Tell me a little about your company? How longhas it been around?
Freshpinz is a one man company,just me hand making every pin. Our slogan is "Express your fresh!" We have only been around for 3 months now,and business is expanding so fast. We service out of Buffalo, NY where Icurrently reside but I’m originally from Minneapolis, MN. We pride ourselves onproducing a reasonably priced, unique accessory with same day shipping.
What prompted the thought of originating “Freshpinz”?
Honestlyit was a fluke. There was an event a few months ago and I had a vision for myoutfit. I wanted to have an accessory like a brooch or pin to rock on the lapelof my sport coat, something simple, but something that popped. Instead of goingout and searching for something to catch my eye, I just decided to makesomething. Being that I often wore bowties, I thought it would be cool to havesomething like that to wear. I went online and tried to find some type ofinspiration, and I came across some children’s crafts sites, and then Ifound the materials to make the bow tiepin which started everything.
It seems that most of your clientele comes fromthe Greek Community. Not only do you feature NPHC Greeks but you pretty muchcover all groups (i.e Latin fraternitiesand sororities as well as academic and business groups). Do you create othertypes of designs, say if a company wanted to recreate their logo in a pinformat, could “Freshpinz” cater to that type of consumer?
I’m open to try anything. But scaling is anissue for some logos or custom design. The more detailed the design is thebigger it is in scale, and using beads..... its tough!!! I want to create an accurate depiction of thecustomers design, so often I can tell right away if I can do it or not, then Iwill make suggestions to make it work.
Below are sorority freshpinz in case you want to snag one for your favorite girl. 
Without telling the tricks of the trade, explainyour designing process. Your pinz are very detailed. I’m most intrigued by howyou formulate your designs by creating visuals that look exactly like the logoor picture you are depicting. Do you have to draw the designs first?
What I’m doing is nothing new,we’ve all used to beads as a child. The twist is that I’m using a child’s craftand creating adult accessories. The design process varies. Sometimes I cansearch the net and find a child’s template and go from there, but most of thetime it’s me looking at a picture and playing around. Making curves and shapeswas extremely difficult at first and sometimes still gives me problems. Butmost of the time now-- I just look for inspiration. I may sketch it out, but it’susually all freehand . I often ask people for ideas of things they think Ishould make, and the Kappa YO- is the first Greek design I made, and is the oneI’m most proud of.
“The Male Brooch Epidemic” is making a HUGEcomeback. Last year you could barely get a guy to pin something on his jacket,let alone a tee shirt. However, it seems as if “Freshpinz” has no problembreaking the macho male ego when it comes to openly displaying your product ina stylish sense. Why is that?
I believe the product is just cool. It’s just different and peoplealways want to have the jump on what’s new and fresh. Everyone has a unique style and my pinz caterto that individuality. I think guys ormore conscious of what they wear today than ever before. The days of us justwalking out the house in some basketball shorts and Jordan’s has passed, itseems that subtlety is the new trend, and guys are just looking for subtlethings to enhance their look, and I believe freshpinz does that.
Whatmakes “Freshpinz” so fresh? How is your product unique among other materialslike leggo pinz for example?
Lego pins are cool,I’ve seen some people do some creative things with them, but the differencewith my product is the attention to detail. I’m able to use different types of materials to create accurate depictions. It’s more like pixel art. When I first started, I just made a few formyself as a hobby, and I enjoyed it. I started to rock them out and peoplewanted them. So I made some for them and I was just giving them away for free,the idea was that this would never serve as supplemental income, but thenpeople were like, “Yo ..you need to start charging for these!” and I did, andthe rest is history.
Yes lol 3D, the concept was agreat thought but it hasn’t come full circle as of yet. I’ve made a few samples but it’s not there yet. The design process is easy but finding theright type of glue has been a problem. So I’m in the lab working and getting itright.
A good designer is always looking to reinventtheir product to keep it fresh. What’s new in the works for “Freshpinz”designs?
I’malways looking to create something new. The ideas just steam from everythingaround me. I’m coming out with some color block pins next, and really diggingin to this 3D pins; trying to work the kinks out. The idea is to keep all designs subtle, and never outlandish.
Outside of your 3D pinz, What would you say has been your mostchallenging design to create?
My original “YO” Kappa pin was the hardest because it was my firstGreek pin. I’m so proud of myself for that, because even I didn’t think that Icould be that creative. The feedback I got from that and buzz was crazy and Isincerely appreciate it. And to reinvent it I added a bowtie to it and createdthe “YoBOW” and that really took Freshpinz to another level. When I’m workingon a design for the first time, I’m just sitting at the workstation backhunched over and tweezers in hand- moving beads around trying to see whatworks-- and then when I get the clear vision it’s like EUREKA!
Are you a walkingbillboard for your product?
Uh….. not so much now, I have somany people supporting me now that I have walking billboards on every coast. Iget more pleasure out of seeing other people wearing them. I want to be the designer in the crowd andoverhear people giving praise and compliments about my pins asking where theygot them from and who made them etc. Not knowing that the person who made themis right behind them lol. If you think about it-- a lot of people wear all theselabels and seldom see what the designer looks like. I want to be that type ofguy. I’m just laid back and appreciative for people even wanting to wear mypinz let alone pay their hard earned money for, it’s humbling.
Check me out in FRESHPINZ below.
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