We were lucky to catch up with Jake Wilson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jake, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Any advice for creating a more inclusive workplace?
For many years I’ve worked in food service and corporate retail settings, all whilst exploring my identity and thus going through transitioning genders. Usually it was accepted, but occasionally resulted in harassment or inhibited my ability to advance in my career. I felt stuck in the monotonous ritual of giving too much of myself for a company that pays minimum wage. Since spring of last year (2023) I’ve decided to take my art background and try to turn it into a space where I can create, without a completed degree or working under someone else. At first it was rocky; cardboard displays would blow off my tiny borrowed table, social anxiety speaking to customers, and not knowing where I belong. Since then, I’ve found a queer community of like-minded artists that put on markets in my city, which led to me meeting other artists that have become friends, small business owners that have wanted to collaborate, and more event coordinators that want to work together to build all of us up as a community. It’s given me an inclusive safe space I feel welcome in, where I’m no longer scared to share my voice, and can be my own catalyst of change.
Jake, 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?
For me, art is an extension of myself. I’m always creating whether that’s digital media, painting, printmaking, leather working, or simple doodles. Even if it wasn’t my means of work, I’d still be doing it out of an act of fulfillment. My partner has joined forces with me in creating, but he does very different work. He picked up the age-old craft of blacksmithing, studying with members in the community that wish to pass down the skills to keep this trade alive. We share the same vision of building our business to share our passions with a queer and inclusive audience as well as other nerds like us. We are typically inspired by pop culture and our personal favorite fandoms. My art especially takes inspiration from traditional tattooing and animation. It makes us happy to connect and share interests with our customers, now regularly shopping with us and getting commissions of their favorite fan art.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
After my first year of testing, troubleshooting, and feeling out the new pivot in my career I’ve figured out what works best for me. For others that may look very different. Medium such as paintings and digital media is all done myself. But for example, my stickers I used to use matte sticker paper to design, print, and cut out all myself. I don’t have the best tools or supplies so it was very time consuming and compared to others wasn’t up to par. People still loved the hand made deigns since it was unique to my brand. After I had the funds I found a local business that offers printing services so I now send them my designs to get vinyl protective material and clean cut out lines. Now my work is professional enough to wholesale price to local businesses for re-sale and I know my customers are confident to use them on their water bottles or as bumper stickers. Those big companies that offer similar services are known to steal designs, ship from further away taking longer to receive, and make it more difficult to get feedback or make changes. Supporting fellow small businesses is an important value we hold.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My business partner also happens to be my relationship partner, we’ve been together for almost 3 years now. He has always supported me to pursue my dreams and pushed me to try this peddler/vendor route after needing to leave my old job. Without him, I probably would have stayed in a toxic workplace environment and lacked the confidence to do something as risky as doing art full-time. It started as a side-gig while I stayed in retail but as I planned my top-surgery and was in a slow recovery from a concussion, I no longer felt safe to return to a minimum wage job that risked my safety in the workplace. They still expected me to fulfill my full job description of operating a forklift, lifting heavy items on ladders, and more while experiencing extreme dizziness. I knew I couldn’t trust them to have my safety as a priority looking further. Months after surgery, I can lift again but still working to regain muscle and strength back and the concussion symptoms still give me daily headaches which means limiting how much light, sound, reading, and focusing I do. This impacts how I digitally design products and attend longer events. His unwavering support means a lot to me, right now especially. Regardless of the hardships and added stress it takes to learn and adapt to my new situation, I find myself much happier than I’ve ever been having my partner, family, and friends support me through it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Knivespens.com
- Instagram: @knivesandpens2500
- Other: https://linktr.ee/knivesandpens2500
