With only hours left of what is turning out to be a one weird year, I found myself in an unusual predicament. I have no New Year’s Eve plans. All social gatherings have been shelved for better days, restaurants and local watering holes are also boarded up, and the street below is busy at a capacity of a mid-February Tuesday noon. Of course there are the obvious zoom meetings with champagne in hand to look forward to – which will happen later tonight, but for now it’s just me and the two screens dimly lighting our shop as the daylight fades beyond the window. Perfect setup for reflecting on how we did this year, and perhaps touching upon some lessons-learned.
But frankly, I don’t mind having nothing planned for tonight – both of us are EXHAUSTED. Things got a bit slow in November, which in the end turned out to be a textbook definition of a calm before the storm. We were absolutely (and I must say Delightfully) Slammed mid-December. This is largely resultant from us introducing a new product, which is the LA Holiday line of tree ornaments. These delightful little things come in batches of three and feature side-view outlines of iconic LA landmarks arranged in a kaleidoscope fashion. We were pleasantly surprised, and then subsequently overwhelmed by the snowstorm of orders that made landfall in our studio during the last half of December!! the shop was suddenly covered in snowflakes!!
Despite the massive volume of production And the timeline we are happy to declare that all orders requested as Christmas gifts made it to their recipients on time before the 25th! Credit where it’s due ofcourse – our amazing Epilog laser meticulously worked through every vector and every etching without complaint. Needless to say I’m sure he appreciates the brief downtime that is currently upon us as we take a moment to celebrate the New Year.
Another well deserved shout-out goes to USPS who deliver our products without fail and always on time.
With that said, ofcourse the biggest thanks goes out to all those who requested a set for themselves. There is a lot of you guys, and you know who you are! ;]
I’m hearing fireworks starting to spontaneously go off somewhere in the distance North West of us. I suppose 2021 is about to make landfall in New York – it is 11:51 there right now. We have three hours until it catches up with us as well! So, I won’t drag this out. New year’s resolutions: to expand our product line. No spoilers yet – but stay tuned.
In the meantime – I’m pouring a shot in accordance with an old Russian tradition to say farewell to the year that is about to pass, and welcome the new one! So, Greetings 2021! We’ve been expecting you and have heard great things – but to be honest the bar was set pretty low for you. So please don’t disappoint ;]