WHAT?! You're not on the newsletter e-list? Click HERE to sign up.
BUYOLYMPIA.COM
good people, great art. TKDA finds out why they do it.
Read. Shop. Spread Art.
What inspired this idea?
We started back in 1999 in order get friends goods for sale online ; this was back before paypal. So we built our own online store. It took off, and before we knew it, we had a lot more friends. We're excited now to be going on our 10th year.
Product to recommend?
Our first artist on board was our good friend Nikki McClure -- her new children's book with Cynthia Rylant is amazing. It's a bold, beautiful piece of art. We were honored to work with Nikki on making this happen. See it here.
Artist to recommend?
Sarah Utter continues to grow and change as an artist -- her most popular piece is the "Reading is Sexy" design
that's been featured on t-shirts, mugs and stickers. But she isn't just limited to slogans; she's an accomplished painter and we did a 2009 calendar with her that was a fun collection of imaginary birds.
Grooviest thing about your product?
We've never felt overly groovy; but we've always felt sincere. We try our best to tread lightly and be honest in what we do; all of our paper goods are made from recycled paper. We print at small, family-owned print shops. Most of our shirts are printed by just one person, in a garage. We've always kept things small scale, intentionally. We value the limited edition and the small runs over the mass produced.
What inspires you?
The amazing work our artists do. We work with almost a hundred different artists now, and they are constantly coming up with new, amazing stuff.
Plans for the future?
We're going to do our best to keep doing what we do. We've always grown organically, only taking on new artists as we've been able to handle. Getting to know everyone we work with and not just adding people willy-nilly helps us stay focused.
