12 years ago in Massachusetts, I accidentally started a business that I named Moop. An arbitrary nonsense word for a thing that would ultimately become my livelihood. I needed a website and so I needed a name. I spent the evening saying things and writing things and googling things and finally landed on Moop. It was not the kind of naming that happens when a company with a ton of money hires a design and branding agency to come up with an identity for them. It is the kind of name that came from not really knowing I was starting the thing that would become my entire career. Often times magic happens when you don’t fully know the projected outcome of what you are doing. I do not have a business degree. I have art degrees. I’ve earned my business degree from running Moop. Starting from literally nothing - an $80 sewing machine that I had purchased years prior while in art school for the sole purpose of stitching non-textile materials together. I had no sewing experience and definitely no product design experience. I was a photographer, staging images with constructed environments and costume type props. I was particularly interested in the critical investigation into the opulence of high fashion and how it related to class and exclusivity. The ornate detailing. The construction. The inaccessibility. The performance. Very academic haha! Maybe I was being driven by aspirational frustration as those things were so far out of my reach as a young single parent, working multiple jobs, while in school full time, learning how to raise a child, earning a degree that I did not really know how to use to support my future self and my daughter. I had tried other, more employable areas of study and always came back to an art practice. I wanted to teach. So many things evolved and developed and grew out of those years in art school. All of which led me to inadvertently starting this business 12 years ago. Magic.
I employed that desire to teach as I taught every person who has ever worked for me how to construct our bags, how to manufacture in a small batch environment, and how to build a workplace that considers the daily commitment of everyone who chooses to work with me. Our workplace is one of my greatest achievements. It’s an environment that exists to provide a living for those who work here, without ignoring that we all have lives that should be allowed to take priority outside of our jobs. We all have to make a living. Even better if we can make that living without feeling jeopardized if we have to call in sick, or need to take some time off, or must answer the phone, or schedule a lunch date, or need to pursue your own creative outlets. Most of us spend more time at work than we do in our homes. I feel lucky that you all have helped me build a workplace that considers those things, while still providing a living for all of us. For 12 years you have supported us and watched us make bags and lived with us as you carried our bags, and followed along as life events happened on all sides of everything, for me, my assistants, for you. You all share the most amazing stories with us and we absolutely love hearing them, and we think you like hearing our stories, too! We have big plans as we continue on our slow and steady business growth.
We are excited that you are excited to carry our bags, and read our stories, and visit our storefront, and follow along with the daily adventures. Thank you for helping us make the best thing we know how.
To celebrate, we’re having a sale. Click here to shop!
Use the code: MAGICMAGIC upon checkout for 15% off from now through March 18th, 2019.
xoxo,
Wendy & co.
