How Beautiful Kitchen Towels Spark Joy and Community with Jodi Kostelnik

Have you ever found yourself in a lunch line, only to end up deep in conversation with a complete stranger and walk away inspired? 

That’s exactly how today’s episode of Joy Curated begins, with a chance encounter at an Atlanta market with Jodi Kostelnik, the creative force behind The Neighborgoods. 

Jodi’s vibrant, food-themed dish towels and gifts now brighten kitchens worldwide — and she’s just opened her own flagship store inside D.C.'s Reagan National Airport.

In our conversation, we explore how following a curious creative spark led Jodi from designing holiday gifts for friends to building an international business around playful and beautiful kitchen essentials. 

You’ll hear about her journey from graphic design burnout to embracing hands-on creativity, and why she believes the beautiful tools you surround yourself with matter so much in your home. 

Products featured in this episode:

Neighborgoods products at Berry & Basil

For more thoughtfully curated joy, check out berryandbasil.com and follow the store for all the latest products, events and sales at @theberrybasil

Follow the show at @joycuratedpodcast (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok) and make sure to subscribe to us on the podcast app of your choice. It helps us grow and share the story of all the brands we love. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

You know those moments where you're just trying to get lunch and you end up next to someone in line, and 20 minutes later you've completely forgotten about the food. That was us in Atlantic Market this past February. Instant connection, totally finding my kind of people. Jody Kostelnik is the founder and artist behind the neighborhoods. Screen printed food-famed dish towels, tote bags, cards, and more. Now in over 1,000 stores worldwide, including, I'm very happy to say, Fairy and Facebook. She also just opened up her own flagship store inside Reagan National Airport in DC, which honestly is freaking amazing. So make sure and stop in there if you're passing through. And here's the part that really got me. After we met, Jody went back to her studio and packaged two towels specifically with Barry and Basil in mind. Unprompted, nobody does that. That is not a vendor move. That is a person who went back to her studio after a 20-minute conversation and made something beautiful for a store that she had just met. That's the kind of move that shows you how passionate someone is about their craft, but also how much they genuinely care about other people and want to bring joy into their lives. And I will just say, can you guess which tells you that it's together with two? We will get into that. But first he asked us some very deep and surprisingly personal questions about our feelings on blueberries. So there's that. Today we're talking about following a creative instinct all the way. Building a real business from a holiday gift idea and why the beautiful things in your kitchen matter more than you might think. Fair warning by the end of this episode, you will want new dish towels. So let's get started. So welcome, Jodi, to Story Curated. Uh, thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here and to chat with you. So before we get into everything, when we met in Atlanta, what was your first impression of me and Angie? And and what I guess we were in line getting food, but what was your take on that story?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

I was actually in the process of developing our blueberry design. And I know that when we were gonna make our blueberry, we were gonna pair it with a basil, which it exists now. And you picked up a shout.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

And I I looked at your tag, your name tag, and it's a berry basil, and I just felt like I needed to get your thoughts on my berry, um my berry towel, uh, because you know, we have all of our puns and our sayings on our towels, and blueberry was tricky for us because we want to, you know, like don't be blue is like the typical, I guess, but then we didn't we want to keep it positive. So we we really like took a while to figure out our shake your bluety. And so I wanted to get your opinion since your name was Barry and Blue, so I just started chatting you up, and and you were both very, very welcoming of the chat and give me your thoughts. I feel like you both voted you liked shake your bluety stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Yes, you were there are a few you liked. It was unanimous, yes. I love that. And yes, I just think when you meet somebody and can feel the passion that they have for what they're working on, and uh and we just hit it off. And I feel like that's something that is so fun and so real, and um and it's it was just fun to chat with you. And so I knew we had gone by your booth a couple of times and we had said we need to order those. And yeah I always say it was serendipitous that you happen to be working on a berry and basil grouping, but that yeah, it was just one of those amazing meant-to-be moments. So but let's get into your brand and neighbor goods. Uh, where did that even start? How did that start?

