The Paper Plane Cocktail Hour: Let the Good Times Roll

Sometimes there's more to a name than meets the eye. Take the greeting card brand Spaghetti & Meatballs. Its moniker refers to Founder Marie Castiglione's Italian heritage, her partnership with her sister — and even hints at her creative process. Marie sits down with Amy and Sarah to share how her art director day job at Bloomingdale's not only laid the groundwork for designing her own range but shepherding it safely through pandemic.     

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Transcript

Amy Loewenberg: 0:23

Hi everyone and welcome to the paper playing cocktail hour. I am one of your hosts Amy Lowenberg relations manager in New York now, I treasure the relationships I've established and I relish in the new ones I make every day sharing information and introducing our amazing community of retailers, vendors, buyers, artists and makers through my spotlight podcast that New York now in my store tours on Instagram.

Sarah Schwartz: 0:48

And I'm your co host Sarah, you may know me as the founding editor and editor in chief of stationary trends magazine, by sight the paper nerd or possibly my other podcasts, the paper fold. I have been covering the stationery and gift industries since 1997. But Never did I imagine that I'd one bit day be covering them here in the virtual space.

Amy Loewenberg: 1:07

So throughout the rest of 2021 we will be raising our glasses alongside our pencils as we share stories, compare notes and celebrate three of our all time favorite topics, stationery connection and cocktails to the

Sarah Schwartz: 1:22

year. I know most people are thinking Thanksgiving and then winter holiday about now but I for 1am Looking ahead to 2022 namely winter in New York now and then SF now, which as some of you may have heard is co located with noted, I'm on a few GCA committees and I can't tell you how excited the community is at the prospect of an actual physical spring show live and in person.

Amy Loewenberg: 1:49

Oh, you said a mouthful. Sara Yeah, we are all gearing up for a fabulous time in the city by the bay. It's going to be fresh, intimate and curated. We're coming together as a community of lifestyle brands and makers and a unique mix of shop owners and buyers from this region. We will see museum stores and lifestyle gift shops and gourmet shops and hotels and so much more. And as you mentioned, we are co located with noted, which is also very exciting, because that's also going to be at the Fort Mason Arts and Culture Center on April 28 and 29th of 22. We just can't wait. But something also really important to highlight is that as of November 1, Louis submissions are officially open. And actual I know at an actual award ceremony a real life in person award ceremony is being planned during noted. But that's not the only greeting card award that's going on. Is it there?

Sarah Schwartz: 2:50

Nope. The third edition of the noted and noted awards will be kicking off very soon. So please stay tuned for more news on this award ceremony. If the Louise are the Academy Awards of the industry, these are the Grammys. So for today's episode, Amy and I are talking with Marie Castiglione and I apologize if I mangled your name. She is the head meatball in charge at her brand Spaghetti and Meatballs. I got that part right. Marie started doing career at fit in NYC studying graphic design and taking in the amazing artful community there. She landed her first job at a portfolio review site and it was a really good one. Yeah, Assistant art director at Bloomingdale's, you could do a lot worse. Yeah. She Yeah, she stayed at Blue Mies for 10 years working her way all the way up to a senior art director. She's freelance for some really fun companies along the way like Sephora, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna and Willamina. Let me let me just make another name. Maybe I should have read this part. Okay, sorry, guys. Kids modeling. But after 10 years of advertising and a lot of corporate meetings, she got a bit burnt out. Yeah, Annabelle, I hear ya. That's when she decided to quit her job and move back to her hometown of Lewis, Lewiston, New York and concentrate on life without corporate meetings. Hurray. Hurray. And to try and make spaghetti and meatballs her full time gig.

Amy Loewenberg: 4:37

Well, her family may have thought that she was a bit nuts, but going on nothing but a gut feeling she felt it would work and less than three years later, spaghetti and meatballs is now in 500 Plus brick and mortar locations, and has Nash and now it's my turn to flub Sarah and has national accounts with TJ Maxx. Home Goods Marshalls, Macy's and Paper Source. Now working with her family every day, she's happy to make up her own hours and walk around drinking iced coffee in sweats every day. Marie is definitely living her dream life.

Sarah Schwartz: 5:17

Walking around in sweats and drinking iced coffee every day does sound like a dream life if you asked me as well, and is somewhat familiar to me, although I prefer my coffee hat. And how lucky we are to be able to share any beverage with Marie today's coffee. Maybe tomorrow. It's something a bit stiffer. Either way, why don't we get this started?

Amy Loewenberg: 5:41

Let's do it. So welcome, Marie, thank you so much for joining us today. Hi, ladies. We're gonna jump right on in, you have a story that is shared by many. You are a corporate employee that went rogue and started your own business. And your story is a fun one. So why don't you share it with us and tell us a little bit about your first few years in business? You know, what did you do? And what did you learn?

