Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Corina Guillory. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Corina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

Walking the streets of Austin, suitcase in hand and a babe on my back, I walked into Book People in Austin, TX and was welcomed with enthusiasm by the cafe manager. His excitement for the sustainability of our product made me realize that we were onto something. Something bigger than the simplicity of what we created, but more on the edge of a movement, an eco-movement. At the time, we were walking along side folks from the crunchy era in our own lives, the times when you would wash out your ziplock so many times it would look like sea glass and you might have reused your paper bags for groceries at lease a dozen times. Our initial customers didn’t mind putting in the extra rinse and reuse if it meant that they didn’t have to buy, yet again, another box of paper filters. Or that each morning they were making a small difference in the future of our waste. This was the momentum for CoffeeSock.

Corina, 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?

CoffeeSock to us is our dream found. It is a simple, thoughtful, and resourceful brand, one that makes us proud to be a part of and share with the world. We created a sustainable product, one that is built around community and ritual. CoffeeSock was birthed late 2011 in a ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ moment. Out of Chemex coffee filters, and with an old traveling Chorreador, aka ‘coffee sock’ from Costa Rica as inspiration, we made an organic fabric filter for the Chemex. It performed so well that we were inspired to create models for all popular coffee brewing processes. As we began to offer these for sale, the reception was so enthusiastic that we turned all of our attention to developing a brand, a family business, and to changing the world ONE SOCK AT A TIME!

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

We do manufacture our products! I am a self taught seamstress, but the moment I sewed my first filter, I knew manufacturing was what I wanted to do. I am happiest working with my hands and sipping on coffee. The simplistic, eco-minded nature of the product itself reflects my ethos and how I want to contribute to this shared world.

CoffeeSock filters are repetitive and simple, they have clean lines and are consistent. I love the meditation of the process. I love sinking into the cutting, the stitching, and the packaging. Creating a work flow became second nature to me. Manufacturing is a pleasure in the company of fine folks at the ‘Sock!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I learned and unlearned and relearned boundaries. It is a fine line to walk alongside your staff in a way that honors the humanity of both of you as well as the integrity of the company. I am so grateful for all of the opportunities that presented to me over the years through witnessing other individuals’ journeys as well as my own and how we have influenced each other.

Similar to raising a family, I feel like the ebbs and flows of owning a business have naturally expanded my capacity to hold space.

Contact Info:

• Website: coffeesock.com
• Instagram: coffeesock
• Facebook: coffeesockco
• Youtube: CoffeeSock

Image Credits
CoffeeSock