Results tagged “boutique design” from :: ( CRIT ) :: DESIGN BLOG ::

I met Julie Tinker and Elana Dweck within my first week of the Masters program; it was clear early on that these two graduating designers worked as a pair, and were not going to be separated after their schooling completed. It came as no surprise to me when they launched Mélangerie Inc, a boutique design consultancy that "specializes in curating, creating, and presenting custom gifts, memorabilia and event related materials.”  Julie and Elana are fastidious, driven, and give a great interview. They entertained me and all my school-neuroses as I quizzed them about life after MFA.

CRIT: You were able to start a design business within a year of graduating. Was this an inside job? Did you get any assistance from the faculty?

Elana: Nope, no inside help, just good old-fashioned hard work and tenacity. In our business plan we compiled a gigantic list of prospective clients. Some of these contacts are clients we have worked with before, or people we know, but the majority are totally cold prospects we identified through research. We are very disciplined about cold-calling prospects and continuously adding to our potential client list. These methods have proven to be very successful for us, yielding about 2-3 new business meetings a week on average.