SPEAKER_00 4:20

So it started 12 years ago. I actually used to, I used to live in New York. I currently live in DC, and I used to run my own design studio, so like graphic design. Well, okay, I'll take even a further step back. So I graduated college, moved to New York, and I got a job as a graphic designer. That's what I went to school for. I also went for illustration and marketing and got a job. I had like a real job for maybe a year and a half. And my first real job was in hindsight, great, but like when I first, you know, got out of college and it was my first job, we had to do everything. Like it was a very it was a small business, and so they made us do our own invoices, and we had to meet with the clients and like also do the design work, and I had to do the estimates, and I was like, you know, fresh out of college, and I was just like, why don't you do everything? You know, like oh, but it was a great learning experience, and so now I'm grateful. But it did, I did get burnt out quickly, so I quit that job, yeah, learned a lot. It quit it in a year because I just like it was a lot of a lot of late nights, and then I went to some huge corporate um like ad agency, and I worked in pharmaceuticals, which was the to the total opposite, where it it was funny because I was like, oh my god, I have to do everything at the other place, and then this one there was somebody to do the estimates, somebody to do the invoices, somebody to do the editing, where I just sat around then and I was bored. You know, I only did the design work, so I guess be careful what you wish for. And then be being there, I got bored because I was used to like, you know, have my time be filled with all kinds of things. And so I started picking up design work on the side, like freelance design. And so that was, you know, early in my career. It kind of took off, you know, one client told another client, and I it just I started getting busy with my side work, and I was like, you know, I'm still I don't have that many responsibilities right now in life. And so I quit my job and I started my own like freelance design company. I could say company, but it was like me in my room. And then so that's how that started, and I did that for several years, maybe like eight years. And I would say about five, six years in, it was great, got all my business through word of mouth. I did anything and everything. And and through that, I would work on some designs that were like really corporate, you know. But I if there was a client that let me do what I wanted to do more, like I would always add like illustrations in it, because that's what I love to do. And then eventually I I like honed in on my style, and like my style is kind of like what you what I do now, but it was more like playful, colorful, always uh had an illustration to it. So did that for a long time, getting burnt out there too, because of course, my first job, I work a lot, and then working for yourself, you work even more. So I went to a design conference, and I never did things like that because I just worked by myself in my room by myself, and I was like, I need a community, I need to go to this conference. I just like need to get out of my own space and meet other people and just figure something out because I was just hitting a roadblock. And so at this conference, all the sessions you go to and all that, and they're like, you should have a niche, like have a specialty. And I was like, Well, what's my niche? And like, what and they're like, Whatever your most fun job of the year is, like whatever you you enjoy the most, make that be your niche. And so I was trying to think, like, what's my most fun job? And I would always make like home-baked goods for my clients every year for Christmas, and then packaging those was my favorite job. So it wasn't actually clients that I had, it was a client I made for myself because I enjoyed baking, I enjoyed, you know, food. So making the packaging for these cookies and hot chocolate and stuff I make every year, it was my favorite job. So this is getting to how the neighborhood started. I'm loving this though, I'm loving all of it. So that was gonna be my new niche is like food, food packaging, food design, all of that. But I didn't really have any experience other than my own projects. And so I just started illustrating recipes. I started going to the farmer's market and illustrating stuff I'd pick up and and I would put that on my design website just to have more like food themed things on my website. And at that time, it was it was the fall, and and just random side note, like I was always living in New York, but my husband was in law school at the time, and we we randomly lived in DC for three months in his fall of his senior year because he did some something with law school. And so I was I I was in DC and I did it's funny because I live in DC now, so it's all it all like came full circle. I didn't have that many friends because like we were only here for three months, you know, it's hard to meet people, and so I was thinking, okay, I'll go to these like design events, like AIGA is a design group, and and through that I learned about a screen printing, local screen printer, and they had classes, they had workshops, and I was like, Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take that like as a way to just like meet people and get out there, and then I was like, and I'll make these, take this workshop, and I'll I'll print my new recipe designs on dish shelves for Christmas because it was it was the fall and it was around November and and that was my whole plan to make Christmas presents for my friends and family that year. And so I started talking to a few friends who take who screen print and they were all like, well, they're like it's it's a long, it's a hard process, it's really time consuming. I think if you really want to do this, like to make these presents, you should you should just take a semester course, you know, don't just do a weekend workshop. And I was like, you're right. Because at that time I was looking to like get out of my own space working by myself, and it was just the right time for me to to like really do something creative for myself, like get my hands dirty again. And so we moved back to New York because it was only three months in DC. I signed up for a screen printing class at School of Visual Arts in New York, and that's how it all started. The class was great because they taught you how to screen print, but you could really bring your own projects, do what you want, and then you can use their studio space to to print in in off hours of your your class time. And so I did that. I took the class. First thing I printed was a dish towel. I ordered all these dish towels, started printing. Like I had nothing to do with them, you know, just I printed a lot. And then it was fun to be able to make your own. Like before I was the designer and I had clients, and I'd do what they told me, and then they would get the product manufactured, and like, you know, I would never see the end. I see the end product, but it wasn't like all mine, you know. But this was a way I could make something, create it, actually make it, and then it's like, oh, that was exciting.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

