We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Damaris Colon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Damaris, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
The name London Rock is a combination of my two eldest children’s names, London James and Rocklyn Starr.
Damaris, 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?
London Rock is a creative studio rooted in the marriage between creativity, art, and design. Founded in 2020, when the I refused to accept that my incredibly artistic children no longer wanted to draw after being forced to quarantine. I needed to act quickly, so I gathered their drawings and published them into a coloring book without their knowledge. When they were presented with their first copies, their love of art immediately returned. Since then they have published a second coloring book, manufactured plushies, jibbitz and more. They have even sparked more creativity in myself, who in 2022 began producing hand painted housewares & streetwear items under the brand.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
The very first product I had manufactured was our Pancake plushie. I used Alibaba.com and really made sure I paid attention to the vendor’s reviews. I also made sure they were listed as a verified” vendor as well. On our first order I purchased a sample first to ensure it was exactly how I wanted. I’m glad I ordered the same because it was about half the size I needed it in.
After I gave them my changes Pancake Plushie went into production. I placed my order in November and I finally received them in May of the following year.
If you plan on manufacturing, make sure you give yourself a 6-8 month timeline.
How did you build your audience on social media?
One of my Instagram posts is up to 9 million views and about 571k likes. It honestly wasn’t a calculated, scheduled post. The audio had absolutely nothing to do with the video. As such, half of the likes and comments were about the video. And the other half was about the audio. I also, made it a point to respond to as many comments as I could. Since every comment counts as “engagement” your engagement will double if you reply to all commenters.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.london-rock.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/londonrockart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LondonRockArt/