Marie Castiglione: 6:07

Oh, wow. So I guess I started my business a little bit over four years ago, I was still living in New York City. And I was working as an art director at Bloomingdale's. So I was still working in corporate life. And that took up many hours of my day, as I'm sure you guys could imagine. But I started becoming this kind of like go to person in the office to make birthday cards for I don't know really how they even found out that I had like arts and crafty kind of a background. But I was at Bloomingdale's for about 10 years, and people would just start coming up to me like, hey, it's our boss's birthday, or hey, it's like the CEOs birthday or the VP of Marketing, like we really need like, a nice birthday card, can you can you make like a big pop up card and then circulated around the company? Have everyone sign it? And you know, and we're going to have a party in the conference room at two. So

Sarah Schwartz: 7:04

I used to like your job like, what, what's your normal job.

Unknown: 7:08

So my normal job was I was an art director. So I was in charge of all of the print collateral that Bloomingdale's would put out. So like, anything you saw on like a bus shelter, or like a new stand, or if you opened up like a Vogue or Harper's Bazaar, anything that was print and an ad. That's what I worked on. Yeah.

Sarah Schwartz: 7:28

So you're supposed to take time from doing our purpose our tip eight and circulate it, I'm site design, implement and circulate like a card for the CEO.

Unknown: 7:42

I mean, honestly, it was really wild. But I would like if they gave me that task, like I would put that like above my regular duties that day, was kind of like, a little backwards, but I loved it. So I was like, okay, sure, like, let me like hone in on their personality, like give myself like 3030 minutes to an hour to like, sketch something up. And then I would go in the back room where they had like, unlimited supplies of like, specialty paper and like vellum and like, you know, anything you would ask for? Oh,

Amy Loewenberg: 8:11

my God, it sounds like that special closet at Vogue or something like that back?

Unknown: 8:16

Exactly. Like every corporate office has one. So I won't go back there. I would like whip something up in a couple of hours. And then yeah, that I would have to walk it around, you know, to everyone's does, because like, you know how people are at work, like, yeah, you might sign it, and then you'll leave it next year. And it never moves. So it would like take me a day to like, you know, circulate around the company. So after a while, like, I just kept getting these requests, like oh, so and so's going to another company or, you know, whatever. And I was there for 10 years. So I can't even tell you how many birthday cards in in 10 years. Like I had my

Sarah Schwartz: 8:53

own pardon. It's like a Project Runway for

Unknown: 8:57

a while I was at the time and I would like put my cards up there. Like I had a mini portfolio of just birthday cards.

Amy Loewenberg: 9:07

Yeah, I was just gonna say you walked out with your own deck already. Yeah,

Unknown: 9:11

we I had like a regular Bloomingdale's portfolio of like Vogue ads. And then like I had an entire, like suitcase of birthday cards. It's so so yeah, so I started doing that. And then you know, maybe it was like in 2017 I think I had heard about Renegade. I don't know if you guys heard of it. It's like that big national craft fair. And a friend told me about it and she was like, You should apply you should sell your cards and at the time, like I didn't really have like a body of work. You know, I just had like, all of these cards I made for my my co workers but they were long gone. Like I didn't have them anymore. So I ended up applying for it. And I made up like six or 12 cards or something and I just threw them on an Etsy shop To be honest, I only I just Photoshop them like I thought of some like funny things, and I just Photoshop them on a car like they actually weren't even produced. And that's how I applied to running aid and I was beyond shocked when I got in. I think it was like April 2017, so that I was like, oh shit, now I need to like, I think I had like, two months, maybe it was in June, I had like two months to create a body of work. But that's what I love to be honest, because I don't like too much time to do something because, you know, I'll I'm like a perfectionist, so I'll think about it way too much. So this gave me like two months to get ready for it. And I just hustled, I stayed late after work, you know, like after a photoshoot, I would go back to the corporate office. And then I would work till like 12 or one and then take a cab home. And then I would do the same things on like Saturdays and Sundays. And then, and then poof, that was my first show. Wow,

Sarah Schwartz: 10:58

that's pretty

Amy Loewenberg: 10:59

impressive. Thank you,

Sarah Schwartz: 11:03

is a good length of time, because you don't want you don't want too much. As someone who's given out a lot of deadlines. You don't want to you want to give enough time, but you don't want to give too much time. If you give too much time you procrastinate it too? Exactly. You know, like I'm I can make a plan and get it done and implemented. It was sort of your family.

Unknown: 11:20

Yeah, exactly. I didn't, I couldn't say it better myself, because I was like, I just tend to procrastinate, you know, I'll think of ideas for a really long time. But I've really only execute them for a couple of weeks. So this way, it was like two months. And it gave me like kind of like one month of like thinking of content. And also, you know, the first time I had to create a booth. So I had to do both of those. And then it gave me the last month to execute everything. So that was my first show. And yeah, that was the summer of 2017. And then I just I just started signing up for more markets, like in Brooklyn, like artists and fleas, and the Phoenicia flea, um, there was like a few more that I did. And, you know, every time I would add a few more cards to my collection, or, you know, make my display like a little bit more like user friendly. So, and everyone was like a month apart. So it kind of like gave me some time to be like, okay, like, That show was cool. But like, maybe I should do this this time. So totally sounds like trial and error.

