The Uncovered Artistry Project Blog has moved here.
Enjoy resources for small businesses, inspirational stories and organizations, and updates about the Project.
A gallery of artists, a community of survivors
Our mission is to support the entrepreneurial efforts of domestic and sexual abuse survivors, individuals who, more than most, need the empowerment and freedom fostered by entrepreneurship. Uncovered Artistry supports the businesses of domestic and sexual abuse survivors by displaying their shops in our boutique and providing them with small business resources. We strive to create a community of survivors, ultimately aiding them in their efforts to break the cycle of violence and abuse.
The Uncovered Artistry Project constantly strives to be active in the community by sponsoring charity events, hosting group volunteer activities, and donating to local domestic violence shelters.
“We want Uncovered Artistry to really be a part of the community. That’s why besides donating to shelters we also donate to local charity events like the Tri Delta St.Jude’s 5k and try to be as environmentally friendly as possible.”
-Co-founder Sarah Spoto
LFC's Business and Entrepreneur Club's Deal or No Deal Gameshow, 2010
Benefits Oxfam International
Tri Hop, Lake Forest College, 2010
Benefits St.Jude's Children's Hospital
Uncovered Artistry's Craft Party for a Cause, New Hampshire, 2010
Uncovered Artistry's Craft Party for a Cause, Lake Forest College, 2010
We are happy to introduce ExQuisite InVitation as our third "Community-Minded Etsy Artist" Feature! Not only is Chonte's work beautiful, well made (and obviously made with love too!), but she is generously involved in bettering her community through her shop and her art. ExQuisite InVitation donates leftover paper scraps to schools for young children to play with. The shop is also a part of a wonderful new cause called, "Wish Upon a Wedding." Uncovered Artistry also wishes the best for this artist's grandmother, who is the inspiration behind her community involvement.
What do you make?
Wedding Stationery and other related items. At ExQuisite InVitation, our goal is to give you the customized handmade wedding invitations and paper items you've always dreamed of with a fabuluxe look!. Invitations that reflects your unique personality and style. None of our invitations are mass produced so be rest assured every corner rounded, ribbon tied, or embellishment added has been done by our hands with love. At ExQuisite InVitation we offer invitations in all styles: single, bi-fold, pocketfolds and pouchettes.
My inspiration stems from all that the earth has to offer. From grass, the ocean, or a wall color...this is where I get it from. When I'm designing an invitation I think of it from a prospective of getting dressed in the morning. The paper is my body and all the layered paper and printing is my clothing. As a woman I can never leave home without my jewelry so this is where the ribbon, crystals and charms as well as feathers come into place...I mean really! Who ever wants to go out looking plain?
I studied fashion design in undergrad at the Fashion Institute of Technology and like so many students changed my major to finance....why? After 8yrs of number crunching boredom and many birthday's and weddings in which I was asked to design invitations I thought hey, "I miss designing" and I love paper...the rest is history!
What are you doing to help your community through your work?
I have a 2 yr. old in daycare and as we all know they come home with the best art projects from school so for the past year I have been donating my scraps to the school to be reused and recycled by children ages 1-5.
ExquisiteInvitation is also a "Wish Grantor" of Wish Upon a Wedding: http://wishuponawedding.org/how-to-help/ . Wish upon a Wedding was established just this year and is the world's first nonprofit wish granting organization providing weddings and vow renewals for couples facing terminal illness and life-altering circumstances...Vendors donate items and/or their services to give these couples the wedding of their dreams!
Why did you decide to make a difference through your Etsy shop?
I've always been a giver but after my grandmother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer last year... philanthropy is in my heart!
We've begun a series of features of talented Etsy-sellers and handmade entrepreneurs who impact their community in some positive way, and we are looking for more artists to feature on this blog! Helping your community can mean donating a portion of profits to charity or creating work that inspires others. Whatever it is, we want to hear about it!
We are a non-profit retail boutique that sells the work of domestic violence survivors online at www.uncoveredartistry.com.
Please comment this post or email us at uncoveredartistry@gmail.com if you are helping your community through your Etsy shop or handmade business!
As an Etsy shop owner and founder of a new non-profit online boutique I’ve done hours upon hours of online research on just about every aspect of my businesses. Now I want to pass on this valuable information to you! Below is a list of my top ten most useful articles to help grow and develop your Etsy business. Above all though, the #1 best way to success is experience and A LOT of hard work!
1. How to Make an Inexpensive Light Tent- Absolutely the best advice I can give anyone struggling with photos! I used to wait for the right light, the right day, and the right location to take my pictures. Now I just flip on the desk lamp over my light box and get going! And the pictures hardly need any editing. Did I mention I have a tiny, inexpensive digital camera too? See it to believe it! Look below for photographs I took with the new light box.