So I love that because it went from a side gig to a hobby technically, because you were making it just for your friends and family, yeah. And to a passion that uh, you know, so you talked about baking all the all the goods and and it's part of the gift, and and I just love that because it's it it just says that your your focus really in the at the beginning of all of this was uh making other people happy, you know, with baked goods. Of course, that makes people feel happy. But pretty things. Exactly. Was the kitchen always a big part of your life, or was it just kind of something, you know, where you would bake on the side, or was it always something that was just a big part of your life?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

I would say it was not always a part of my life. Growing up, I just it just wasn't a big part of my life. I I came from a big fit, you know, family and I lived with my grandma. My parents and my grandma lived with us also. And you know, Italian grandma, she's always making food, and just food was a big part of my life. But like for me personally, I I was never as involved. And in college, I would eat the grossest things. I would eat like ketchup sandwiches.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

So nothing. And the 10 cent ramen packages, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, and and so it's funny because then once I moved and lived on my own, and I was living with my boyfriend at the time, who's not my husband, I started to bake and cook more. And it's funny because people were like, that's not you, you know, it wasn't what I used to be. Like I would eat really gross things. Because even when I met my husband, I would make the Jody special, and he he to this day is like, I'm never gonna eat the Jodi special. That's disgusting. It's terrifying. But I got better at it, followed the recipes, and then it became I enjoyed it and it became a passion. And like you said, it was just I love d doing it because it it brought people joy, and I feel like that is a big part of what the neighborhoods is about, is just adding like a smile to people's day.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

So yeah. So all those people in your life, at what point when you said I'm gonna make towels uh full time as an artist, what what kind of feedback did you get from that?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Well, so okay, so I took the screen printing class, I retook it three times, and so just like I kept taking it, I have the studio space, and then we moved to DC. So I lost my studio space. But at that time I was already like a year and a half, and I was like, okay, I was still doing my design business, so that was still making me money, you know, and that was my main business. But I thought, okay, the neighborhoods is is my side business, and so it felt like it was taking up enough that I could start outsourcing the printing when we moved, and I didn't have to print anymore, which freed up my time to do other things with it. And then when we moved to DC, I overlapped the businesses for about four years. And it there just became a point where where I was like, uh, I'm just enjoying the neighborhoods more. Like personally, I just liked that work more. And it was kind of the growth of it was halted because I I was like, I know if I put more time into it, it would grow, but I just never had the time to put into it because I ran a whole other business. And so I kind of flip-flopped them four years in, where I made the neighborhoods my main business, and made my design business, my secondary business, where I was still making the money from that. You know, I kept some clients that I like, but so just flip-flopped it. And I was everybody was supportive in my life. So I feel grateful for that.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

From the process and the design process that uh the screen printing you do, the packaging you do, I mean, you do it all by hand. I mean, you are a true small business. Have has that evolved? Have you added on more people in your realm? Because I would think you have to at this point.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Yes, yes, and growing you have to for sure. And I even say, like screen printing, I learned it, I did it. I'm really great glad that I did do that, but I'm also glad that I don't do that part anymore because I outsourced to another small business. They're located in Wisconsin, they're great, they're called Orchard Street Press. Anybody love a screen printer, and they're way better at it than me. So sort of let them do that, so outsource that part, and then over the years, yeah, I did do a lot of things myself. I would say, like I think it was even when I was still doing my design job, I did hire uh my first employee, and she was part-time, and she was with me for a while, like four years, and she really helped me grow. So I would you know, she would just be doing the extra things, like filling the orders, but still, we're still hand packaging everything, we're still folding everything and doing all that. And I now have three full-time salary employees, which was scary to get a first salary employee. I I had my employee who's still with me, she came on and I was like, Okay, I don't know if I need like an extra person right now, but I think you'll be great. Like, how many hours do you know where she's like, I'm gonna be full-time, mommy salary? I was like, Oh, well, I don't know how to do that. But I learned, I learned how to do that, and it was scary, but it was such a good step to take in growing. And she really helped me grow, and then just again, we just kept adding on. And I've had people who've been with me for a couple years. My current marketing person started just as a part-time packaging, helping me here and there, and then she grew into doing more stuff and you know, working in the studio, and then she said, Oh, well, I really like to do marketing more. Can I try that out? And so it's like, okay. And I all I'd be like, growing the team is scary because I would do all of that and it's hard to let go, but you need to. You need to like let go of things, and I've learned and it's great. It's great to have people help you because that's how you grow.