Amy Loewenberg: 12:27

Well, maybe not even Aaron just like trial, you just went into it, experienced it, and then saw what you could do to up your game for the next one.

Unknown: 12:34

Exactly. And honestly, I didn't know what I was doing at the time, to be honest. Like, my corporate job was still like, my main thing, and I knew I couldn't walk away from it. So this was kind of just like a fun thing I was exploring. But you know, I say that all the say, you know, cuz sometimes it sounds like oh, like, you know, she started off so strong. But to be honest, like the behind the scenes, when I would do those shows, you know, a lot of times I would break even or not even make money that that weekend. And that's just, that's just to be honest, because you have to think about it. Like in New York, everything is really expensive. So my setup was huge. I had this like really huge like wood panel that I would put my cards up on, so I couldn't fit it in a regular taxi. So I would always have to call like an Uber XL. So that morning, like, I don't know, be 8am before a show, I would be in my head freaking out because you know how it is in New York 30 Pull up how much you have. And then they did kind of decide in the moment if they feel like taking you or not. I would have calves like just keep it moving. And then I'd be like, Oh my god, I'm gonna be late. I gotta call someone out. So, you know, and those calves are like 75 bucks to get that, you know, from Queens to Brooklyn. And then you got to do the same thing on your way back on Sunday. So, you know, a lot of times these shows I was really just breaking even but I knew if I if I kept going like there would be a silver lining eventually.

Amy Loewenberg: 14:08

Yeah, well, there's also the reality of what these shows are and it's to get your get your work out and seen and to make your connections and to bring in your new leads. So you know, it's got to be challenging and even frustrating for anybody but especially somebody new on the scene who at least wants to break even it's a little bit harder to you know, dip your toe into this knowing that you know you may not even break even but you know, it's that one person who walked by that you know, picked up your card, and oh my gosh, you know, they're calling you in like three months and boom, he's actually now you just never know. Exactly, exactly.

Sarah Schwartz: 14:50

Yeah. Meanwhile, hearing you recount all that, like I know we were talking before we recorded on how we both sort of consider ourselves, you know, forever New York Scott Yeah, like I'm getting a big dose of that New York anxiety, like just

Amy Loewenberg: 15:08

talking about the Uber and the cow.

Sarah Schwartz: 15:10

Oh my god, like, it's all coming back to me.

Unknown: 15:13

I know. I love New York, but New York, it doesn't make anything simple.

Amy Loewenberg: 15:19

Hey, what you talking about?

Unknown: 15:22

It always leaves you with like a story to tell. But you know, just simple things of like, oh, I have a show tomorrow. I gotta be set up by Titan is like a whole cluster of like three days earlier. Exactly. Get there. Be honest, sometimes. I'm like, shocked. I made it because, I mean, I before shows I'd be calling my sister the night before like in panic mode, like, oh my god, like, I hope that, you know, the cab driver picks me up and takes me and like, I hope he takes cash or whatever. You know, it was just, I did like, four or five that summer. And then I think once winter hit, I think I took a break. I think I needed one can imagine why. Yeah, it was like, Okay, that was fun. But that needs to come to a halt.

Sarah Schwartz: 16:09

All in the snow. Yeah,

Amy Loewenberg: 16:11

no way. No way.

Unknown: 16:14

Um, but yeah, somewhere like along the lines, maybe like, maybe after a year of doing those shows. Um, I met Paper Source Paper Source was like the first big store to pick me up. I think that was like, actually, I think I was only maybe six months into doing this. I met them very early on. And it was, it was really, like, really odd. I feel like fortunate. Yeah, very fortunate. Um, you know, I wasn't even in a lot of brick and mortars at the time. So I had gotten their email, or I'm sorry, I think I went on their website. And they had a submissions portal. And I was at work. I was at Bloomingdale's. It was like lunchtime. So I was like, you know, just like, online shopping or something. I was looking at the Internet. I was like, Oh, let me go on Paper Source and see if I can apply. So I just went on to their portal in right there. It was, like, you know, submit your JPEGs. And it was super easy. You know, a lot of stores don't make it that like seamless. So I uploaded maybe at the time, I had, like, 20 designs or something like that. And I heard back from the buyer, like within an hour or two, which was wild. Yeah, that was wild. I mean, I swear that was like godson because I don't think that really happens that often. And she emailed me and she's like, Hey, we just got your submissions. Can you send me some hard copies? Or like, oh, shit, like, okay. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that was like, my first that was like, my first encounter with them. And yeah, in the end, they ended up like placing an order for maybe like, 3000 cards or something like that. So that was like, my first that was like, my first big my baby. Yeah,

Amy Loewenberg: 17:56

well, congratulations on that.

Sarah Schwartz: 17:58

Thank you. Thank you. That's awesome. That's great. Really, it just speaks to like, if you can make if you can make it it, you know, in that on that craft circuit, like you can't really can like, kind of as often not to everyone, but often you can kind of ascend to the next level. Like you're almost you know, paying Yeah.

