A Playful Collaboration: bky kid
- Jun 6, 2016
- 5 min read
My nephew is not easily impressed. When getting the little stoic a gift, your only sure-fire bet is something with a Spiderman logo on it. This has not worked out well for me as an auntie that gives gifts that are handmade + “outside the box.” That’s why bky kid's playmat shirts are an honest to goodness miracle in my book. My nephew’s response to their space playmat tee was shock + awe. Seriously. He gasped. And ran to grab a car. These smiles were not provoked.
He also had to check himself out in the mirror...
We chatted with Becky and Joe, two-thirds of the business + creative force behind bky kid, about the challenges of bringing their inspired idea to life, collaborating remotely as a team and finding a bit of balance in it all…
First off, turning a t-shirt into a play mat is a genius idea. How did inspiration strike?
Becky Thanks!! The idea for our t-shirts came from my daughter, who was 15 months old at the time. She ran her wooden train on my back and soon I was on the phone with Joe describing what a play mat shirt would look like. Fast forward three and a half years and we’ve got a variety of interactive shirts in our shop.
At Handmade Childhoods, we love things that are playful, well designed + inspire creativity. Your tees are all three! What is the most important thing you hope your buyers get when they order from you?
Becky Great question! We want to inspire parents to play creatively with their kids. We hope our buyers resonate with that and run with their own ideas. We always love to hear from buyers who contact us after receiving the shirts and say the design and colors are even brighter and better than their expectations. Online shopping can sometimes be tricky, so buyer satisfaction is important to us.
What inspires the places + characters on your tees? I can't help but notice the moose + pancakes on the train tee. Is there a story there?
Becky Joe does such a great job of thinking like a kid! I think we have an advantage in the fact that we’ve never grown up! It allows us to envision what will draw kids’ attention and capture their imaginations.
Joe The pancakes were originally a muffin (Anyone familiar with the Give a Moose a Muffin book?), but I decided pancakes and cabins were a better pair. The train tees have a woodsy, outdoor, Pacific Northwest thing going on.
Give us a peek into your studio and daily life as a small business! How does your own family get involved in the day to day of family entrepreneurship?
Becky Joe doesn’t live right by us, so we generally have to work remotely with him. He occasionally comes in person to our home for shirt folding parties and order packing parties, as well as brainstorming and planning collaboratively. Here at our home, we have an office dedicated to t-shirts and we even involve our little ones from time to time. We work with ProPrints Gear in Marion, Indiana for all of our screen-printing.
Do your tees spark any fond memories of your own childhood?
Joe For sure. My cousin had a car play mat area rug that provided us hours of matchbox car fun. But designing the Outer Space Tees really brought me back. In 1st grade, my mom bought me a lime green hoody and drew little alien heads on it with fabric paint. It was my favorite hoody. And at that time, I was making picture books based on little alien characters you can find in Ed Emberley's Drawing Book series. Shout out to Zorts!
We know that your products are a bit like your kids and there are no favorites. But, be honest, do you have a favorite design or one a little extra close to your heart?
Becky Part of me is partial to the road design because it was the first, but something about the space tees draws me in more than the others. I think it’s those bright neon colors in contrast with the black. And they’re the only shirts that have something on the front - Joe added a goofy little alien guy!
Joe The space tee, hands down. It was the hardest to make, but allowed for the most fun and imagination. As a kid, I loved drawing aliens and spaceships and planets. It's still fun as a grown-up (if that's what I am now)!
(I'm gonna insert a disclaimer/product praise here - all my nephew's pictures are blurry because he was so enthusiastic about this shirt that he did not stop moving. Did. Not. Stop. Also, I'm a terrible photographer.)
Running a business takes time. Usually, a lot of time. Any advice you can give to other busy moms who want to make space for creativity or side projects?
Becky Oh man. I stay home with my girls and they’re still too young to be off to school. So it can be hard to find time to work. But, the great part of it is, I’m playing with them all the time, so there’s rarely a lack of ideas and inspiration. I have a good feel for what parents want and what can make parents’ lives a little easier because that’s the stage of life I’m in. Joe and Adam help me out by pulling the extra slack when I’m feeling overwhelmed, in addition to their own tasks. Business can become one of those endless occupations that suck every spare minute from you, so I believe you have to draw the line somewhere. I have too much fun with my little ones to miss out on this season of life, so I’m okay with saying no now and then to business tasks. I do believe it’s important to make time to pursue those things that give you life as a parent, whether it's working out, reading or a creative outlet. Saying no to the things that drain us and take away precious time can help create space to allow time for the things we do love.
Can you give us a heads up on any new products in the works for your shop?
Becky Our newest product is our market tote which encourages parents to involve their kids in the list for the farmer’s market by using the cards we provide. Put the cards representing the items you need in the “get it” pocket of the tote and then switch the card to the “got it” pocket once you’ve got the item. We would also like to add car-themed party printables such as invitations, games, etc. to our kids’ racetrack birthday shirts.
You can shop all bky kid tees here, including their glow-in-the-dark tees, space tees, birthday tees, train tees and more!
This post was sponsored by bkykid, but all opinions are my own and I delight in offering only post features from artists + designers I personally adore + follow.
Comments