Mindful Manufacturing
We work tirelessly to design new super-fun products, but what happens once we finish a new product design?
As a brand we feel it’s important to be as efficient as possible when manufacturing our products. For every product that sits in stores there is a system of supply and transportation that got it there. It’s a constant balance of quality and efficiency with resources that determines how and where we manufacture our products, and the process changes as we constantly find little improvements. How do we do this?
Most of our products get printed with love by specialists across the European Union. We use some of the best suppliers in Italy and Germany who are experts in manufacturing the products we design. This ensures excellent quality and super-efficient manufacturing at scale. Our washi tape is produced by specialists in Guangdong, China. They have the best technology and expertise to turn our designs into awesome tape, and they care about being environmentally responsible.
All of our suppliers use papers from sustainable sources, responsible production methods and are approved by certification schemes as FSC and PEFC and RoHS. These are internationally recognised schemes and not only a symbol of responsible sourcing but show our suppliers’ commitment to careful manufacturing.
Our packaging is kept to a minimum. A simple, thin transparent wrapper is all we usually use. This makes the packaging impact as small as possible and it also lets our product design do all the talking on the shelf.
We keep our supply chains as short as possible, with most manufacturing, packing and fulfilment happening within the European Union. This helps reduce carbon emissions - the less distance a book has to travel, the better for the environment - but it also means it takes less time to transform an ephemeral design concept to a solid product that sits on your desk. When moving products between suppliers, warehouses and stores we always use carbon neutral transport wherever it's available. Supporting this tier of transport is important.
We hold smaller amounts of stock. We are always mindful of producing in batches that are the right size - large enough to be time and cost efficient, but small enough to ensure there is very little wastage. Again this is a constant fine-tuning process, but our goal is always to optimise this process.
Mindful manufacturing is an ongoing process, one requiring constant imporvement even for a smaller brand. We try to keep vigilant.