News

June 11, 2021
Share Your Story: The Crafted Prints

San Francisco Bay Area maker creates affordable art and handcrafted stationery

The Crafted Prints is a BIPOC, family-owned business located in the San Francisco Bay area. Vanessa Ruelas, co-founder of The Crafted Prints reached out to Stationery Trends to share her story. The team currently consists of two co-founders and they worked cohesively to launch this emerging business. Their products are available in a variety of boutiques and small retail locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The Crafted Prints

Tell us about your business.

Vanessa Ruelas (VR): We offer ethically sourced, sustainably made, affordable art and handcrafted stationery. We have a growing, hand-selected, global community of artists who offer their work through our site in printed form (think Society6 on a smaller, niche scale). Our team makes every item to order, from scratch, which allows us to eliminate waste. We are all about giving back in every way we can, so we offer some of the highest artist commissions in the industry, and we donate 10% to nonprofits fighting human trafficking.

How did you approach the 2020 holiday selling season?

VR: The 2020 holiday season was our first full holiday season in business. Thankfully, due to the nature of our business — making everything to order — we were able to hit the ground running and we were successful at keeping our usual turn-around times, despite the influx of orders we received. We’ve got a great operations system down as a team, which helped us stay afloat the entire season.

What is the most requested item in your inventory right now?

VR: The most requested item in our inventory has been the hardcover journals and art prints.

How are you assisting retailers with immediate and future inventory needs?

VR: We are partnering with our stockists and providing flexible payment options to help them during these times.

What helpful tips would you like to share with retailers during these unprecedented times?

VR: If there’s anything this entire last year has shown us, it’s the importance of human connection and value-giving communication. Even through the restrictions, the pandemic brought on (i.e. stay at home orders, social distancing) we were still able to be there for others, in a new way. From the special messages and gifts mailed to friends, to the virtual hangouts and parties, we learned all the more that we need each other and that we’re better together. May we carry that forward with us, even as things begin to open up again.

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