Making money from oddity and creativity

MANILA, Philippines - Most people go into business to make money, but there are others who stumble into it.

Over two years ago, Genevieve Go and her elder sister Stephanie were experimenting with crafts by decorating notebooks and making them look like dolls. Then they hit upon an idea. Why not sell them?

Overall buyer response was positive because of the product concept, and the initial small batches sold well. In 2010, the sisters decided to increase production under the brand name Quiddity.

Since then, the two have been participating in bazaars, focusing mostly on the holiday season, and working on weeknights and weekends on top of their day jobs. Genevieve, 24, is a visual merchandising specialist for Levi’s Philippines, while her sister Stephanie, 28, is a manager for a bank.

Last November, the sisters participated in a two-day bazaar, dubbed Yabang Pinoy, whose organizers were promoting a “buy Filipino” campaign. As expected, most of the products championed native culture and quality excellence.

However, it was the creative oddity of Quiddity notebooks that got buyers’ attention. At first, shoppers thought they were looking at foreign-made dolls sitting on shelves.

“For people who see them for the first time, they really don’t know what they are, and are almost always surprised to find out that they are notebooks,” says Genevieve. “Repeat customers are so kind to tell us how much they love their own notebooks that they purchased from us the year before, or how much their relatives or friends love the notebooks they were given.”

Although the sisters Stephanie and Genevieve stepped up production, they didn’t go into mass production.

No Quiddity notebooks are the same. Each is a product of creative imagination and labor of love. The Go sisters produce 200 to 300 notebooks a year. It takes 45 minutes to three hours to produce a notebook, depending on the design.

“We really focus on putting the best designs we can out there rather than hitting a certain number of units. You get to play around with textures, colors and patterns, and we just let it roll,” explains Genevieve. “Each year there’s a different theme, set of materials, inspiration, and so forth, with each factor contributing to the amount of time it takes to produce a notebook.”

When the sisters travel abroad, they come home with materials to use on their notebooks. Once, after a trip to Turkey, they produced a set inspired by nomadic gypsies. Another collection was inspired by royalty after a tour of Central Europe.

Some people don’t use the notebooks because they find them too pretty to use. Some collect them like dolls. Some even frame them. Some use them only for certain things like scrapbooking and keeping recipes.

“I have a friend who’s an interior designer who is planning on using them as accessories for her photo shoots,” related Genevieve. “We’ve definitely found that the customers themselves get inspired by the quirky and unique designs to find new ways to use or display their notebooks.”

Despite the success, the sisters keep in mind what got them there in the first place to keep them going.

“It is a passion first, a creative outlet since we love to do crafts work and are obviously not able to do so in our day jobs,” says Genevieve.

Their creativity is their fuel, her sister Stephanie sums it up. “We do it because it’s fun. The moment it’s not fun or it begins to feel like work, it’s over.”

When they started Quiddity, they used to work nonstop every night — and then weekends — until they realized that it was draining them physically and killing their creativity. Now they make sure to take time off.

These days, however, the sisters’ creativity has had customers asking them for more varieties of products other than notebooks. So, the two plan to apply their artistic sense to other things such as accessories, decorative items — and maybe even furniture. They are already working on some product ideas.

“We would love for it to also become our business someday, hopefully soon, once we are ready to take it to the next step,” says Genevieve. “But you will always find the signature quirky-kooky-cool design aesthetic that has become a trademark of our brand.”