Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Featured Artist: RevisionsDesignStudio

I stumbled across Revision Design Studio's Etsy shop a while back when I was searching for pretty thing to include in my Geometric Love post. I found all of their products modern, unique and stylish. I could definitely see some of their geometric wooden vases holding my succulent plants around our house. I'm very honored that this talented team of three is making an appearance on my blog!
Tell us a bit about your team at Revisions.
Revisions Design Studio, founded in 2008 by Michele Dugree, is a collaborative multi-disciplinary design studio located in Marquette, Michigan.  As an Upper Peninsula native, Michele was looking for a creative outlet while being able to remain in the small town of Marquette.  She began Revisions as an online Etsy shop, selling unique home goods and accessories.  From there, the success of the studio allowed for expansion into wholesale, and today Revisions products can be found in many major retailers, including the Museum of Modern Art and Target.  The Revisions Design Studio team has now expanded to include Janna Fox, another Upper Peninsula native and recent design graduate and Torrey Dupras, Michele’s tech-savvy husband.
How did you join together to create spoon rings, porcelain jewelry, and designer home goods?
Even in the earliest stages of starting her business, Michele knew she wanted to be able to grow and expand Revisions to include other designers, technicians and young entrepreneurs. There are many great advantages to being part of a dynamic team versus an individual designer.  As a team at Revisions we are able to generate diverse ideas and use each other for critiques and creative problem solving.  It was with this team dynamic idea that Michele founded Revisions and what keeps it fresh and interesting to this day. 
With such a unique style, where do you get your ideas and inspirations?
We are inspired by so many aspects of life it becomes hard to narrow it down.  We live in a very rural area, so we are constantly drawing inspiration from nature, especially patterns and textures.  We also enjoy spending hours scouring through the local thrift shops, where we find a lot of old materials that either inspire us or are directly reused in our one-of-a-kind pieces.  Once we hit on a great inspiration, we collaborate on the design and that’s where the real fun begins!

What kind of customized wedding items do you offer?
We really enjoy the challenges of new projects and love to work with clients on custom jobs.  In particular we have done several custom pieces for brides and love having the opportunity to work with them for such a wonderful occasion.  A few of these jobs have included: custom laser cut mirror tabletop number displays for reception tables, laser cut clear acrylic flower pedestals for reception tables, and engraved wedding gifts.  Many brides have used our ceramic egg candles and egg sprouts as table décor as well. 
What have been your best means of promoting your Etsy shop?
The best marketing tool an online shop or studio can have is great photographs and great packaging.  For an online space, the success of a product depends greatly on the photograph of the product.  Because your product is not sitting on a shelf for a customer to hold and examine, the online photograph must convince a person to invest their money without ever physically seeing the product. As far as promoting our actual Etsy shop, we try to do a lot of social networking and spreading the word about our great products.  Interviews, blog features and a Facebook fan page have all been great tools in generating interest and sales.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not creating?
 We definitely strive to be well rounded, balanced individuals and play just as hard as we work.  We enjoy biking, playing with our dogs and staying active outside, as well as thrifting and traveling. 

You can keep up with all of the Revisions team at our Facebook page as we blog about our work and everyday lives.  Please visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.
RevisionsDesignStudio is graciously offering all Julie Ann Art reader's a special coupon code for their Etsy shop! Plus, anyone who uses this coupon code will also receive a free surprise gift with their purchase! Coupon code expires September 30th, 2011.

I'd like to thank the Revisions Design team for this interview!

1 comment:

  1. All their designs are so nice and modern!
    Great choice of featured artist (:
    (I actually got hooked before even seeing their designs, just because the cat in the first photo looks a lot like mine!! haha)
    Sandra Ponycat
    http://pony-cat.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the comment! I read them all and reply when I can. Please be sure your blogger account is linked to your e-mail so I can do so! (Tutorial on how to do that here: http://tinyurl.com/c6gh9fk) xo JA