We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lafe James a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lafe, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The concept for my business was born out of a need to create something, some specific inspiration, sudden material availability, and good timing of all those. I was searching for a project to help take me away from my computer workstation and get me up on my feet more. I was also tossing around the idea of joining some local arts & crafts markets, and was beginning to conceptualize what that should look like. Poking around at some woodwork ideas, I came across a tutorial of someone transferring a small family photo to a piece of wood using a simple but intriguing process. As a life long print designer, I wanted to try it out. I came up with some designs, got the supplies, and with a little trial and error I got some nice results. This was a different way to get an image printed onto a different material, in this case wood, and I was all about the process and its possibilities for creating unique wall art.

This was 2017 in South Florida, and just after Hurricane Irma. I was looking at a ton of leftover plywood that was used as window shutters during the storm. I saw this stack of wood and thought, how cool would it be to do Florida-themed image transfers on this hurricane plywood? I bought a few tools, gathered the supplies, laid out the template and ended up “printing” a set of old Florida maps, and South Florida nature photography. The process I came up with yields a unique piece of vintage-style wood wall art. Distressed, imperfect, and weathered; I felt this was a product that was truly one-of-a-kind.

I put together a brand concept built around this wood print product line; a logo, some business cards, and a simple product display stand. I wanted to test the concept at a local arts & crafts show, so I signed up, setup, and the feedback was positive. Lots of great customer interactions and a lot more sales than anticipated. This would be the event that served as the initial fuel and motivation to create additional product lines, and build my small business over the years.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello! My name is Lafe James Flynn. I’m an artist, designer, and small business owner. Since 2018, I’ve been operating the 1923 Trading Co., a small Wood Print shop with a mission to design and create high-quality, coastal-inspired goods for your home and personal style.

The Wood Print, my flagship product, is what set the tone of the 1923 Trading Co. brand. This product is a unique take on wall art. The handmade print method gives our art a signature vintage style that helped develop the brand into what it is today. The Wood Print opened the door for additional product lines, some of which being the 1923 wood Sunglasses and Watches.

My goal is to create or curate items that my collectors would love just as much as I do. Using the 1923 Trading Co. as a launchpad for product ideas has allowed me a creative freedom that not only feels great as a creator, but also allows me to provide one-of-a-kind products to the market.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resiliency means the ability to bounce back from a setback. When starting a small business it sometimes feels like one setback after another, and it can be. It’s learning from and overcoming those setbacks that’s truly productive in the long run. That said, I do have a story about resilience. I spent months building my first web store. I setup the business name, the branding, the website, and social accounts. I learned to build in and navigate Shopify, and learned the ins and outs of FB and IG advertising. I took all the product shots, shot and edited videos, wrote ad copy. So many tutorials, notes, and bookmarks. So much time invested, This was a full-blown brand with the focus on a single product. The day I went live with the site and rolled out the advertising I was sent a patent warning for the product I was advertising. That scared me so bad I shut the store down that night. My heart was not into the product enough to deal with the anxiety of the potential legal ramifications. I lost complete interest. I wasted so much time and energy, but didn’t let myself get into a slump. Lesson learned. I took the framework of what I had just created and used it as guidance for the next couple of brands I would eventually create. One of which is the business I still run today.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

As a (very) small business, I think this is a great question to chime in on. My business started as a craft business, and I was in it for a slow build. It was a side project that slowly grew, so the need for a large sum of capital was not necessary. Personally, I did not want to start this business in debt. I took $500 of my own cash to invest in the initial materials and tools. That investment allowed me to create a small product line for me to test in my market. From that point on I was able to take the profits from my sales and put them back into my business. I should note that holding a full-time job while doing this was imperative to my growth. Not having to pay myself gave me the ability to grow my workshop, develop new products, and do it all relatively stress-free.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.1923tradingco.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/1923tradingco
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1923tradingco
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@1923TradingCo

Image Credits
Photographer: Jeanne Cortés