Unknown: 18:20

Yeah, like, nothing was like overnight, to be honest. Like, I never had like a moment where I was like, Oh, I could, like quit my job. Like it was it was, everything happened the way it was supposed to. And, and I think it was, so I started in 2017, I think was 2019 where I decided to go full time. So it was, it was two years of it. But to be honest, it was in 2019 When I left my job. It wasn't to concentrate on spaghetti meatballs full time. It was actually because I was so burnt out from just like the corporate like rise and grind. Like I had gone to art school in New York City at fit. So I studied graphic design for four years. And then I started working right away. I got my job as a junior art director at Bloomingdale's from their portfolio review night. So it was like 14 years of like straight hustle. And yeah, so it was like 14 years of New York City Life and you know, my my school and then my job were always my biggest priorities in my life besides for like my family. So I gave it my all and after like 14 years of that, like my body and my mind, everything kind of broke down at the same point. Um, I did this like art residency out in Wahaca, Mexico, and I only went out there for a week. I was just so tired and I was like, I just need to get away. I don't want to go away with my friends. I just I need to go away and I need to think. So I saw this art residency called poco poco. And I signed up, I got in, and I just went down to Mexico. And when I was there, I was with a lot of other artists from around the world, but there was a lot of American artists. And it was just like, astonishing to me that like, everyone else was just as burnt out as I was. And when I started hearing that I was like, Oh, wow, like, I need to do something about this. Like, you know, I could easily like put my head down and keep working. But um, I need to come up for air at some point, I have to take care of myself. So I came, I flew back home and on that flight is like, where I started like journaling, okay, like, what do I need to do to make like spaghetti and meatballs, my full time job in the next like, six months to a year. So. So when I came back home, honestly, the first thing I did was I started taking, I took a leave of absence from my work. And I started doing like, physical therapy, and you know, all these type of therapies to like, kind of get like my body back together. Because my neck and my back had, like, from drawing on a tablet for so long. It just, it just, I just did a number to it. In a nutshell, I did a number to it. So I kind of had to take care of myself first. And then in that break from my corporate job, I found myself with all this available time. So that's when I started like thinking like, okay, like, let me like work on my cards a little bit more. Let me see like what else is available besides for these flea markets, which flea markets are great, but like, what else is there that I can do to kind of like take my business to the next level. And I had run into a girl. Her name is Kate. I don't know if you guys know her from quick brown fox. Yeah, of course. Yes. Okay. And she I always call her my fairy godmother because I met her. And like, you know, a lot of people like in any industry, they don't, you know, they don't just like, tell you a blueprint, you know? I don't know, at least not in my in my history. But I met her and she was I met her. She was at Phoenicia flea, and she had a stand. And I just came up to her. And she was like, you know, she just gave me like, a lot of great advice. And at that time, she was the one who told me about the national stationery show. So I read about it, but I was like, Well, I can't afford that. So I never really took it like seriously, but she was like, no, if you can do that, it's for me is always worth it. So after I met her, I kind of like started thinking about that. I was like, There's no way I can afford this in my life in New York. Like, everything's so expensive here. But in the end, um, that year, I believe it was the first time they did the emerging the emerging designer. Yeah, artists action. And that I swear that was also like godson because I was like,

Amy Loewenberg: 22:59

yeah, it's a really good formula that is working. The markets really and like we can segue to the GCA does that as well. Yeah. So there is a major importance to be able to open the door to all emerging artists. And we continue to do that at New York now. And across all of our markets. So

Marie Castiglione: 23:21

yeah, I mean, I'm glad

Amy Loewenberg: 23:22

you're able to take advantage of that.

marie: 23:25

That was it was a game changer. Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah Schwartz: 23:28

And how cool is it that it was it came from like, you know, another paper person who Yeah, and Kate is amazing. And she you know, she's cheering the Louise this year. So yeah, she's, I'm really, yeah, I'm really excited to see how she does. And I know, I know, everything she does is going to be great. But she is such a gem and she's talented as a maker, but she's, she's an amazing person.

Unknown: 23:58

I literally I still call her my fairy godmother love that. But that was that was a game changer, that $950 wall. I was like, Okay, well, I can I can afford that. And again, it by the time I heard about it, or signed up, I can't even remember which one, but it was a month out. So again, it gave me no time to procrastinate. Like I just had like four weeks to like, Okay, get ready for it. And I wasn't working at the time because I was still on that medical leave. So I was like, okay, that will give me like four weeks a deadline, something to look forward to something to do. And, and that's kind of how it started. So I did that first show. Maybe it was 2020 No, it was February 29 2019. Yeah. Um, and right. Oh my god. I hauled myself on the subway like it was so dramatic. per the usual.

Amy Loewenberg: 24:57

Wall was provided this time.

Unknown: 25:00

Yeah, I didn't even know a wall. And I thought somehow, like, you know, I like little shelves and stuff like cut out. And yeah, I hung up my stuff sat there for like four or five days. And like, that's when I realized, okay, like, this is what I have to do to like, change it from being like a hobby to a full time job. And at the time, maybe I had like, maybe I had like 567 brick and mortars, and then I was in paper stores. So I thought that was like, amazing. And when I left that show, I think I left with like, maybe 20 new accounts.

