We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christian & Brianna Ramirez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Christian & Brianna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

Our first dollar ever earned as Imperfectly Simple was at the OB Farmer’s Market in February of 2018. We had made our entire display ourselves, from wood of course. We put it on wheels and loaded it up with our product, booth decor, and high hopes. We were set up in the middle of the aisle and sharing a space with one of our buddies. The market seemed pretty slow, but towards the end we started getting more attention. At this time, we made wooden signs with vinyl lettering (we’ve changed so much!). The client was from out town getting a piece of local art for back home. We were humbled that our piece was chosen for this! It was an exhilarating feeling, and made us want to continue the market for weeks to come.

Christian & Brianna, 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?

When Christian and I (Brianna) first moved in together, we realized how small OB apartments are, and the need for custom home decor and furniture. This turned into a hobby, and then something we thought others may enjoy having in their homes as well. We make unique geometric shelving that provides space for your favorite objects while adding artwork to your wall as well as custom shelving and small furniture. What sets us apart is our quality. We put in the time and effort to ensure that these are well-crafted and durable pieces. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve and innovate our knowledge, skills and products. What we’re most proud of is how far we have come. We started out working in our friend’s garage and packing shipments in our apartment (as well as staining/sealing), to getting our own garage and better equipment. We recently got married and I became an RN and Christian, a woodworking apprentice. His profession has allowed him to learn and develop so many new skills that we are able to utilize in our current work, as well as inspired him to create new and exciting projects. Both ourselves and our company have changed so much over the last couple of years, and we are excited for the future!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

About a year ago, we had a friend of ours that asked us for a pretty large custom piece to be the centerpiece on the wall of their new home. We used the wood we had always used, and cut, sanded, stained, and began to assemble this piece- which was no small feat. As we began to assemble it, we were noticing that it wasn’t fitting together the way that we would have liked it to, nor was it sitting flush against the wall. Over the last few months, we had been having some troubles with joints on our pieces and could not really figure out why. At this point, we had to change something, because we had made a commitment and the techniques that we were using weren’t providing the quality of product we wanted. Since Christian has had access to more knowledge and tools with his job, we were able to discover better quality materials, as well as different sizes that we could use. We figured out different methods to ensure that the wood would not have these same issues that we had been having. We invested in a new saw that made more precision cuts, so that we were able to spend more time on improving our products rather than troubleshooting the errors. It was at this point in time that we really expanded our horizons. We got inspired by the possibilities of different sizes, shapes, and angles that we could cut the wood. We have expanded our artwork to include more shapes, ideas, and colors. We’re constantly striving to find ways to continue improving and come up with new ideas to bring to life.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

To support in any way that you can! Of course, shopping small and monetarily supporting local artists directly supports us, but there are more ways than just that. We are always grateful for a friend or follower that likes, comments, or shares one of our posts on social media. It is a simple and easy way to spread awareness about our craft to potentially reach new people. Another way to support is by reviewing one of our shelves if we’ve been so lucky for you to bring it into your home! It is so helpful to hear feedback about our products. It inspires us when you love them, and also allows us to improve if there are things that need to be changed.

Contact Info:

• Website: imperfectlysimpleco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imperfectlysimpleco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Imperfectlysimpleco