My name is Poy Twitchsri-Granati and I am the founder of Summer Space Studio, an artfully handcrafted paper flower studio based in Long Island, New York. I was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. I have a background in an advertising agency before I moved to NYC in 2012 and earned an MFA in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU. I also worked as a graphic designer and User Experience (UX) designer for a few years before I began running Summer Space full time in 2020. I now live in Long Island, New York with my husband and my cat, Willy.
How the Seed of Summer Space Studio Grew out of the COVID Job Crisis
I started Summer Space in 2018 after finishing a 100-day making project, wherein I made one paper flower a day for a hundred days. During these hundred days I fell in love with the craft and I started to teach paper workshops in NYC while continuing my day job as a UX designer.
My workshops took off, people loved them! I got to teach in-person paper flower workshops hosted by CraftJam, ARANJ, Maman, ADORE, and did pop-ups with West Elm and Madewell in NYC. It was quite an adventure to get started with these places. I actually did it the old fashioned way, I took my paper flowers and walked around the streets of New York City and asked these stores if they wanted to host a workshop or do a pop-up with me. A lot of stores said no but these ones said yes! At that point, I felt that I had nothing to lose, I had the work that I loved and thousands of stores in the city. I figured I might as well try or else I would never know.
Things took a turn in 2020 when I lost my full-time job. Thankfully, my husband got a job offer out in Long Island right when the pandemic started. But this meant we had to pack up everything and move out of NYC. But I made a good thing out of it, as I dove into work at my studio full-time.
I started small in order to prepare for launching my business on a larger scale. I invited my friends to do an online workshop with me to test out the system, the tech, and the flowers they wanted to make. That way I could test out my process in a safe space to help me prepare for the real deal.
Then I started offering to recreate bridal bouquets for my friends and family as their anniversary gifts because I knew I wanted to offer this to other people so I needed good documentation of these projects. During that time, I got a scholarship from Brit+Co’s Selfmade program (Fall 2020 Cohort) where I got to learn how to start a business, validate my idea, and start building a business plan.
I was so pleased to hear all the positive things that people were saying about my workshops. Many people told me that my workshops had played a big part in helping them cope with the stress of the pandemic and feel better in a really difficult time. I was so glad to be able to create and share this wonderful thing that was able to bring real joy to everyone involved. Whether it’s receiving a flower from a loved one or getting to see their wedding bouquets every day, my paper flowers make people smile and I feel so blessed to be a part of their celebration.
Establishing My Marketing Roots
After Selfmade, I worked one-on-one with the founder of Six Degrees Society, Emily Merrel, where I learned how to step outside my comfort zone to improve my networking skills. Emily helped me make a clear and defined business plan, and connected me with so many helpful people. This gave me the start I needed to focus on polishing my branding, setting up my website, and starting to see how I could grow and expand my business to reach my goals.
One of the people I met through Emily was a marketing strategist named Jamie Ratermann. Through our introduction I was given the opportunity to join Jamie’s two-hour Content Sprint sessions where we worked to plan out a month’s worth of social media content. This class taught me the importance of showing up authentically on social media. Given my introverted nature this took me a while to get at the start, but developing my personal brand by better showing my audience who I am helped me ground my business model and personalize my brand in a way that everyone could see and connect with.
Now, I’m taking a course called Vision To Voice run by Meg Androsiglio, a PR expert who has been helping me work on messaging, pitching, and using PR as a stepping stone for better media visibility. Meg has helped me refine my pitches and find editors to pitch too. She also guided me in laying out a year-long plan to improve my PR and networking wherein I devote one hour each week to work on new PR tasks and maintain positive momentum without burning out.
I also recently became a member of the We Are Women Owned community. They’ve been a wonderful resource, providing weekly work sessions with entrepreneurs like me where we share our progress and give each other feedback in order to build each other up. I always look forward to our monthly check-ins where we get to share our wins and experiences. I find that when running a business, you are wearing many different hats at any given moment and it’s invaluable to get support from a like-minded community who are learning and growing with you.
Making Networking Work for You
I’ve learned a lot from these amazing courses and communities. It’s important to take notes throughout the programs and coaching sessions, you never want to assume you’ll just remember a great idea later. Make sure you’re connecting with people who get you and your business. I always ensure that I’m taking courses that align with my vision and keep me focused on my goals. It can be easy to get lost in all these new ideas and people, so I always reiterate my plans and goals every quarter to make sure I’m not all over the place and have a clear strategy to reach that goal.
I admit, I used to be skeptical about networking. I felt I had enough contacts and friends that I didn’t need to find new people. But after taking courses with Six Degrees, I learned the value of continuous networking and growing my social media presence. They helped me get more comfortable talking to people. I learned how to quickly and effectively introduce myself and my business, and how to talk about my business in a way that is flexible to its changes yet consistent to the heart of its brand.
All that hard work paid off too because after about a year of networking and PR classes, I got the chance to partner with Paper Source and Adobe and to feature with their brand; and just this January I was featured on the TODAY Show, which is the first time my product has been mentioned on broadcast!
A couple years ago I never could have imagined myself talking in front of a camera or demonstrating my paper flowers on Adobe’s IG live. The people I networked with helped me to see my own potential and realize that I can handle running massive workshops of more than 50 people and to have all my photos, information, and blurbs ready to go when media centers like the TODAY Show call.
Where I Am Now and The New Buds of My Business
In October 2021, I was going through a creative rut where I struggled to make sales and couldn’t keep up with big box store trends to promote black friday or holiday content. I was thinking about shutting down my studio for good and going back to earning 6-figures as a UX designer. But then I realized that I needed to give myself another push. I’ve learned so much in the 3 years that I’ve been running this business. So I am now shifting my focus from solely Instagram to Pinterest, Youtube, and Email Marketing. I am working with a wonderful marketing strategist, Loretta Doria, to leverage my marketing strategy and SEO with an actionable and measurable plan to grow.
As for the studio, I am now working on crafting up my stock of Spring paper flowers. I also continue to run live online workshops and offer in-person workshops in the NYC area. A personal project that I’m excited about right now is making one tropical paper flower a month and sharing the process on YouTube.
Since I’m a Youtube rookie I want to work around content that I’m excited about and this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. My videos are not as good as I want them to be yet but that’s a skill I’m learning and right now I’m focusing on quantity in order to post regularly, and will develop the quality as I go.
My advice to other handmade businesses is, “Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can; and always document your process from start to finish.” We grow from our years of experience and practice and sometimes you forget to look back on how far you’ve come.
Lastly, prepare for a wild roller coaster ride. It won’t be easy, the way to get back up is to start thinking about your “why”. Why are you doing this? Why is this important to you? If you’re in it for the long game, you’ll have to keep pushing yourself through, but with a good network of friends and a lot of persistence you can make it.
Live artfully,
Poy
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