Amy Loewenberg: 25:37

fantastic thing.

Sarah Schwartz: 25:40

And now that and now they are recounting it. That was when like, they were all like, in the alcove as you walked out? Yeah, I can. I think I can even

Unknown: 25:48

pick up by the bathrooms and the food was originally I was like, oh, that's gonna be weird. But then it was perfect. Because

Amy Loewenberg: 25:55

right down on the escalator, there was a method to the madness there, right down the escalator. They walk them right to you.

Unknown: 26:02

Exactly. And I remember the night, I remember the night before, when I was setting up, another girl came over to me and she was like, Oh, do you have do you have? Um, what do they call order forms? And I was like, what are those? Well, if a buyer comes over and wants to write an order, like you have to write it down, and I was like, Oh, why wouldn't I just email them? Like, I'm thinking in my head? But why would I just email them after and do everything over email? And she's like, well, you could lose them. Like, you know, buyers calm they want to place buys at the show. Sure. Some people do it in email, but like most people want to do it there. So I went home at night and I was at my friend's apartment and I had to like make like she had Excel I had to like make the most bootleg version of an order form printed and like thank God that morning because at like 1030 I had my first order by like paper kite I don't know if you guys know that

Amy Loewenberg: 27:01

you had an order form to actually dock I did I had an order to miracle you might want something you know track the money.

Unknown: 27:16

I don't know why that like, oh, email. No.

Sarah Schwartz: 27:21

million projects where like, you just forget you get so like, caught in like, you know, XY and Z that you forget, like this really, really important. Yeah. And like, I'm not laughing at you. Like that's, that's like so.

Amy Loewenberg: 27:36

Okay, actually, I think I think it's pretty common when when you're talking to an artist designer. Yeah. traded on your work and the actual production of the product. Your you know, your, you know, blood, sweat and tears. And you're not necessarily thinking like you got the logistics of the wall down. Finally, yeah, you just needed to take it another couple of steps. And that is all about the learning process. And yeah, there are there are far more tools and programs in place now to help people so that they're gonna step foot on the floor, and they're actually gonna have an order form now, it happens to the best of us.

Sarah Schwartz: 28:14

I mean, there's so many, there's so many moving parts, you know, you know, you're going to drop a ball or but, you know, I would I, I love how the name of your range spaghetti and meatballs is both deceptively simple and speaks to so much. It refers to your Italian heritage, it also refers to the fact that you work in a pairing with your sister, and that you kind of cook up those greetings in the tradition of a huge Sunday mail that is to be enjoyed slowly amongst loved ones. Of course, cooking a traditional meal, like receiving a card and unfolds over time. It's a process. So I'm curious about your process for bringing a design to life. These days, do you find yourself working by collection or individual card?

Unknown: 29:07

Um, so I typically do now that this is like my full time job. I honestly because I'm so wired by like corporate and advertising. I do it by collection. And that's exactly what I used to do at Bloomingdale's. When I was there. It was like, Okay, let's kick off holiday. Okay, like let's all get in a room and let's kick off spring. So now that this is you know, my full time, job and responsibility, that's how I typically do it is by collection. So right now even though it's October, um, we are in the middle of designing Valentine's Day. So we didn't really start like five or six months out, and then we in Yeah, we build out our collection. So it's me and my sister that's we started this. My sister is like my partner in crime. She has no She has no design background, but she's actually a college counselor at Canisius in, which isn't Hello. But But I just say that to say she has no like history of advertising. And she's like a phenomenal copywriter. So a lot of times I'll have these ideas, but they might be like four or five sentences. And she's able to, like, look at that and like make it like three words, which is like perfect for a greeting card because you want something that's like quick and snappy. So we we write them together, about five, six months out and design them. And we put them in front of our big stores, like, you know, five, six months out pretty much because they need time to buy and process. That's the buying. Yeah, exactly. And to be honest, I think I'm late compared to some stores.

Amy Loewenberg: 30:52

And I was gonna ask you about that. I was curious about the, you know, maybe missing out on a couple people who have already purchased for, say Valentine's Day.

Unknown: 31:02

Yeah. i Well, I've never, I've never run into that. Because just just this week, a big retailer reached out and said, like, Hey, have you worked on your new Valentine's Day collection and like, luckily, just because of my background, I owe it all to Bloomingdale's, I can work super fast. So it's like, okay, even though we are in the midst of it, like I could definitely get 12 in front of you by next Monday. Um, but also this because I have a little mini team built out now. So um, it's me, my sister. But then we also have two other copywriters and I have three illustrators. So it's like a mini mini girl squad at this point.

Amy Loewenberg: 31:45

It's great. You're probably also able to react a little bit because I mean, even though I think buying calendars are kind of trying to shift back to what we deem is normal. Nothing is normal now. So you're probably seeing everything. Exactly.

