Incubating local craftspeople for 130 years. The Heurich legacy continues with two Maker Fellows.

We’re halfway through our inaugural Maker Fellowship, and it’s time to highlight what our two fellows have been building! Local makers Brianna Kumar of Abloom Earrings and Denise Williams of D’Bohomama joined the pilot program in April, driven by a shared goal: to grow their handcrafted businesses by boosting revenue and deepening their connection to the local community.

The Maker Fellowship curriculum was built to accelerate maker businesses from “beginner” (with an annual revenue under $25k and relying on small-medium sized markets & minimal wholesale) to “intermediate” (revenue in the in the mid- to high five digits, increased quantity of wholesale accounts, and presence at larger markets). Over the past four months, the Fellows have met regularly with Assistant Director Alex Fraioli, who leads our Urban Manufacturing Incubator, for a mix of group workshops and 1:1 business coaching sessions. Each session dives into a different aspect of building a sustainable business. Fellows leave each session with expert-written readings on the topic and tailored “homework” to apply what they've learned.

Brianna and Denise began by diving in the ideation process, exploring their brand identities by developing audience personas and crafting fresh messaging rooted in their personal stories, values, and lived experiences. They put their audience personas to the test and built out new product lines to launch during Q4 (the most profitable time of year for a maker). Through this process they pulled apart their labor, packaging, and overhead costs and explored the benefits (and downfalls) of utilizing different common pricing strategies. Brianna and Denise made adjustments to their pricing to ensure they were fairly compensating themselves and also pricing to their audiences. 

Last week, the Fellows and Alex sat down to do further ideation - this time to set business growth goals for the next three years. They were challenged to paint a picture of what their business looks like in three years, which during a time of uncertainty (tariffs, supply chain issues, inflation, lack of affordable workshop space etc.) was not the easiest task. Using the SMART goal method, they each are working (as we write this) to build out their three year dreams into tangible (and flexible) yearly, quarterly, and monthly workplans. 

You may have noticed a growing trend among small maker businesses: offering workshops to share their craft. As the experience economy continues to rise, hands-on learning and creative engagement are becoming increasingly valuable revenue streams, especially as traditional product sales face slower growth. Brianna began teaching workshops over a year ago and it has proved to be a strong revenue generator. Denise had envisioned herself leading a Macrame workshop, so we worked together to build out a replicable facilitation guide and tested it last month. 

As we move into the second half of the fellowship, Brianna and Denise will apply their new branding, audience personas, and products to building out strategies for sales during the holiday season. Their journey will culminate with “graduation” at our 13th annual Heurich Christmas Markt from December 4-7th with a free booth. (Ps. You can support the Fellowship by sponsoring their booths!)

As we head towards Christmas Markt, we’ll be diving deeper into Brianna and Denise’s stories. Stay tuned!