| Humble beginnings don't mean you have to think small – check out these businesses that started out of garages, kitchens, even a mom's garden. Other stuff this week: how Gen Z might quit vaping and an olive oil business that lets the founders spend their summers in Europe. | | | 01. Talk about humble beginnings: Dinner for 100 started out by selling pizzas from a garden – belonging to the founder's mom – during lockdowns. Locals loved it so much they opened a pop-up down the road and just opened permanent location. 🍕 02. Despite a successful career in hospitality, Danny Dooreck came to realize that 'I didn't like working for anyone.' Fair enough. He did like working with pottery, though. So he took his hobby full-time and now runs a ceramics business, Danny D's Mud Shop, out of his Los Angeles garage. ('Turning mud into REALLY NICE ceramics,' he likes to say.) He's made his mark with custom orders inspired by the American West – think cowboys, pool tables, tattoos and snakes. 'I love being in that community and finding cool artists,' he says.
03. Elsewhere in LA, multidisciplinary artist Hyungi Park makes incense and runs workshops with the likes of USAL and Ace Hotel as well as out of her studio Baboshop. (She also has an amazing website.) | | | | DO IT YOURSELF. Here's how Ana Kerin of Kana London started making money outside of her ceramics workshop with in-person events and retreats. | | | | | | | 04. A skateboard bowl, farm, pottery studio, surfboard shaping bay and cafe all in one? It's the space that Paddy Wellens and Ben Howard (yes, the singer-songwriter) didn't have while growing up in Devon. So they grew up, came back and built it themselves. 'We're trying to host graffiti workshops… things you'd be more exposed to in cities which doesn't typically happen in rural Devon,' Paddy says.
05. Just down the road, we've also got our eye on the newly-opened Roma Surfshop, which has the vibe of a 1970s California surf shack but stocks own-brand boards and tees.
06. Another surf brand to watch, this time in Hawaii: together Eric Bello (a woodworker), Dick Brewer (a surfboard shaper) and Joey Valenti (an architect) design surfboards made of invasive albizia wood. Most recently, they've started selling and shaping boards out of a cafe/shop in Wahiawā, on the island of Oahu. | | | There's a big opportunity for every business on TikTok One in three TikTok users bought a product because they saw it on TikTok. And with TikTok for business, your product could be next. There are digital marketing resources for businesses of all sizes, with all the features you need to launch effective ads, drive sales and measure performance.
Take the guesswork out of going viral. | | | 07. Australian sisters Katianna and Yianna Velos know good olive oil, thanks to spending summers exploring their family's olive groves on Greece's Mani Peninsula. That turned into Golden Groves, their olive oil brand that's made from hand picked olives from the family farm. Now they spend the Australian winter traveling across Europe's summer, sharing snippets of local wines and family dinners. 🇬🇷
08. If you can't build a business in Greece, make Greece come to you. This photographer built a white-washed villa in her backyard in LA and rents it out for photo shoots, video sets and events. Smart.
09. It's not unusual to see Peter Cho and Sun Young Park's kids, Frankie and Elliott, make a playful appearance at Portland Korean restaurant Han Oak – they live steps away and a cozy atmosphere is part of their twist on making set menu restaurants less stuffy. | | | | BEHIND THE SCENES. Next door, Peter and Sun's kitchen is lined with an enviable collection of secondhand crockery. We got a tour inside their home - check it out. | | | | | | | 10. Another business that started at home: Lawrence Wong and Cassandra Liu started Cha Dong, a craft tea brand, out of their London flat after struggling to find authentic Hong Kong-style milk tea. ☕️ They've now grown into a commercial kitchen. Here are their tips on starting small, while thinking big: Low-fi design: 'We used PowerPoint to design our packaging because we just didn't know how to use anything else. Obviously, it's not the most sophisticated tool out there, however, for someone with a corporate background, it's not a bad software to start with. It will get you quite a long way before you need to start using the fancy software or engage in a designer. The most important thing is asking what file format your printing company needs and PowerPoint is able to convert into most formats.' How to grow: 'Our tea brewing actually still remains the same as what it was when we first started brewing tea at home, small batches using traditional techniques. It's labor intensive but every single step is critical to the flavor of our product. We spend a considerable amount of time training our team and having numerous checklists in place to allow them to identify issues and self-troubleshoot if issues arise.'
11. More business tips. Thom Bradley just rebranded his wine company New Theory (formerly known as Nouveau Wine) and shared their process for changing it up 🍷: 'We wanted to pack more attitude into the brand name. We wanted it to make you feel more and revoke more emotion,' he told us. 'We developed dozens of ideas together, running them by advisors close to the business, as well as people who had never heard of us before. Finally, we ran it past legal.' Don't skip this step! | | | We moved into our new office in Hackney, east London, just over a year ago. In that time, many of you have come down for launches, events and talks, and it's really cemented our belief in the power of an incredible workspace and what an incubator it can be for your brands and businesses. So, we're opening our doors: for the first time, our beautiful new office space is available for hire – whether to host an event or to work from day to day.
Email julia@couriermedia.com for rates and more info. | | | 12. 'Die another way' is the smart tagline behind Blip World, a new brand that wants to help Gen Z quit smoking and vaping with a line of NRT – nicotine replacement therapy – gum and lozenges. Founded by model Josephine Pearl Lee and Starface founder Julie Schott, it's got neon Y2K graphics and is building a community of quitters alongside its product.
13. Queer-owned Flux Flow Dance Center went viral for its inclusive Baby Dance Club – a 30 minute dance class for the parents and caregivers of babies up to six months old. And they're not the only ones catering to parents who don't want to leave their party days behind – London mezcal bar Bar Dona holds a 'Dinky Disco'.
14. 💪 A business born out of mansplaining: Lacey Soslow and Gabriella Ainslie started Matriarchy Builds to help the growing number of DIY enthusiasts get help on home renovations without condescending comments. The platform sets up DIY home renovation projects with female and nonbinary architects, carpenters, plumbers and other trade experts, creating a diverse community working in the male-dominated renovation space along the way.
15. If you're looking for something less hands on, Andrew Doxtater, a furniture designer based in Ottawa, recently created the 'Oval Rocker', an accessible rocking chair that can be put together without any hardware. Plans are free for all to access.
16. If you're really not ready to roll up your sleeves, our photography director Anna Jay shared a few emerging design and furniture brands that recently caught her eye. No assembly required. | | | More from us (and elsewhere) 👩🌾 Farmfluencers are on the rise.
💸 Sorority recruitment advisors are raking it in.
🌭 Bet you didn't know you needed a leather hot dog holder.
🔥 The prefab cabin trend is coming for saunas.
+ Partner content: how to build software without devs.
+ Partner content: a one-minute question to get unstuck in your business. | | | | |
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