2. Selling Your Work Wholesale: Tips, Resources, and Links- This is a forum post I wrote a few months back that features a compilation of useful tips and articles for the crafter who is ready to go wholesale. http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6249261
3. Why Your Story is Everything- In the handmade sector, your story really is everything. You aren’t just selling your products, you are selling yourself! This podcast is a good reminder of this and gives its listeners some sound advice on creating and communicating your own unique story. To see an example of Uncovered Artistry’s story follow this link: http://www.uncoveredartistry.com/About_Us.html
4. 100 Blog Followers in One Month: Tips for Getting new Blog Followers- Written by a fellow Etsy seller, this forum post has great advice for getting followers to your blog. Plus you gotta love this author! Her blog is one of the most interesting I’ve ran across.
7. 8 Ways to Jump Start Your Business-I came across this helpful and inspiring article while browsing the web. "8 Ways to Jump Start Your Business" provides helpful tips for business owners, big and small. My favorite tip, which I feel we could have used when we started SuaVoce more than a year ago, reads "define your niche."
8. Get Inspired! Four Useful Tips for Etsy Business Owners- Writing this post was actually a great way to motivate myself.I hope it proves useful to others too!
9.Resources (that really work!) for Writing a Press Release- You might not know it, but sending a press release to your local newspaper, who will publish it for free, is an excellent way to market your business. My sister compiled these articles when she wrote the press release for our non-profit. For at least two weeks, friends, family, and strangers couldn’t stop talking about it!
Uncovered Artistry is proud to boast some small victories. After being awarded the Projects for Peace grant, Angie and I focused on creating a website for our non-profit and getting the word out that we were looking for artisans. Angie did a great job writing a press release (see an earlier blog post for Angie's advice on writing your own press release), and we were featured in our local newspapers.
We want to give out a big thank to our community, family, and friends for their support! We have received so many words of encouragement.
^Our "desk" (ie dining room table) full of letters to domestic violence safe havens and churches around the country.
We are still on the search for artisans. Once again, if you know anyone who has suffered from domestic violence and who creates some sort of artisan work (painting, quilting, woodworking, knitting, etc), please refer them to our website (www.uncoveredartistry.com).
Be on the look out for new products (all made from domestic violence survivors) on our website very soon!
Uncovered Artistry is looking for domestic violence survivor artisans, so we decided to use the local newspapers as a way to reach out to many individuals. When I first took on the task of writing a press release, I thought it would be a short two sentence blurb. I did a little research and found that I was a bit mistaken. Here is the final press release that I sent to local newspapers:
Local Winnacunnet Alumni Receive Grant to Start Non-Profit to Aid Domestic Violence Survivors
Sarah and Angela Spoto, alumni of Winnacunnet High School, received a grant to begin a non-profit online boutique called Uncovered Artistry that sells the artisan work of domestic violence survivors.
Over a year ago, the girls began their first small business selling jewelry online. The experience they gained from this business has helped them begin Uncovered Artistry.
“We loved the jewelry business, but we both knew that we wanted to take business a step further and use it to help and empower others. That’s why we created Uncovered Artistry,” said co-owner Sarah Spoto.
Uncovered Artistry is committed to helping domestic violence victims overcome the emotional and financial burdens of violence. By selling the work of only domestic violence survivors, the boutique offer artisans a friendly and convenient way to sell their work. Uncovered Artistry Boutique acts just like any other retailer and purchases the work of artisans at a fair price.
The online store’s mission is to help domestic violence survivors discover their "inner entrepreneur," empowering them both emotionally and financially. From this, said co-owner Angela Spoto, “we hope to promote peace in the lives of the artisans and our customers.”
About Uncovered Artistry Boutique:
Uncovered Artistry Boutique, operating out of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, is a non-profit online boutique that sells the finely crafted work of domestic violence survivors and distributes the products throughout the country. The business has two main goals. First, it provides an outlet for domestic survivors in America and Canada to sell their artisan work, thereby providing them with financial independence and personal confidence. Second, Uncovered Artistry educates their customers about domestic violence in order to raise awareness and eliminate stereotypes.Angela and Sarah Spoto are founders and owners of Uncovered Artistry. They are residents of Hampton Falls and attend Lake Forest College near Chicago.
We are two college students, studying in Chicago but living during the summer months in beautiful New Hampshire. We are dedicating this summer to creating and establishing Uncovered Artistry Boutique. Uncovered Artistry Boutique, operating out of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, is a non-profit online and catalog retailer that sells the finely crafted work of domestic violence survivors and distributes the products throughout the country.
The business has two main goals. First, it provides an outlet for domestic survivors in America and Canada to sell their artisan work, thereby providing them with financial independence and personal confidence. Second,Uncovered Artistry educates our customers about domestic violence in order to raise awareness and eliminate stereotypes.
Thanks for your support!
Sarah and Angie Uncovered Artistry Boutique La SuaVoce Designs
The universe always helps us fight for our dreams.