Sarah Schwartz: 31:59

Yeah, it seems some retailers stock at the last minute, some buy. Yeah, at a time, some just see a hole and they're like, Hey, I'm just going to grab some, you know, I'm just going to fill in some holes in my stock. Exactly. Holiday that's in two weeks or

Unknown: 32:15

exactly. And then we work fast. Like once a PO is placed, if it's with a big store, and I say big, like maybe like 10,000 units or more, we can typically get that out within two weeks, because everything is made in the US and we have all of our supplies like ready to go. So if a retailer finds us kind of late, we can typically we can typically get a big order out in like one to two weeks. That's awesome. It's a miracle, to be honest. I like

Amy Loewenberg: 32:49

well, I mean, honestly, it's, it's pretty cool. Considering that we've just been talking for a few minutes, and you're talking about you know, your very first, you know, you threw out six cards on Etsy. And now you're talking about filling a 10,000 unit order. And it's all within the span of just a few years. And let's throw a pandemic in that. Yeah. Well, it's pretty incredible. You know, how have you seen and expect? I mean, you're so you're, you're new to this, but you've also just experienced the last 18 months of that. Yeah, from what you know, and knew about stationery and paler? Like, what are you seeing are the differences? Or just what kind of changes are you seeing within that industry that relate to you say, you know, pre when you first started your business, and now what are some of the differences that you can maybe point out for us?

Unknown: 33:42

Well, I would say, I would say in 2020, when everything hit, um, I had just come back from that February 2020 trade show. So I was like, it was a month later in March, when you know, everything happened. Um, I was in the middle of fulfilling orders. So I remember when the President called, called it a national emergency, I think it was like around like March 15, or something like that. And every time I checked my email, it would be like 234 more emails from those retailers that had placed orders back in February canceling or postponing their orders from the show. And I mean, it was devastating. Every time I checked my email, it was like, cancel, cancel, and then I had maybe 3030 orders ready to go. And then everything just seemed like a complete stop. So merge was like pretty tough for me. I mean, it was tough for everyone. You know, it just everything just came to a screeching halt all those boxes that were sitting in my hallway, you know, they never got shipped out. And the I mean, I would say the most devastating Bart was. I had an order for TJ Maxx, and that one got placed on hold And that was like 26,000 cards. It was the day that the truck was coming in to pick it up. So I got an email that just said, Hey, can you can you not load the truck today? Like, we're just trying to figure out what's going on, you know, we'll get back to you, but just hold it. So that all kind of happened within like, the same week. And it was, it was really devastating. Um, and I kind of went off of social media for a little bit. I was like, I just needed to, like, take care of myself. And I was living with my parents at the time because I had just come back from New York and where they live is it's it's in Lewiston, New York, they have like this beautiful Niagara River is right next to them. So I will go for these like long walks and try to clear my head. And people were texting me like my girlfriend's like, Hey, you should make pandemic cards. But like, I didn't want to hear any of that, because I wasn't, I was still like, mourning, like the laws of like, all these orders. So I didn't even want to think about like creating more content, because, you know, I had a house full of stuff. So I would go for these walks. And eventually, like, you know, maybe like two weeks later, I was like walking. And it was one of my friends, his birthday coming up, and we couldn't do anything because it was quarantined. And I just had this like, visual, I was like, why should make them a card. And maybe I'll do it have like, a stack of roller toilet paper that looks like a cake and put like a candle at the top. You know, keep it very minimal, but like the candle will be funny. So I came home, and I started designing it right away. And my mom was in the room and she walked by me and she was like, Oh, let the good times roll. And I was like, Oh my God, that's hilarious. But I put it on, I sent it to my friend. And she got the biggest kick out of it. She's like, you should sell these. And I was like, oh, like I don't even feel like selling right now. I'm like, a breast. Um, but yeah, so that was kind of like, my lead into my pandemic cards. And I put that up on Etsy. And the orders just started like rolling in, you know, I never experienced anything like that, like, at first, maybe it was like 25 orders in the first day, then it was like 40 that it was like 75. And then at some point, like, in middle of April, I was getting 200 orders a day. Wow. Everyone was home, you know, everyone was home, they were on their phones, they were buying and I think they were like just looking for like fun little things to like, send to their friends while they were also home. So, you know, what ended up being like one of my biggest setbacks in the end, you know? 2020 ended up being my biggest year so far. Um, and, and yeah, so let the good times roll was the first was the first pandemic card I made. And then, and then we did like Alexa, skip to 2021. And now on that one. Yeah, so then we did a nurses card. And what was it not all heroes wear capes going on, like forgetting but so eventually, we just started making more and more of these. And they went viral. And we just got like so much attention for them. And, and eventually, in the summer, when the when the kind of like economy kind of opened up, like some of those stores started opening up, they would reach out and they were placing wholesale orders again. So I was happy that even though I was super depressed and anxious that even in that time, I still created art, because in the end, there was like a need for it. So I feel like in the last year more people want to connect with each other, they definitely want to like reach out I think like small things go a long way. Life is short, and these cards are kind of vehicles for people to express themselves in.

