Nothing! We gained! A lot!
We won the Handmade in Belgium Award for our district (East-Flandres).
We met some really nice fellow makers (you can check other Handmade in Belgium Makers over here!),
got this beautiful award and made friends with Unizo.

But I think the best of all was: we had to pitch our company to a jury.
So we had to take the time to put a few things in words: our values, our story, our goals.

The pitch went well,
and we got some good questions afterwards from the jury that made us think even more about what we want to stand for.
By now I think if we would have to pitch our company again, it would be even more clear, more vision, and even more passion (is that even possible? I don’t know )

This pitch for Unizo gave us that little push of self-esteem we needed to get us further, to make this blog, to get on more stages in real life and virtual.
So thank you Unizo for this award,
and the label.
A label for Belgian Makers ==> loving it!

(photo credits: Unizo)

1. CO2 neutral

Our biggest goal this year, something we did not dive into before, is compensating the CO2 emissions of our entire company and private life. Since we do think our emissions will not be that exuberant, it is just not that easy to calculate it :). That’s the main challenge of this goal, I suppose: calculating our CO2 emissions of 2019. And how do we want to compensate this? By planting trees! Ourselves! Here in our ‘backyard’. Well, it is not our own back yard, it is the local communities school playground located at the back of our house/HQ.

2. Waste reduction

Compensating CO2 would be all for nothing if you don’t do your best minimizing it in the first place. One of our goals for 2020 is reducing our waste. We are working on something new to achieve this goal ….

3. Launch AFTRPRTY

Our new brand: AFRTPRTY (pronounced: afterparty). This brand will unite all of our upcycled and recycled products. We already make upcycled envelops & notebooks, and they are going strong! But that’s not enough. We are currently working on making completely new products out of our own paper waste and the waste of local restaurants and bars as well. Exciting, right?
Due date: Maison & Objet, friday 17th of January!

4. Exclusivity vs international growth

It is our policy to not work with big chain companies (and yes, we had to say ‘no’ quite a few times for this one), and we will continue this policy in 2020 of course! But we do want to grow a little bit more, so we can create way more fun & beauty :). That means: going international. And therefor you will find us at Maison & Objet this January and Showup this February! #goingforit

5. At least 50 new designs

In 2020 we will of course launch a lot of new designs for our letterpress cards as well! At least 50 of them, like we do every year. We are currently working on the first launch of 2020 and it looks goooooooooooooood!

6. Social Manifesto & Environmental Manifesto

These resolutions made us reflect a little bit on our company, our way of life, and how we want to do business and change the world a little bit at the same time. You know the feeling? Well, we are working on our very own Social Manifesto & Environmental Manifesto. More about that later on…

7. Flashy creativity for life!

Last but not least: we want to make 2020 into one big flashy creative party! Creating stuff, designing, making things, that’s what we are all about. That’s why we do what we do.
Let’s go!