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Shopping for Success
Vivien Hoffpauir | Vivcore | vivcore.com
Vivcore, the company that encompasses the Cute Salad and Candy Violet clothing lines, may never have gotten off the ground if not for a little luck. And that luck didn't quite seem like a boon at the time.
Vivien Hoffpauir had just graduated from art school in England when she moved to the outskirts of Washington, DC in 2002. A snafu with her work permit meant that she couldn't get a job. Left with a lot of time to kill, she turned to...shopping! On one excursion, she came across what she thought was a small brass tiara but was actually kanzashi, a traditional Japanese-style hair ornament.
"It was pure dumb luck. I found this hair ornament that was listed as kanzashi, Googled it, and ended up spending the next few years making those and selling them," she says. Making kanzashi is incredibly time-consuming—each piece requires about eight hours of work—so Vivien began shifting her attention to other items. Still, the idea of kanzashi stuck with her. "I was really interested in bringing traditional Japanese aesthetics into modern street wear. I started with T-shirts and then moved to little purses, and things just kept growing," she says.
In the early days, Vivien did everything. "I used to work all week, weekends, evenings," she says. These days, she primarily handles the design work and outsources the manufacturing of her pieces. She's the sole employee at Vivcore, but her company has seen 40 to 50 percent growth each year. She's able to live off of the money she makes, though she has a gainfully employed husband to rely on too.
Her advice? Start small and don't get discouraged. "It always takes a while for your audience to find you. If things don't go gangbusters right away, just hang in there. People will find you."
Selling Your Imagination
Candy and Nick Robertson | Noferin | noferin.com
The fictional world of Carrara Island was born in the minds of Candy and Nick Robertson, a husband-and-wife team based in Australia. Together they paint, write stories, and make collectible wood figures based on their fictional island inhabitants, the Pecanpals.
That magical world was born out of the pair's common interest in children's stories. They met in high school, but it wasn't until Candy was working on a degree in graphic design that they decided to create their own characters, says Nick. They didn't just stop at creating characters, though; they went right on to craft the entire world of Carrara Island.
Nick says much of their success comes from shared passion. "Having a passion and having someone to guide you and inspire you is important," he says. Another key is Candy's training in graphic design. "Having the desire to achieve something is very important, but without a solid base of knowledge and skills, that desire may be left unfulfilled," says Nick.
Nick offers this advice: "Make something unique that you yourself are proud of. Don't be afraid to ask for help. And don't be afraid to get your name out there. It can be scary putting your passion out into the world, but if you don't, how will anyone else be able to share your dream?"
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