unknown 17:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

If that's your goal to grow, some people want to stay small and do it all, and that's a different business model, and that's great too. So yeah, that's what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

I just think there's so many similarities with you know, where Angie and I starting our store and taking a look at what we do best and what we can ask other people to help us with is such a huge part of owning a business. And yeah, so I always say in my kitchen, I it's kind of a showcase for all of the things in in the store that we love because why else would we have it in the store if I didn't also want to have it in my kitchen? So, what does your kitchen look like? Are your towels everywhere in there? Oh yeah. Our dish towel drawer is overflowing at all times. So are they seconds? Are they like things that didn't work out or are they your favorites at this point? Because you should surround yourself with like the ones that make you the happiest.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Well, they're all my babies. I love it. But yeah, and like, you know, you use them and they get old. So some some of their like older I'm like, oh, they're the favorite. I like the brighter ones. But then I cut them up and use them as my rags for cleaning. So I still have them around for that. And yeah, and with the sponge cloth we use. Yeah, we have all the products in the kitchen. We got it. And that's yeah. Oh, good. I'm glad. Yeah, and then I've been burn burning our new candles in the kitchen. These have been a hit. I do like to make product categories that like you said, you you want to use them all. And so like I want I'm also my own customer because I don't want to make something that I don't use. So I had a I had a manufacturer who was trying to push me, like, oh, we we do stationary, like their thing with stationary and calendars, and I was like, This is not me. I was like, I can't I just don't want to. I don't want to, I don't use that. It's just not something that I love, but there are people who do, and I feel like that's also part of growing the business and the direction it went into the more kitchen-y kind of gifts and kitchen because that's what I like more.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Right, right. So what I keep coming back to as we talk about all of this is that it's not just that your towels, I mean they're well made, that goes without saying, but they're beautiful and they make me happy. And I think beauty in the kitchen is that something that people don't talk enough about. And I think Angie and I, and we we stress it, we have all of our pretty things we say in the store, and then we have our useful things, and then it's a double, you know, it's a double power bonus when they're beautiful and useful.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah, I always like to say form and function. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

So you've built a whole business around uh the idea that kitchen things can be beautiful. Where does that come from you uh personally and your personality? Where I mean, do you when your kitchen looks good and feels right, does that actually change how you show up in it to you? I I think so.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

I I love I'm just saying that it's silly, but I say like at the neighborhoods, but I follow our A B C's, we always always be cute. Because I just I just love cute things. So like this is a glass I found at the thrift store and I l enjoy drinking out of my glass with stripes versus just the plain one because it makes me a little happier. Yeah, and I just like I don't know, my sister has all all the same mugs, you know. There's people who like to have everything matched, but I'm the person who likes I like a colorful one. What am I feeling today? You know, like I want to pull this mug because it makes me smile, you know, or like flowers today. So yes, that's me. Like I just I like to add color, I like to add fun. And even when I'm making, say, like my breakfast, my avocado toast, I'll like put my tomatoes on a certain way and then add the other things to make it like a design kind of.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

So artist that would make sense. I love that. It always amazes me that you know my personality that morning, my mug of my first cup of coffee makes such a huge difference to me. And you know, and if I'm wiping my countertop with a with a sponge cloth, if I could maybe smile while I'm you know scrubbing away it, yeah, there's just something about it that just it's important. I agree. I think under people underestimate how much the beauty of their space affects how they cook and gather. Is there a difference between something pretty and something bringing you joy? I think we kind of touched on that a little bit about because I think your brand lives in both of those worlds. It brings me joy and it's pretty. Yeah, are you saying pretty versus function?

