Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elizabeth and Jeffrey Warner. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Elizabeth and Jeffrey, appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
In October of 2014 we uprooted our lives in Dallas, Texas, and relocated to Franklin, TN to be closer to family. It took us some time to find our footing, but by the Summer of 2016 we made the decision to open a small wood working business. Jeffrey had a background in metal smithing and sculpture, as well as experience as a set designer and carpenter. Elizabeth had a background in art and communications. Between the two of us, we decided to make the leap and start KnotHead Studios. Our town has a Christmas festival every year, and we felt like we could produce a body of work to try our hand at being vendors during the event.
To be honest, we were clueless how to prepare for our first event. We had some great ideas for products, but didn’t really know how to price our merchandise, how to properly display our items, or even what we needed to bring with us on the day of the event. We had to submit booth photos to apply to the show, without ever having participated in a craft show. Jeffery and Elizabeth’s mother in law Suzanne set up a mock up in our driveway, while a pregnant Elizabeth gave suggestions in between naps. We must have done something right, because we were accepted!
In the days and weeks leading up to the event, there were a lot of sleepless nights. Jeffrey spent a lot of time creating merchandise, Elizabeth focused on our booth decor and marketing materials, and Suzanne helped sew our costumes- because the event had a Dickens theme and we needed to dress the part! The evening before the event, we loaded up Suzanne’s SUV, Jeffreys truck and showed up to set up. This was only the second time we’d every put up our tent, Elizabeth wasn’t able to help lift anything, and everyone was a little bit stressed, and pretty tired. Some how we managed to get it all done though.
The event started bright and early Saturday morning. Suzanne, who loves to socialize, was wonderful at talking to everyone! Customers seemed really interested in our items, and it was really fulfilling to see there excitement over things we had created by hand. Jeffrey and Elizabeth also quickly realized the important things we’d forgotten- like price tags and bags for the customers to carry their purchases in. We also learned valuable lessons about how much merchandise to prepare, how to effectively display our items, what merchandise was too much work for the price point, and how to project sales for large events. The highlight of our day was seeing all of the people we knew in town stopping by our booth and seeing what we’d been working so hard on and really feeling like we could make something of this business.
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?
One of the things we get asked the most (right after “Where do you get your wood?” and “Do you make all of this?”) is “Where did you get your name from?” The short answer is, Elizabeth’s dad.
Elizabeth’s dad was a story teller. He loved to tell a good joke, or share an obscure piece of knowledge that sounded so outlandish you were positive he was making it up. However, it was totally true and part of what made him such a good story teller was how smart he was. He had a life long dream of becoming a published author and was always reading, learning and researching new things for the novels he was working on.
As a child he would take Elizabeth on Father-Daughter camp outs. While the other dad’s did the cooking and the beer drinking, Elizabeth’s dad was the story teller. He was the dad that stood around the campfire late at night weaving magical tales out of his imagination, sometimes combining historical facts from things he’d read, or just pulling from his life experiences (to this day, part of me still believes that Moatengators are real).
But back to our name. That’s why you’re here after all. KnotHead was the name of one of the characters he made up in the stories he told Elizabeth. We always talked about him writing them down, and Elizabeth illustrating them, but we never did. To be honest, this is one of my biggest regrets (and something we hope to one day rectify).
After he passed away in 2014 he left behind an entire workshop full of woodworking equipment. Along with writing and photography, wood working was one of his favorite pastimes. We used to refer to it as “making little pieces of wood out of big pieces of wood.”
Jeffrey had always been into sculpture, and one of the things him and Elizabeth’s dad had in common was their mutual love (and respect) for power tools. Prior to our move from Texas he got a degree (one of many) in Sculpture and Metal smithing and worked as a set builder. When we uprooted and moved to Tennessee to be with Elizabeth’s mom Suzanne, Jeffrey decided to honor my dad and name the business after him. We wouldn’t have the workshop and equipment if it weren’t for him (and Suzanne, our roomie and that lady you see in our booth), and we both felt it was fitting to name it after one of my favorite memories.
Today KnotHead Studios continues to make home decor from reclaimed wood- all completely handmade. Jeffrey predominately uses a scroll saw, and designs all of his creations himself (with a lot of opinions from Elizabeth). Our seasonal outdoor decor and holiday ornaments continue to be our most popular items. In 2022 we also being an offshoot, KnotHead Origin, to include some of our other hobby activities, including cosplay accessories and face painting.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
There are so many ways to support artists without buying their products. You can recommend them to friends by sharing their website and socials. You can support community art movements in you area so artist and creatives have places to display their items. You can shop locally instead of buying from big box stores. However, our favorite, and possibly the easiest, is just buy interacting with them on social media. Commenting, and sharing and reacting to their posts helps them reach new potential customers and audiences, and it costs you absolutely nothing. It also makes us feel supported and loved.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Something that has been the most valuable for us in our business is meeting other creative artists and crafters. building relationships with other artists and vendors has allowed us to grow into new markets, research future events, and ultimately create a supportive crafting family. Organizations like Handmade Nashville (https://handmadenashville615.com) have allowed us to meet artists like ourselves, bounce ideas off each other, and make improvements to our business we otherwise wouldn’t have known to make.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://knotheadstudios.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knothead_studios/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/knotheadstudios/
Image Credits
Elizabeth Warner