Amy Loewenberg: 39:02

Well, I'm glad you brought up a couple of cards that would have been remiss if Sarah and I not to tell you and share with you that we crack up over your cards time your humor, what you and your sister have put together. You know, in fact, on your site, you say that getting the ball speaks to all the lovers, haters and feelers and all of us and the way that just the simplicity of the statement that that you put on this beautiful card is so poignant and so clean and so freaking funny. Your dress, it just speaks to us. 100%

Unknown: 39:42

Thank you, thank you honestly, like, I use my cards as like art therapy. You know, like, I have anxiety I have depression I have like all the fields so I use those cars as kind of like a coping mechanism.

Sarah Schwartz: 39:58

Yeah, look, I mean if you have these screenings, you're channeling them through your art, then other people get it, and they are able to channel their feelings. I mean, like, it's such an important service. And, you know, and you know, you're in a position where you have to be a little vulnerable to put out products that directly speaks to people. I mean, he was like the unintended silver lining of COVID that there was like this crazy card Renaissance.

Marie Castiglione: 40:29

Yeah, yeah. That's a good

Amy Loewenberg: 40:31

word. Yeah.

Unknown: 40:34

It was, it was it was unbelievable, you know, and all of those orders that, you know, sat there, eventually, eventually, they shipped out. Eventually, TJ Maxx came and they picked up their order. And then they wanted the new stuff. They wanted the Alexa skip to 2021 they wanted the nurses cards, they wanted to let the good times roll in the paint in the blue. So, um, yeah, that summer. I mean, it was, it was amazing. You know, they, I got an email from one of the buyers and I had reached out to her a bunch of times, I never heard anything from her, I had sold to some of her counterparts. But I never heard from this one, specifically. And in the summer, she reached out to me, and she's like, Hey, um, how fast can I get 36,000 36,000 units of your pandemic cards? My gosh,

Amy Loewenberg: 41:26

your nose just keeps getting larger and larger.

Unknown: 41:29

Yeah. And then, you know, when we got that out, even though last year, there was a big shortage with paper, you know, the paper mills in the middle of a country were slowing down because they didn't have as many people working. So we had to change our paper, like three or four times last year, but I was like, you know, people are i Even though I cared about the paper, I was like, let's find something that's doable. But the customer is not going to care as much like they want a funny car to send to their friend while they're at home. Like, let's get our hands on whatever kind of paper we can for now. Um, and get these cards out. So we got that order out. And then and then maybe a month went by, and I got another email from that same buyer. And she was like, hey, cart, like, sales are great. How fast can I get 66,000 And then two weeks later, I'm gonna need 60,000. So like, 126,000 units, like, I've never seen that kind of volume before. And I was like, you know, it was amazing. It was amazing. And it was all in the same year that like, you know, COVID happened and all the devastation and I would have never thought that that's how the year was going to turn. So. Who Yeah. And then And then Sarah, to actually circle back to your question about like, the collections, I would typically do my designs by collection, but when things would happen in like pop culture, I would stop what I was doing. And I'd be like, Okay, we need to make a card for this. So like the whole Bernie with the with the my tables? Yeah,

Amy Loewenberg: 43:06

I have to also say, you know, I and we're all Netflix, and we're all binging and you're Joe Goldberg. Oh, my God, I was like, Oh, my God is Joe.

Unknown: 43:19

And like, now now that like, I this was my full time thing. Like now we'll strategically like think like, okay, like, we knew you was coming out, we we started seeing it, like, in September those trailers. So my sister said to me, like, we need a U card on the day that the season drops. So that was that was all planned, like we had the card, you know, weeks out, but we'll drop it on a day that like a show will come out. And like with the whole Bernie thing. I think the inauguration was what, like, January 21. By the morning of January 22, or whatever it was, the next morning, it was 12 hours later, we had that card up. So when things happen, like it's my Bloomingdale's background, like I'll start when I'm doing and like we used to have to do that back in the day. Like I hate to say it but like when someone would pass away in the fashion industry, we would have to put out an ad in the New York Times. The early Wall Street Journal the very next day, so if it was like two o'clock and we heard someone passed away, we would have to like stop what we were doing and create an ad to put out as a full page in the New York Times. So so it's a little morbid, but I just say that to say that. I've been trained to be like okay, like yours.

Amy Loewenberg: 44:41

I was just gonna say it just feels like your your schooling and your work is just kind of been just training for where you are right now.

Unknown: 44:48

I totally I always say that I would have never known it was happening. But I always say that like my Bloomingdale's gave me my creative background. Like the speed and the creative process, and then there was a time I worked for my dad's company. It's an engineer company. And it's like a construction cleanup company. So in the summers of my college, I would have to go away on these job sites to basically like, make money to put myself through school. And they were construction sites, though, like, I would be wearing a hard hat, like a safety vest, like steel toed shoes, like the whole nine like it doesn't even fit my profile. I would, I would like paint my nails orange, my dad would yell at me that like that construction is not a fashion show. But, but that job taught me to do invoices like that was the first time I ever saw a PEO. Or I ever saw an invoice come like by my desk. So that was like, you know, Fridays were like invoice Friday. So that was like the first time I started like reviewing things like with a calculator, like adding everything up making sure that we were paying them what was due on time. And then, and then another job I randomly had was I worked at a bake shop in my town, and the busiest time of the year was Christmas, and we would get these orders and we print them out. And then we would have to fill a basket of like, certain kind of brownies certain kind of like walnut cookies. And like nowadays, like all my cars, they sit on these Baker's racks. And when we get orders, we print them and like we you know we pull and it's like it's like these three jobs of mine have like now collided into like, the career that I built for myself.

