Today we’d like to introduce you to Wes Aderhold and Jordan Dorso.
Wes and Jordan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am an artist and actor and like so many in Los Angeles went through the highs and lows of trying to make it in this city. Aside from art being a passion, I wanted to find a way to monetize it. Growing up I would always hand draw birthday and holiday cards for friends and family – and that is what served as the founding idea for my company.
In 2016 I started an Etsy page with two designs, no clue what I was doing, but a fire to make something of myself. Customers started to purchase my cards, which were hand-drawn and painted at the time, and so I continued to add designs. After six months I decided to take a giant leap in reaching out to retailers and move the business into wholesale. There was an overwhelmingly positive response and stores were placing orders as fast as I could keep up with them. After only six months, we landed our first big, national chain which was Paper Source.
From there, business snowball – we were approached by Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, West Elm and had publications in Brides Magazine, Men’s Health and Huffington Post named me one of the Entrepreneurs to watch for that year!
This year, we took another bold and exciting leap. We rebrand our company from the artist formerly known as Chalkscribe to our new company Pop + Paper.
Pop and Paper is already off to an incredible start as we have expanded into corporate branding, taste-making, and design. We have just partnered with VENMO and launched a Holiday line for MACY’S.
As for our business dynamic – Wes is the creative and mastermind behind all of the designs and runs the day to day operations and his partner, Jordan is the CEO and master strategist of the company.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No road is ever smooth and that is what makes the journey fun and exciting…. and educational!
We have definitely been lucky and worked extremely hard for our success. I’d say the road has been more like “a Staircase.” You take a step, you learn something new which lets you take another step. Sometimes you get risky and you skip a step or take two steps.
We had little insight into how the stationery world worked so the struggles, in the beginning, were mostly production struggles of finding the right printing, maximizing supply cost, etc. Oh… and the biggest of all, not having enough time in the day! We worked late into the night for a long time in the beginning.
Tell us more about your art.
We are a stationery and design company, based in Los Angeles, CA. We specialize in Greeting Cards, Custom Designs and Logos, and art prints.
We are known for our wit and sense of humor. Our cards are chic, irreverent, witty, and sport a hint of pop culture. We pride ourselves on the quality of our products, as well as being culturally relevant and specific. Our designs are efficient and instantly recognizable.
We are specifically known for our You Slay Birthday card, which was the first Bey-Day card on the market.
We are definitely original. We are incredibly diligent about making sure that our designs are unique and have not been seen before, we’re not interested in following market trends.
I think what sets us apart, is that we have never followed any “stationery norms” or conventional stationery steps. We’ve blazed our own trail and created a specific voice in the market.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Fearlessness – If we had let our lack of knowledge or connections carry any sway, we never would have gotten started. We may not have known exactly what to do, but we knew we had an amazing product.
Creativity – Finding ways to take what we see and hear every day and make it funny, give it a twist, an edge. Blending artistry so our designs are high quality, with the ability to make the text efficient and pop.
Persistence – We knocked, or rather pounded, on every door we could find. We worked through problems to find solutions. We followed up with costumers. We listen to feedback.
Hard Effing Work – “I don’t know” has never been in our vocabulary. We are always learning and evolving and finding new ways to keep our company fresh and cutting edge. We enjoy our work, so we work hard at it. Owning your own company means that at the end of the day it is your responsibility that the job gets done.
HUMOR – If you can’t laugh, life isn’t worth living. Humor can get you through just about anything. Work aside, being able to laugh is what keeps us going every day, especially on the harder days.
Pricing:
- Greeting Cards $5.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pop-paper.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @popandpaper
- Facebook: facebook.com/popandpaper
- Other: www.etsy.com/popandpapershop , popandpaper.faire.com
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