Today we’d like to introduce you to Ash O’Connor.
Hi Ash, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
A few years ago, I was doing operations for a furniture company in Philadelphia. We built all of our hardwood pieces by hand with a creative team of over 100 people. The majority of the team also had their own practices some of whom were also focused on handmade furniture. At that time (2009) Etsy existed but wasn’t the most furniture-friendly platform. There was also Craigslist and maybe a few were able to monetize their social media accounts. Galleries typically focus on fine art and there are not many (if any) in-person options to showcase that type of work. So the original concept (which is still in the works!) was to create a communal showroom for local furniture makers to improve visibility and reduce barriers to market entry.
Cut to the holiday season of 2019 and I have a newborn babe with feeding challenges. I’m not super excited to leave the house for my shopping needs, but I want to buy local and support artists. I tried to find them on Etsy and Google but found it to be a fun challenge. And it just clicked! Bring the marketplace online and incorporate a directory aspect! It would offer the most visibility to the largest amount of creators. Lots of people would love to support local artisans, but there are several hurdles to be able to do so with ease.
I had already started to lay the foundation and put together a business plan for the concept when the pandemic hit. It was a no-brainer to accelerate the plan in an attempt to help bolster revenue for artists that would be most affected by the in-person market cancellations. We were able to condense a 6 month+ long project into about 8 weeks which is kind of insane! In our first year, we had over 65 creators on our platform and built relationships with more than three hundred.
Now we are entering our second holiday season with over 100 creators on our marketplace. We are also so excited to partner with Larchmere Fireworks to have a holiday marketplace in the old City Buddha space in the heart of Coventry Village. We’ll have a similar duration of Black Friday through to December 23. We’ll also be hosting an open-air market at Holden Arboretum on 11/6 & 11/7 from 10 am to 4 pm. Going into the new year we’ll be building out Made 2.0 with more features for shoppers to find what they’re looking for and a more seamless experience for the creator as well!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Starting a business during a pandemic definitely offered a number of roadblocks. In March of 2020, there was a tremendous amount of uncertainty around the length of time we’ll be spending in ‘lock down’. I’ll admit I did not think that we’d be going into our 19th month of this crisis with varying degrees of shelter in place orders and access to community spaces both public and private. Typically, the way I would market something like this would include numerous in-person interactions and community building. With that being limited not only has it been more of a challenge to get the word out about what we’re doing. It’s also limited the sense of community I had hoped to build ultimately fostering more of a collective mentality. We’re so excited to incorporate more of that in the new year too!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have a very eclectic background. I’ve done operations for a number of companies in a variety of industries and about 8 years ago I shifted my focus to arts and community-minded entrepreneurs helping them bring their awesome ideas to fruition. I’ve also fixed flutes and clarinets, was a partner in a hyper-local newspaper, a bartender, a chef, and beyond! In addition to my professional background, I’m a musician and an artist which gives me a unique perspective on both sides of the platform!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
For me, success means many things but I truly have one focus. I’m a mother and ultimately my main objective is to be a positive role model for my daughter. Anything I do in my life is to help ensure that outcome.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@madecleveland.com
- Website: madecleveland.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/made.cleveland
- Facebook: facebook.com/madecleveland
