium.
Throughout the years of 2020-2021 I was passionately working in resin by creating over 100+ different products, 36 full collections and 16 mini collections. For the year of 2022, I really gave myself the chance to try a bunch of different mediums to see what else I could incorporate with resin. After reigniting my passions for gardening and horticulture I came to the realization I could preserve my flowers directly into epoxy resin! With more research, a lot of practice and trial and error I began to have requests to complete pieces with meaningful flowers such a wedding bouquet or funeral florals. I jumped at this chance to try out my new found skill set and to create one of my most important pieces to date. I realized how significantly important it was to give people a way to keep their important florals forever and thus carved out this new path for ABHR.
Floral preservation is an incredible way to capture the memories of a special day or person and will hold long through time. My goal is to make creating this timeless keepsake for those out there going through celebration or grief to have a stress free way to preserve a memory so special into something that will be treasured forever.
What started as a fun hobby back in 2019 has now turned into a passionate career creating both beautiful and functional artwork that will be treasured forever. Throughout the years I’ve been blessed to create some of my most elegant and meaningful work I could’ve dreamed of & I plan to continue expanding ABHR to bring floral preservation and memorial keepsakes to the world.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
During the pandemic of 2020 everyone from essential workers to stay at home parents had to learn a new way of handling day to day life and the struggles that came from going through Covid-19. Small businesses were not excluded from this hardship and so it was time to pull my socks up and figure out how I would survive during that troubling and uncertain time. With most small businesses closing their doors, brick and mortars ending their leases, in-person events being cancelled and there being both mass fear and mass lockdown it was difficult to market myself to others. Not only that, but most people had began cancelling major, large events such as weddings and funerals. What should’ve been a day of celebrating with your closest friends and family or coming together to remember the incredible life of a loved one, we we’re all forced to have minimal interactions with one another and were encouraged to partake in online interactions. This was no easy task for a small business like myself who relied on these events to take place and create a demand for preservation keepsakes.
Throughout the pandemic I tried a multitude of things to continue my doors open and my business to be needed. I started opening a product line that was meant for smaller, more intimate gifts such as single flower display pieces. I continued to market my services by showing options for in house display items and keepsakes you could surprise gift through the mail to a loved one. I also used this time to upgrade my branding, packaging and overall message I wanted Art by Holly Ryan to stand behind. As the pandemic and lockdowns continued I had to be rigorous in my marketing, in my communication and in my story so that I would not fall into the shadows as many other businesses sadly had too.
There were quite a few hard months where due to the state of the world, disposable income was not a luxury many could afford. In the past there were times that a customer simply wanted to treat themselves to something precious and I would gain a new order. But, there we’re a number of months where I did not see a single customer. There was not a single order. And during those times it was when i learned the most. What was the most valuable to my business. What actually turned from advertisement into investment for my customers. What connected me to others and how I could do better for my clients. It might’ve been a slower time of my business for income but what I gained in insight and knowledge was invaluable. There is no price that could’ve given me what I received from the downtime of my business.
Now that the pandemic height has gone down and lockdowns are over I have had the opportunity to take my new found knowledge and apply that to my business today. i listened to my clients opinions and advice, I connected online with other small businesses and my local shops as well as rediscovered myself as an artist and have been able to narrow down what I am passionate about and what I do well in my own medium.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Funding a new venture idea is never a cheap one. Especially if you have began your business after 2019. During the pandemic of Covid-19 some people had more down time than they usually would and so the increase in crafting and DIY was astronomical. While people were trying to save money and time their inner crafter came out and the need for a small business in some fields became almost mute. In 2023, crafting supplies, marketing, branding and shipping costs have been at their highest because of this.
When I started Art by Holly Ryan in 2019 it didn’t happen over night. I was working a full time job at Dulux Paints as a keyholder and decorator specialist making $1.65 over the provincial minimum wage. I was also working part time as a power seller at Lasenza in my local mall. Even with both of these jobs there were still financial struggles to keep up with the rise in prices for everything. I sat down one afternoon in November of 2018 after seeing fluid art tutorials online and dedicated if I really wanted to pursue my dream of creating art for a living there needed to be sacrifices and a detailed plan. I sat down, wrote out my entire months finances, my monthly income and then grouped what I had spent in each category of my finances over the course of the last year. From there, I decided to cut out things that were not a necessity and budget myself correctly. This was definitely one of my biggest sacrifices I had made because I did not want to have to give up fun things such as trips, clothes, takeout etc. But I knew the only way to truly achieve my lifelong goal I would need to take something out to give to this new venture. After 2 months of saving every last penny and nickel I could while also selling off old furniture, clothing and items around my home I finally had my first savings built up. With $2000 and a dream I took the leap and began creating with resin.
Resin and the materials to create with it were not a cheap adventure to take. My first bottle mix of epoxy was over $150, supplies such as molds, colorants, additives and safety measures were over $500, my business license being $65 and then 2 months of savings should this venture fail. I planned out exactly how much I could spend, how much each item cost to make, marketing prices, bargain hunting for safety material and set up – I really did plan out to the exact dollar of where all of my initial investment would end up. And then I began onto this wild unclear journey head on. Within my first month of launching my business I sold over 200 keychains and a few other small custom pieces and I knew I was in the right market. First to bring resin products to my town and then continuing to expand as I grew were both my first successes. As I grew I would re group every month to reassess where my money was and where it would need to go. After 6 months of my business and seeing the incredible growth that had come, I decided to finally pull the plug and quit both my full time and part time job. Now, here I am over 3 years later happier than ever that I took that jump despite how many people otld me to stay safe. I wouldn’t be happy doing another other than this!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artbyhollyryan.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artbyhollyryan/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artbyhollyryan1/
- Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/holly-ryan-37bba21ba
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QY6uDA9hSU
- Other: Contact email: Artbyhollyryan@gmail.com Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/artbyhollyryan/?invite_code=a707817e675a4e4ab5c399b4dadda7e6&sender=920212273769786391