Thinking design // making design strategy for your business a priority

In a highly saturated surface design market we see a decrease on non-exclusive and royalty free design sales. More and more companies begin to recognize the importance of design within the process of product development. With strong competition in the textile industry, adding similar designs to a new collection than your competitor is not a way to profile your business. It even makes your customer doubt your intentions. The climate is changing and design strategy is becoming a must.

Honest business
The first year I was working as an independent designer I already noticed the harsh games businesses play in the textile industry. At one point I made a series of exclusive designs for one customer and another one of my customers, only licensing non-exclusive designs, payed it’s producer to give him the information what was going through their printers, designs their competition was printing at the same factory. They bought the info about the exclusive range and then behind my back downloaded similar designs through royalty free partners of mine. Well, you can imagine, some businesses need a little lesson or two about how to work with other human beings. They actually had the nerve to ask me to work for them on an exclusive base. No thank you, I do not work with people that are dishonest. Be kind, and your customers will notice. Stealing others idea’s and designs is also something they will notice.

Customers are getting more critical each day, with todays technology and information present at any time it is easy to track and check businesses and their story. Are they selling the truth or is it just a story? Stories can be fictional so just coming up with a story is not the way to engage customers to your brand. You’ll have to earn trust, tell your story, and back it up in all you got, your traces, your production developments and process, your communications. This is essential for your trustworthiness.



Visual priority
With the need of more transparency and more customers asking questions about the products they spend their money on we can see there is more need to prioritize designs within companies. Their visual language should be one unified message carrying out the brands philosophy. When companies use print designs they need a more distinctive print language, that has a connection with their overall visual identity. The demand of non-exclusive designs in textile, fashion, home decor and other commercial market places is declining. And it is time to prioritize design. More and more companies choose to license our exclusive prints and choose quality over quantity. Something that is highly appreciated by their customers creating more engagement, a clear message and trust. The past two years we have been working with several companies, guiding them through this process.

Design strategy
With a large portfolio with non-exclusive designs and quarterly exclusive collections we try to serve both small start up companies and large textile and commercial retailers. What suits your business most? Is there a mission, a story to tell? What impact does a print design have for your product? Does it sell the product? Or is the design secondary to your product and are these print designs or illustrations only used as detailing only? What does the design reflect? Does it have a connection to the brands philosophy or story? Can we make a connection? Creating an overall visual language? The importance of the design needs to be determined. All these ingredients should reflect your design strategy. Most companies have prioritize their product strategy, developing and improving their product, but forget about the importance of the design. Designs should always support the product. We can help you with this process of prioritizing designs and create a strong unified message in print design reaching out to the more conscious customer. If you would like to get more information about design strategies and how they can built a strong visual identity for your business just reach out and send us a message.

Happy Kingsday Dutchies // Veel plezier deze Koningsdag!

In about five days' time the entire country will turn orange while Dutch people celebrate Kingsday. On the 27th of April Holland celebrates the birthday of our King. All show windows, supermarked candy and fashion boutiques show off their orange collection this week. Slowly everything will turn into orange. If you are visiting Holland during this period for the first time make sure you know what to do, how to behave and what to wear.

Fleamarkeds and under age street musicians
Kingsday is the day to get rid of old junk. It is the only day of the year where you can get rid of old toys and worn down clothes and actually make money. Street musicians are everywhere sometimes 5 year old kids are playing in the street earn a little something and small games and activities are created to bring in some change to spend on candy the next day. During Kingsday most of the shops are closed. It is the biggest and most celebrated holiday of the country so businesses are shut down so everyone can celebrate this quirky day. Even the entire Royal family is out in the town to celebrate, have a drink and take part in typical Dutch games.

Beer & Orange
If you decide to celebrate Kingsday make sure you don't walk the streets on a empty stomach. Beer is served everywhere but you can see groups of people in the streets and parks drink from their own stash too, they will offer you drinks and before you know it you are struggling to stay on your feet even though it's only 2 in the afternoon.
If you like to be ridiculed on the street you should not wear orange. You will be the joke of town. Make sure you add something orange to your wardrobe. Groups of drunk Dutchies can be very enjoying when they decide you are not wearing enough of this national color. Spray paint your hair, add some orange lipstick or get yourself a cheap orange t-shirt that can be bought in every single clothing shop in the days leading to this party. If it is not over the top orange, it is not good enough!

Where to go?
Kingsday is celebrated in every city and every small town. If you are up to big parties do celebrate this day in Amsterdam. One huge mass of people will turn the city into one giant party. If you like a party but want a little escape go celebrate Kingsday in the South, Brabant. My all time favorite place in Breda. The city center turns into a dance party around noon and if you like to escape the people you can walk to the city park, do some vintage (junk) shopping and grab a drink just outside of the city center where terraces are a little more quiet.
Not good with masses of people? Go visit a small town and see how locals entertain themselves with typical Dutch games and activities on the street. Here are some very typical and interesting activities you might bump into.



