Desk: Melissa and Liz, of Sweet Funky Vintage
This week’s Desk post is a double-feature, showcasing the workspaces of Melissa and Liz, the two owners/designers of Sweet Funky Vintage, a children’s clothing company. As owners and designers, Melissa and Liz need large, organized workspaces to keep up with the demands of business, as well as inspiring colorful spaces. Because their offices are separate, they told us separately about their spaces and sent in lots of colorful, charming pictures (with amusing captions). Here is what Melissa shared with us:
The Desk: A bar-height table so I can work comfortably sitting down or standing up.
Chair: A $14 bar stool from Ikea decorated with an evolving decoupage of my favorite favorite fabric swatches – I add to it each season.
Paper: Legal pads and scraps of paper. I re-use all sorts of paper to try to be somewhat earth-friendly!
Calendar: From paper source – love it!
Clock: My studio manager, Jayne, requested a clock for the longest time, I finally broke down and bought her one!
Inspiration: My new inspiration window is an antique window that I have had for years. It was from my Aunt and Uncle’s home in Georgia, so I have some sentimental attachment to it. It has lost all but one of its panes of glass. I filled the open spaces with fabric covered cork and left the remaining glass as a “dry-erase” board. I have hung the window above my desk and I post important and inspiring things to it.
Color: Lots of pink!
‘Thank You’: I have a collection of thank you notes and try my best to remember to always say thank you!
Flat note or folded: Both
Handwritten or emailed: Handwritten
Stationery: The Polka Dot Press, The Paper Princess, and Whitney English
Organization: A constantly evolving process; I am always trying out new ways to be more organized, stream-lined and efficient.
Book: The Bible.
Magazine: “Where Women Create”, “Country Living” and “Southern Living”
Planning: My business partner, Liz, and I live on opposite ends of the country, so we plan by conference call A LOT, but we try to meet somewhere and have marathon planning sessions at least four times per year.
Business: Sweet Funky Vintage, a children’s clothing trunk show company. We celebrate individuality and creativity so much, our trunk show customers can design their own custom children’s clothing. We also offer our designs for purchase through our website. All of our high quality clothing is handmade in the United States. Best of all – our social mission invites our customers to join with us to support women and children in our communities and across the nation.
Now, let’s see what Liz had to say:
The Desk: A counter-height cutting table from Joann’s, not fancy but functional. My other desk is anywhere I can carry my laptop: swim practice, the back porch, the car, etc.
Chair: Who sits down?
Paper: Yes, please, and lots of it! I am a list maker. Post its are indispensable.
Calendar: I have two. One is a planner from Borders; I am always in search of the perfect planner (so constantly changing, but this one works for now). The other is a spiral-bound undated from Paper Source where I can plan out my week’s “to do” in the studio.
Clock: pink face Tag Heuer on my wrist
Charging: Various places… there’s already too much electrical stuff in the studio.
Inspiration: The fabrics! They speak, I listen.
Color: Yes, color. I am a color girl. The first thing I do in a new house is PAINT! I love orange, pink, lime and turquoise.
‘Thank You’: My grandmother always taught me to thank a giver in person, but if they are not present, a thank you MUST be written promptly.
Flat note or folded: Flat! I love the simplicity of a flat card.
Handwritten or emailed: Handwritten, no question
Stationery: I must admit, I’m a stationery ho. Anything cute, and it doesn’t have to be actual stationery. I just saw Whitney’s recipe cards in a local entertaining store that carries our aprons, and I am COVETING them… nevermind that I don’t have time to transfer the actual recipes OR cook them! Seriously, Whitney English of course as well as The Polka Dot Press, Target, Tiny Prints and whoever strikes my fancy.
Organization: YES! The studio collapses into chaos in the middle of every season, but for the most part is pretty organized. I can’t pack on an unmade bed or work in a chaotic environment.
Book: I am looking forward to reading the big stack on my nightstand on vacation. Historical fiction, James Patterson, nutrition and fitness, and any magazine I can get my hands on!
Magazine: (my preferred reading material) I regularly read Self, Real Simple, Oprah and More; I often pick up Southern Living, Country Living, Sew Hip, Shape, Body and Soul, Martha Stewart… I could go on…
Planning: My partner Missy and I try and get together several times a year to long-range plan for Sweet Funky Vintage. Our best planning sessions are over a glass of wine and a good meal! We are on the phone daily planning advertising, catalog layout, fabrics for the next few seasons… you name it. The planning never ends, it seems.
Business: Missy and I started Sweet Funky Vintage two years ago. It is amazing how far we have come. We love our customers and they love us. “Celebrating Creativity” is our new tag line and describes our line perfectly… we love to watch our customers (mothers and daughters) plan outfits together and see what they come up with. The business is constantly evolving and surprises us at every turn. I don’t think either of us could have imagined (though we hoped) that Sweet Funky Vintage would be where it is so quickly. This season we have a catalog in the works!
Thank you both for opening your offices and desks to us! They are full of fabric, color and inspiration (not to mention coffee and chocolate–mind if we stop by?), and we absolutely love them!
Do you have a darling desk? We are currently looking for bloggers/designers/stationers extraordinaire to highlight in our “Desk” feature. Email us at whitneyenglish@yahoo.com if you’d like to share a photo of your desk with us, or to suggest other blog topics and ideas. As always, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get updates on new designs, warehouse sales, and industry events.
