Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Reuman.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After graduating college with a studio art degree, I returned to my hometown, Newton, working at Artitudes Gallery and saving up for my first apartment. I had been a longtime portrait/ 2D-artist, especially with map collages.
After some time at Artitudes where people buy functional art, I began to make cards, mirrors, photo frames, and keychains, often incorporating maps. The keychains caught on quickly and sold steadily.
A year later, I was approached by a sales representative (who helps match up artists with New England stores like Artitudes that could be interested in carrying those handcrafted accessory lines). She loved the look of my keychains and, with her encouragement, I launched a one-woman wholesale art business, working from home and selling bundles of my keychains to stores across New England.
More recently, I started acting as my own sales rep for the rest of the United States, and began sending orders to places as far away as Alaska and California!
Has it been a smooth road?
The major struggles that come with any entrepreneurial endeavor are the long hours, the little sleep, and the uncertain and small income.
I wear many different hats, and it’s hard to simultaneously feel the need to be keeping up with creating the physical products (having enough backstock) and the need to contact store after store because demand (getting orders) is also vital to the business’ success.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Block Party story. Tell us more about the business.
Block Party keychains are handmade (by me!) in the Boston area. I drill a hole into a wooden block (1x3x½ inch) (like those used in the tumbling tower game), decorate them (with magazine clippings, maps, pyrography, stamps and more), mod podge all faces, put a keyring through the hole, and spray them with a finish. They’re lightweight, big enough to find in your purse but small enough to fit in your hand. No two are exactly alike, and the range of style is endless, which means there is something for everyone – the athlete, the parent, the teacher, the yogi, the musician, the activist, the snow bunny, beach bum, the outdoorsy adventurer…
Not included in that list, the most popular keychains ordered by stores across the states are the customized map keychains. Paper maps have proved to be an exciting, descriptive, and meaningful art medium, because of the links to place and environment our personal identities hold. The keychain may say the word “home” on one side, and a map of Brookline or Chicago wraps around the other 5 faces. A map attached to your car keys can certainly prove useful in a pinch, but moreover, the keychain serves as a token of an important place in your life- perhaps where you met your spouse, grew up, went to college, or raised your children.
The idea behind the map keychains is that, like an atlas or a suitcase, we can physically and metaphorically carry our places and our experiences with us. It can be a conversation-starter, giving others an opportunity to see an element of your identity that customarily stays hidden beneath the surface.
Pricing:
- Keychains go for typically $18-21 apiece, some less, some more, depending on retail location
Contact Info:
- Website: www.block-party.org
- Email: monica@block-party.org
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/MonicaLReuman/
- Other: www.block-party.org/retail
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Image Credit:
Monica Reuman, Essential Arts Gallery, ID, Once Upon A Time Bookstore CA
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