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Does it bring you joy because it's pretty Yeah I think that's part of it for sure. It's just something that brings you joy because you think it's beautiful is bring it into your home, bring it into your life and your everyday and that that will that's part of your surroundings and I think d definitely influence your your daily life. Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Okay, so we've been in the deep end of beauty and joy and all that good fun stuff. But I want to bring it back down to earth for a second for the person that that is maybe listening that has an idea that they have not acted on yet. Is there somebody that has a product idea or you know what kind of advice would you give them if they haven't pulled the trigger yet where do they even start if they have something they're passionate about. Okay. I think you just start.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

That's the thing is it's gonna evolve from where you are right now to what you want it to be. It's never gonna be like you you want to wait until it's ready, wait until it's ready to start or to to like launch it or whatever. But people like to be part of the process. And they like that you are so passionate about what you do and 'cause I I have retailers that were with me since the very beginning when I didn't do it right. Like I did not have my 50% margin that you need to sell things and I'm so grateful that they worked with me. But I started I just didn't have the right margins and I didn't totally know what I was doing but I got there eventually and I feel like I learned along the way and I think that's the way you learn too and you just have to like put yourself out there and do it. So Etsy is a great place to easiest like it doesn't cost money. I mean it costs a little bit of money each post but that's you don't have to build a website. Although these days building websites probably even easier like you can just have GPT. I don't know. But so yeah put on get yourself online because you gotta be there. I always say to like Instagram or you know whatever social media you like best put yourself out there on that. And I feel like yes it's not as good as it used to be like oh you have so many followers and they only show they don't show your stuff to anybody but I think that doesn't matter because you just keep showing up there. Keep showing up put your process put like hey I'm starting this business here's where I'm at now. Start posting that and people start following you because they're interested or they like what you're doing and then once you do launch your product you'll have an audience already versus not versus like okay it's ready I'm here and then you don't have your audience yet but if somebody's on the journey with you and you know along the way like they feel long vested and then I just think you just gotta start. That's the whole thing. Yeah to start.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

So you're in over 600 stores correct? I think it's like a thousand now. Oh my gosh. We are growing yeah it's crazy. Oh my gosh how exciting for you so I I just love now that you know when I travel I'll see something and I'll be like oh my gosh I know her I know that's joking. And I can just tell by the look of and and again and the uh the design elements of it that are so uh so you and I I just love the story and and how we've come together. You know uh of course we have the package towels with the berry and basil in there together in store and and then also some of the the cute as a button Swedish dish towels. We're gonna be expanding that line as we go and just bringing in some of the individual lines and and all that kind of good stuff. But oh yes yay I got yeah I know we love these two yeah they're so useful and and it's just such a joy to chat with you from the moment we met in line to now and having your products in the store and I think that's what this is all about is creating something that that you love and finding the people that love it right alongside you. And it's just been a blast. I can't wait to see you next year. That's the other fun thing we get to see everybody that we've gotten to meet every year at Market and I feel like yeah going to the shows and meeting people in person is so it's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

And like you said like I love working with people who truly love our product you know and that just makes it all all the better. Like you love what you sell you love what you do and you know working together it's just that's that's the dream. We're living always we're living the dream I love it.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Well thank you Jody wish you all the best and we we just love having the towels and we love you. So we'll see you soon.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Excited to be working with you and yeah let's definitely do something custom I love together.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

I need yes I need that in my life oh my goodness I loved chatting again with Jody. This conversation was exactly what I hoped it would be. You know I think there's this idea that caring about how your kitchen looks is somehow frivolous like it's a nice extra if you have time for it but it's really not the point. And that is what I love about everything we talked about today is that it pushes back on that pretty hard. The things that you surround yourself with in your kitchen, the tools, the colors, the little details that make you smile when you walk in, those aren't decorations. They're intentional. They've set the tone for how you show up how you cook how you gather that's not frivolous. That's actually the whole point. And if this conversation sparked something for you if there's an idea sitting in the back of your head that you haven't acted on yet I hope you heard Jody's story today and felt a little nudged. You don't have to have it all figured out you know a business idea is kind of like a recipe. You can read about it all day long, but at some point you just have to get in the kitchen and let the meal come together. We will include all of the links to follow Jody and the neighborhoods in our show notes. You can also take a look at some of her designs at berryandbasil.com or stop in and see them in person. They are so so cute. And of course don't forget to follow Joy Curated in your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. This show is written and hosted by me, Cindy Peterson and produced by the amazing and talented Casey Brown at Teal Hat Communications. So until next time go buy a pretty towel but above all else I hope you find your lunch line people blessings