Monday, February 11, 2008

LazerBeanz is featured in Etsy's Storque



I've been really good about keeping my lips sealed about this feature in the Storque (Etsy's online magazine). Vanessa from Etsy contacted Justin and I awhile ago hoping that we could write up an article about running a shop together and being in love for Valentine's Day. Of course! Here is the article we wrote.

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We are Justin and Elise, the newly wedded Etsians who run the shop Lazer Beanz as a team. We have always said, “Elise is the hands and Justin is the moustache of the operation.” That is our absurd way of describing how we work together in the shop. Elise makes a big mess all over the studio/kitchen, cutting and sewing peculiar appliques on recycled clothing and Justin makes sense of the situation. He takes care of the listing and business type stuff that Elise is terrible at.

We got started making and selling clothes together when Justin got a big pizza stain down the front of his favorite plain and nicely fitted shirt. We both fretted until Elise got the idea to sew a patch over the stain to cover it. The design was a tooth stitched with red thread and we both thought it looked boss. Justin wore the shirt around and charmed people into placing orders. We started selling by immersion and have definitely grown along the way.

We joined Etsy not long after the pizza incident and have loved working together on our shop. We both have also enjoyed the community aspect of being a member of Etsy. Elise is regularly in the forums and we both enjoy occasionally joining in on Self Portrait Thursday.

Sharing the same shop can be challenging as a couple. It’s especially tough when we want to buy secret surprises for each other. We also have had disagreements about what we want Lazer Beanz to be and what our long term direction is. Fortunately, we learned back in high school that the best way to settle our arguments is an intense game of Rock Paper Scissors (seriously). That is how we chose our shop name. Elise would like to point out that she lost that particular battle.

When we aren’t working on our shop, we like to play Dr. Mario, read to each other, ride our bikes at night (don’t worry Mom), and snuggle with our bunnies, Hodge and Yoshimi. Elise works at a bakery and we also work together at an independent movie theater.

We both feel very lucky to have each other as partners and it’s mega romantic to work together on something and watch it grow.
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Feel free to view the article in it's natural habitat here.

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