Amy Loewenberg: 46:38

Kind of all sorts of beautiful, they're

Sarah Schwartz: 46:42

like a wonderful meal.

Amy Loewenberg: 46:46

Sarah is always so good with the word. That's kind of a good way for us to ask you to share how our listeners can contact you where we can find you.

Unknown: 46:59

Oh, yeah, so you guys can look me up on my website. It is www dot the meatballs studio.com. I love it. It's shockingly like spaghetti and meatballs.com was so expensive because it's like buying real estate on the web because it's like a it's like a common phrase

Sarah Schwartz: 47:23

like peanut butter and jelly.

Unknown: 47:26

He was for a year it was like $10,000 to own that domain name. And I'm like, No one even knows how to spell spaghetti like, including me sometimes.

Amy Loewenberg: 47:35

So I learned how to spell it as I was emailing you. So

Unknown: 47:40

I was like, I'm not spending that kind of crazy money. So my friend helped me one of my copywriters, my really good friend come up with the meatballs studio calm. So that's my website. And then my Instagram is underscore spaghetti meatballs underscore, and then I just started tic toc I am. I can't even believe I did. But I kind of see really love it. And that is the head meatball in charge. Nothing's consistent, but it works.

Amy Loewenberg: 48:18

Well, that sounds great. Wow, Marie, Sarah, and I just want to thank you for spending this very enjoyable time with us today. Thank you. We could not be happier for your success and your continued success.

Unknown: 48:33

Thank you. Thank you so much. And I can't even say enough great things about New York now. I mean, it just it honestly changed my life. It is like the the two weeks of the year that I look forward to the most I always call it My Super Bowl. Yeah, I cannot. You know, I did the last show in February or wait, sorry, August, and I can't I can't even wait for the next one in February. Like no, I'm happy to hear you say that. Can't wait to see you again. I can't and I never sign up for things on time. Like I never do. It's not my personality. I'm always on file. And I already signed up. So no, I'm in. That's awesome.

Sarah Schwartz: 49:12

here first folks sign up for the February show.

Amy Loewenberg: 49:17

Oh, Sarah, you're so good. All right, ladies. Well, the one thing I know is we should always keep them wanting more. And believe me, I want to sit here and talk to you for the rest of the day. But I think we will take this time to say thank you so much. And we will see you online and we will see you in the aisles of New York now. And thank you so much.

Marie Castiglione: 49:41

All right. Thank you ladies.

Amy Loewenberg: 49:43

Bye. Bye.

Sarah Schwartz: 49:45

Well, that was fine. Yeah. Really. It's such a breath of fresh air and I just love her work to say nothing of seeing what she comes up with next. And thank you to all our listeners for joining us for chat and cocktails. Amy what libations Are you enjoying this lovely evening?

Amy Loewenberg: 50:04

Well, the paper playing cocktail of course. Actually, it's really just a nice glass of Cabernet with a tiny paper plain garnish. How about you?

Sarah Schwartz: 50:14

Oh, that sounds lovely. For recording its water have you heard and mangled names? But with any luck when this airs, I'll be nursing a high noon seltzer. Thank you to my neighbor for serving me wine and prompting me to get more. Yes, it was really nice of her. Maybe I'll have an actual mixed drink once I escaped the burbs at any race. Don't forget to post Instagram pics of your paper plane using the hashtags. The paper plane podcast and hashtag paper plane cocktail hour. Don't miss out. And Amy, where can our listeners find you in the meantime,

Amy Loewenberg: 50:56

you can connect with me on instagram@amy.at New York now LinkedIn or email me at work. I always want to highlight our amazing community on my New York now spotlight podcasts and feature you on my Instagram store tours. I'm available to help you connect to new and needed resources and answer any of your new york now SF now American handcrafted market or digital market questions. And how can we connect with you Sarah?

Sarah Schwartz: 51:24

That's a lot of questions.

Amy Loewenberg: 51:28

I'm a busy woman.

Sarah Schwartz: 51:30

You've got lots of you must spend a lot of time answering questions. Probably the best place to connect with me is at the paper nerd comm you can see more fabulous stationery coverage, check out my podcast, the paper fold and access stationery trends. The industry's only award winning design driven trade quarterly as well. It's always a pleasure for me to learn more about makers and spotlight their work, whether it's in a publication, blog, or podcast, if you want to connect, I'd love to hear from you. So please

Amy Loewenberg: 52:00

don't hesitate to reach out to either of us with comments, questions, feedback, suggestions for guests, or just to say hi and introduce yourself. So thank you again for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed our conversation as much as we did. And don't forget New York now is now a online 365 sourcing and connection platform. Make sure to sign up and sign in and definitely connect with us when you do. Thank you so much and we will talk to you soon, too.