Koekhappen - Cookie biting game
Your hands will be tied on your back and without any help you will have to eat and finish this traditional dutch baked cookie that is hanging on a rope just above your head. If you win, finish the cookie first, well, it is all about the honor...

Spijkerpoepen - Nail pooping game
As a kid this was my favorite game. A string holding a nail will be tied around your waist. The nail will be hanging from your back in between your legs. You will have to try and get the nail into the narrow neck of a bottle. It sounds easy but it's hard work!

Zaklopen - Walking the bag
This game is very popular among kids. You will have to crawl into an empty potato bag and run track. Walking in a bag is not easy and can be very painful and I won't recommend it. I sure don't want to break a leg during Kingsday but if you want to take the challenge, I did warn you!

New exclusive fabric collection // Brick and mortar pre-opening // Makerskwartier Den Haag

For some of you this might not come as big news, we have been posting some of our renovations and process on our Instagram and Facebook already but it is in fact pretty good news. Behind the scenes we have been working hard to move the studio to our super fine brand new location in the old heart of The hague. And we have been working on setting up our own production for the past few months.

Located in the old heart of The hague we are joining forces with other creative makers and creators in our street. We became part of the new Makerskwartier in the Boekhorststraat and old shopping street that needed a proper lift. The past year this area has been under the microscope to turn it into a new area for creative peeps to sell their handmade and up cycled items.



Makerskwartier
One of the first shops relocating in this street was Loft and Sound, run by our super cool (seriously be aware of his awesomeness!) neighbor Ard Regenboog. In his shop he sells the most beautiful vintage pieces: restored lamps, old industrial furniture and he is always polite enough to offer his customers a proper coffee.

Next to Loft and Sound you can find the small workspace Cecile, who makes leather handbags and accessories. Pop in and see how she creates these wonderful pieces.
Accross the street you can find Studio Joske, she is currently renovating her space but it is turning in to something mighty fine. She knows how to work her tools. She creates the most gorgeous pieces of furniture. Chairs, tables, pillows, all with her very own unique colorful style. Of you love color to enter your home, pop in!

Two doors down there is another very colorful shop that is part of our Makers. Liries Conceptstore run by Richelle has some bright and colorful paintings and other pieces of art, interior items and vintage. I love Richelles style, she mixes color with current themes and mixes different techniques creating stories with her artwork. This concept store is a mix of her personal work and some whimsical pieces made by others.

Pre-opening
At the end of the street you can find our brand new shop. We relocated last month and our space is divided into a shop and work space area. Since our pre-opening we have been welcoming lot’s of people into our tiny shop. I never expected it to be so much fun. We are not ready and working full swing yet, and we will still need to have the grand opening but we planned on opening the shop to clear out all of our samples and do a little testrun first, clearly we are pretty much doing this for the first time so yes, setting up an entire production and brick and mortar shop takes a whole lot of time, patience and effort. The shop has been pre-open for a month now and I never expected to get so many awesome customers in there, giving us the sweetest compliments and some very useful feedback.

We now sell our sample fabric, designs we ordered at our GOTS certifies producers the past few months. We have some fun boy prints, designs for girls and some cool gender neutrals and abstracts if you would also like to create something a little less kiddie-like. We are working hard to find the perfect match for our first collection. Hopefully within two months we can stock up and our shop both brick and mortar and online will be up and running by then. While we are already working in our new space we are also setting up our own production. This spring we will launch our very own exclusive range of designs that will only be available via our official Little Smilemakers Shop channels. But we are definitely not ready yet. We are waiting for our fabric, working on our visual communication and so much more. You’ll be the first to know once we have ur new collection available. Stay tuned!



Workshops & Sewing classes
My new business partner Anouck has been working her ass off (she pretty much forgets all about her lunch most of the time) on some sample pieces for our fashion collection. With her sewing skills she has proven to be a real sewing magician. We now have some new born fashion accessories, home decoration such as pillows and blankets, and of course a small collection of new born baby, toddler and kids clothes. If you visit our shop you can now handpick your fave fabric & product and Anouck can turn it into something custom made for you or your little one. But you can also attend one of her weekly sewing classes on Tuesdays. You can just join the class, sign up via Facebook or email and create your own Little Smilemakers pieces. Anouck has also planned some workshops on Sundays you can join her and make something from scratch and finish the same day. Usually she works around a theme; make a baby romper, or harem pants. You’ll be working on the same project with 5 other people and go home with a finished item at the end of the workshop. You can find more info on her Facebook page, check it out and sign up!

For now Little Smilemakers Shop is open from thursdays to saturdays 12:00 / 17:00 - Boekhorststraat 191 Den Haag - Netherlands