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Meet Laurel Tincher of Dwimmer

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurel Tincher.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Laurel. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Nearly every project I undertake has the same mission. Create new worlds and ways of living, invite people to explore and enjoy them. I’m a little bit anthropologist, futurist, naturalist, and stylist. My education and work background includes filmmaking, sustainable design and biomimicry, photography and fashion design. During my years at film school, I worked for a songwriter, a gallery curator, an eco-jewelry designer and a theatrical multimedia event planner. Also during this time, I co-founded two companies, one a music-based event production house and the other a gourmet dessert food truck and catering business. Working as a producer and art director on films and events led me to the realization that I wanted to create a lifestyle brand. I want to create an immersive world, a way of life and narrative which is both long-lasting and evolving.

I developed the concept for Dwimmer over a few years, sometimes isolating myself and staying up for days at a time with stacks of post it notes, books, inspiring scents or sounds. The word Dwimmer, which means ‘having many guises’ or ‘magical, mysterious’ appeared to me while I was living in Australia after college. I immediately scribbled it on the jeans I was wearing then went and bought the domain name, knowing I was going to want it later. While pursuing an MFA in Fashion Design I found myself gravitating towards areas of the fashion industry that my school didn’t emphasize. One professor pulled me aside and encouraged me to pursue what I was good at and enjoyed rather than sticking to the track the school wanted me to follow.

My father is a master craftsman and custom home builder. We had dreamed for years about collaborating on environments, products and events, and when he saw the concept for Dwimmer and my initial designs for a necktie as the brand’s signature product, we decided we wanted to work together to bring it to fruition. We developed prototypes, applied for a patent and perfected our manufacturing, which he oversees in the San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up.

I’ve been able to integrate my passion for sustainability and we continue to improve upon this. We use high quality materials and methods to create products that will last a long time, and we recycle all of our unused materials. Recently, we have started collaborating with and donating to a number of organizations doing great work, such as Seed Savers and the Planet Bee Foundation.

While we were in the development stages of the necktie collection, we kept coming back to the importance of creating a full-sensory and customized experience, combining the past and the future, and bringing people together with the brand. We started experimenting with wearable tech, connecting to social networks and creating exclusive high-end experiences through the product. Each necktie style has its own name, which comes from a historical person who lived a unique or inspiring life. To add to that we have given each individual tie a unique QR code to grant the owner access to a private portal which we can continue to build upon as the brand grows.

Today, I am really excited about where Dwimmer is headed. I’m designing new products for our collection and we are starting to collaborate with stores, events and musicians. I am working on full sensory, cinematic lifestyle experiences using Augmented Reality, magic is in the making!

Recently I started writing a blog and I released an app I developed called Aether, which helps you share travel plans so you always know which of your friends is going to be wherever you are going. I hope to create products which better integrate people with technology. Rather than staring at distracting and isolating screens for hours, we can enhance and augment our lives in more efficient and elegant ways.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
As pretty much any entrepreneur will tell you, starting a business presents you will challenges you never even imagined you would be facing. Having experience from two prior businesses and working closely with a mentor in the fashion industry early on prevented me from making a lot of mistakes, but getting to where we are today has been a taxing process.

We wanted every detail on our first product to be perfect, so it took months of prototyping and surveying for us to be satisfied with the design of the necktie. Even now we keep tweaking it and improving the presentation and packaging. As a small company without many sales, it can be very expensive to order materials in small quantities. Figuring out how to make our products up to our standards, in the U.S., and at a price point people will buy has been an ongoing discussion.

Applying for a patent has been far more complex than we predicted. Our lawyers have said that this is the most challenging case they have ever worked on, when they originally thought it would be simple.

One of the hardest things for myself and many entrepreneurs is persevering day after day when you’re working long hours by yourself and it seems nothing you’re doing is getting anywhere. I love working for myself, making my own schedule and being able to work from anywhere, but it can get lonely and frustrating.

Probably the most challenging part has been getting into the fashion industry with no network or contacts and building the right team. Trying to get meetings with buyers, stylists or media doesn’t get very far when you don’t know anyone and have no reputation. And if customers don’t know your brand or haven’t seen it somewhere they respect, they aren’t going to buy it. We tried hiring people onto our team who made a lot of promises about who they know and what they could do for us, but ultimately, they were either being dishonest or just couldn’t deliver what they claimed. So, we’ve really had to keep a small, trustworthy team and build the brand from the ground up.

Dwimmer – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Dwimmer is a lifestyle brand re-imagining luxury for today’s world. We are creating products, environments and experiences that question and improve upon the way we live. The brand acts as a bridge between nature and technology, past and future, male and female, darkness and light. I want to make your life seamless, elegant, rich with sensation and better than the movies.

We decided to launch the brand with our signature necktie collection. The neckties represent our values and the lifestyle we are creating. Each necktie is exquisitely handcrafted in California out of high quality materials. We make them for men and women, the method of tying is easier than a traditional tie and always the correct length. The metal accent piece at the neck adds a touch of the future, and the unique names and QR codes on each tie provide a customized, immersive experience for the wearer. The necktie is an iconic piece of American culture and it hasn’t changed in a century. People wear ties when they want to look their best, impress at a business meeting or out socializing with friends. Ties are a social fashion item and we hope to shift the image of them away from a corporate power symbol towards a collective, inclusive statement.

We plan to head more into the realm of Augmented Reality and tech fashion in the coming years.
As we create new products as well as events and retail experiences, we will continue to combine quality traditional craftsmanship with a look to the future. We believe that luxury is about telling a story, making each person feel special. The customization of a product, the way it smells when you open it, the details. Dwimmer is about bringing people together, creating memories and new ways of living. I think many companies right now are only focused in tech, or are trying to hold on to the past. We are really proud to be embracing both and aim to show a positive example of how one might choose to live in the world of tomorrow.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My definition of success includes three main criteria.

Have I conveyed my vision and ideas in the best possible way? Do people understand them, ask questions, engage themselves with my work?

Do I get to continue doing what I love? Have I attracted an audience or customer base who support my work?

Have a made a positive impact on nature and/or humanity?

Also important is that I maintain a reasonable work/life balance. Working insane numbers of hours is unsustainable, unhealthy and unsuccessful.

Pricing:

  • Women’s Neckwear $150
  • Men’s Neckwear $150
  • Aether App (free)

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Natasha Wilson, Ashley Ann Harris, Tilde by Matilde, Jess Adams, Stephen Paynie Payne, Vanessa Barbosa, Tristan O’Brien, Zeth duBois, Rich Tincher

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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