-Paolo Coehlo
It was just after my sister and I had discovered the power of Fair Trade (trade based on a fair wage, no child-labor, healthy working conditions, and usually environmentally-friendly products), micro-loans (read Angie's post for more info), and social entrepreneurship.
We realized that business didn't have to be that big, scary, masculine world of corporations and greed. Business could in fact change the world...for the better. The Projects for Peace grant was the opportunity we needed to make our ideas reality.
So why domestic violence survivors? At first, we wanted to sell the artisan work of American women who were in financial hardships. We wanted to empower women. And we wanted to empower women in our own country. For as much as we love the idea of empowering women from far-away countries, the hardships of women in America were never clearer to us.
After sharing the idea with our family, our dad asked, "Why just women? Why not men too?" Eventually, we settled on the idea of providing domestic violence survivors the opportunity to be empowered through business and art. Domestic violence survivors who are women and men, young, old, heterosexual, homosexual, and who come from rich and diverse cultural and religious backgrounds.
If you know of an individual who is a domestic violence survivor as well as a creator of beautiful artisan work, please have them visit our website at www.uncoveredartistry.com and send us an email at uncoveredartistry@gmail.com for an artisan application
Social goals can replace greed as a powerful motivational force. Social-consciousness-driven enterprises can be formidable competitors for the greed-based enterprises.
-Muhammad Yunus in Banker to the Poor
There is, undoubtedly, something very attractive about the lights and sparkle of New York City's Times Square. As an individual about to venture into the world of entrepreneurship, the giant billboards and huge flashy TV screen seem to be a testament to the power and success of capitalism. But under what pretenses? Could a social-conscious business survive in the same marketplace as American Eagle and Verizon?
Yes...And I don't think we even need the flashy lights.
My sister and I developed our plan for Uncovered Artistry because we wanted to empower others. We knew how intimidating the business world could be. Tall white men in suits are a stark contrast to the two young socially-conscious college students we are. But for over a year we have had the joy of owning a small jewelry-design company called La SuaVoce Designs. And now our new venture, Uncovered Artistry Boutique, an online boutique that sells the artisan work of domestic violence survivors, will take our passion a step further.
The business and entrepreneurial world is not reserved for those with MBAs and suits; Uncovered Artistry will attempt to prove the power of socially-conscious business that empowers regular people to be entrepreneurs.
Identifying Your Target Market Steps and tips to discovering who your customers are
When I was thinking about starting my second business (a non-profit boutique), one of the first questions I had was: who will my customers be? I firmly believe that all business-owners should begin with some sort of business plan. Identifying, then analyzing, your target market is one of the most important aspects of this plan. Certainly, my method isn’t perfect, but the following is what I did to identify the target market for Uncovered Artistry Boutique.
1. Google your idea. For me this was a dead-end. There aren’t many (or any!) boutiques that sell solely the artisan work of domestic violence survivors. But if you do come across another company with a business idea, use this to your advantage; you just found some potential competitors. Ask yourself: How is my idea better? What can I do to stand out from these existing companies? What do I have that they don’t? Also remember that most likely (if they are successful) your competitors have identified their target market already. Study their websites. What items or services do they offer? What colors are they using on their site? Is their site fun, formal, young? Identify their style; it’s also their customers’ style. I wouldn’t even be afraid to contact the owners. Many business owners I have come in contact with are surprisingly happy to chat about their experiences. I am not saying to copy, but I am saying to use the resources that are available to you.
2. Identify other companies that might have similar customers. Because I found no boutiques similar to Uncovered Artistry, I studied retailers that were similar: eco-boutiques and fair trade retailers. I then followed the same strategy as #1, always keeping in mind that this market may not be exactly mine, but it will be close.
3. Research. This is honestly not that fun, but it is certainly necessary. Learn as much as you can about your potential customer base. You might realize that someone has already done a lot of the research for you. I found that my target market even has a name: The Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) consumers. I focused my research on the consumers who purchased fair trade, because I knew these products fall in line with what my business will sell. After a lot of Googling and library searching, I had more than 12 pages of information about my target market. I found statistics, charts, and loads of text. Don’t be afraid to utilize your library. You might be surprised how many books are written about your customers.
4. Talk. I also recommend talking with friends and family. See what they suggest. If you know your mom fits your target market perfectly, talk to her about what she likes and dislikes (hopefully you know some of this already!). You might be surprised what information you can get from those around you.
5. Collect and analyze your research. Weed out information that is irrelevant to your business. Start to think about how you can apply your research to your business. Everything that involves your business is directly affected by your target market. If your target market doesn’t use Facebook, don’t advertise on that site. If they respond more to print ads, try newspapers and magazines. If they buy purses but rarely purchase makeup, then you have a better idea of what to sell or produce.
6. Use your information to your advantage! The more you know and the more you use this knowledge, the more successful your business will be.
