A Hazelmade pop-up display from the very early days of the business.
Last year, I decided it was time for a few changes. Year 11 of Hazelmade was all about investment. I did the not-so-glamorous work of reexamining operations and processes. I hired experts to help me streamline my day-to-day workflows. We worked to make things more efficient and more effective.
I had so many “aha moments” where I finally watched things click. As our new processes started to let Hazelmade run smoother, I watched more time appear in my calendar, and I began to envision what I could do with it.
Retired Mini Note Cards designs with original packaging, and retired Greeting Card designs.
It's been so refreshing looking back at Hazelmade's history. From the beginning days in my apartment, to hiring my first contractor to help fulfill orders, to the present day, in the largest studio space we've had. So much has evolved, and so much has stayed the same.
I'm proud to say that much of our year 11 work is coming to a close. Maybe you've spent some time here, on our new website, a labor of love that finally reflects the slow and quiet space we've always wanted to evoke. Last fall, I completed a professional coaching cohort and a brand strategy deep dive. Both of which helped me reorient toward the roots of Hazelmade: storytelling through the tactile and tangible.
This doesn't just mean shopping Hazelmade in person (though we always encourage you to find a local business that stocks our products). It means we want to create objects that encourage you to stop the scroll. To return to the scratch of pen on paper. To pause at the feeling of soft cotton drying your hands. To tug at a beautiful ribbon and reveal a hand-wrapped gift inspired by a cherished memory.
I feel lucky to create invitations to log off, to put down the screen and to return to the joys a physical object can bring.
This is what I've spent 12 years working back to. It was my motivation in the very beginning, but overtime, owning a business pulls you in a thousand different directions until it can be impossible to remember where you were headed in the first place.
I'm proud that Hazelmade is a space of slow and quiet. In a world moving so fast, competing for our attention and demanding sacrifices to our mental health and focus, I feel lucky to create invitations to log off, to put down the screen and to return to the joys a physical object can bring.
A recent Hazelmade pop-up display from a market last summer.
This is the year of The Story Gifters. The ones craving a return to a slow and intentional world. To a deeper connection, fueled by stories.
We have so much planned, from new product development to new packaging details to new events in our studio and beyond. In many ways, we’re returning home. The front door is unlocked. Please, let yourself in.
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