We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Wool. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.
Emily, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
A large part of my business is based off of process. I went to school for Graphic Design and for any project we did, we had to show pages and pages…hours and hours of background work, sketches, and research. A lot of that has bled into my business because when I first started learning block printing and printing on fabric I didn’t really have a direction in mind, I just started making a lot of work. I was experimenting with colors, patterns, texture, and scale and just knew that I loved printing on fabric. Since I had a sewing background it was only natural that those textiles were sewn into something so I started making pillows, bags, and even clothing. Launching a business wasn’t in the original plan, but since I was experimenting and sewing a lot I ended up with items that I wanted to share with people and found local markets to participate in. Ever since the beginning, this business has been based on a cycle of observing nature, drawing, carving blocks, printing fabric, and sewing so the months and years following those first moments of learning fabric printing were a slow turn towards business ownership and sharing what that cycle looks like for me as a human. I’ve occupied many different types of studio spaces since I began- a corner of a bedroom, a closet, an actual rented studio, a kitchen, and now the spare bedroom of our house and with each transition, it’s become a more curated space to support the business. It was easy to decide early on that this was worth spending time on, but I had to eventually acknowledge that “Ok this is a small business now and I need to take it seriously!” so I pulled back slowly from other jobs I held until going full time in June 2020.
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?
I learned how to block print by taking an online class with Jen Hewett, and used those skills to teach fabric printing in a therapeutic art studio with adults with disabilities. My idea was to take the illustrations drawn by studio participants and carve them for printing on fabric so we could sew items to sell at craft fairs. While doing this work I began working on my own imagery at night and on weekends, and eventually made enough stuff to start selling somewhat regularly at fairs and to friends and family. I was making tea towels, napkins, quilts, clothing, zipper pouches, bags, pillows, you name it. And then one day I realized I probably needed a business name and started writing out my first and middle name “emily ruth” along with other variations in sharpie on a napkin. I still have a scan of that napkin, and it’s what I’ve used on tags and website details ever since! I think I’m really proud of the slow way we’ve developed. The whole idea behind this work is that it’s deeply inspired by my own unique interpretations of nature and because of my experience in the therapeutic art studio I’m really not interested in realism but just meaningful and heartfelt work. I try not to make anything in a rush, but rather try to let the imagery come to me and really pay attention to what my eye catches. In this way I think my patterns aren’t following a trend or made to generate more sales but instead are truly patterns that I find beautiful and enjoy creating.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Even though Emily Ruth Prints has had roots since 2016, I feel like the actual business journey began in the fall of 2018 when I got my business name and license and started really prioritizing making things for sale and developing a consistent brand. When I went full-time in June 2020, the real test of how this business was going to survive began. I look back on that time of working on the business full time during the pandemic as a constant learning curve. No more in-person events meant trying to sell more online. I launched an online class with Skillshare in March 2021 and started more intentionally growing an online community. I tried zoom art classes, hosting a virtual craft fair, participating in virtual craft fairs, instagram sales, and put more intention into selling my patterns online via Spoonflower.
2020 and 2021 were very full of experimentation, following a time of taking business classes and really feeling like I knew what the next step was for Emily Ruth Prints. All of that got completely turned on its head and I, like many others, was forced to pivot and reinvent constantly.
We made it through and fortunately I feel like the business has really hit its stride this year. Because of the necessity to go more online during 2020 and 2021, I’m really proud of the digital community we’re a part of. I’m glad for the opportunity to put more time and energy into the website and online platforms like Skillshare and Spoonflower. Those are areas that may not had ever developed if the challenge hadn’t presented itself, and has become a big part of what Emily Ruth Prints is as a business!
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
There are a few of our products that are manufactured! I knew that I couldn’t keep up with hand printing all the fabric I needed to keep selling at a growth rate, so that’s how I started using Spoonflower which makes print on demand fabric and home goods. I upload my own designs to the Spoonflower site so I can purchase them and sew with them at a rate that I was never able to do before, so I’m very grateful for that. I’ve since found manufacturers for our swedish dish cloths, tea towels, washi tape, and enamel pins. Manufacturing is always a big risk since there are often high minimums and sometimes it’s hard to get samples of things before you begin working with a certain company. It was really important to me that these businesses were responsive and also ethical and sustainable in their practices. I did a LOT of online research and reached out to other surface designers about their experience manufacturing certain products. I don’t believe in gatekeeping information and have found others that feel the same and are willing to share where they get things made. One thing I’ve learned is to leave a lot of time for communication and production. It doesn’t pay off to rush the manufacturing process and you want to make sure the product turns out exactly how you want it!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.emlyruthprints.com
- Instagram: @emilyruthprints
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/emilyruthprints
Image Credits
Brave Dragonfly Photography, Jill Ferrell Photography