a story of a book

A few years back, thru the divine intervention of an Apple Genius Bar appointment (that's a long story), we had the good fortune of becoming a marketing project for four separate teams of dynamic, talented marketing students at Portland State University. 

It was an incredible experience. Hearing the students talk of our work. Watching their professors massage nuance & draw out strength they believed inherent to our brand. And then, witnessing them present their marketing campaign ideas to firms such as Weiden & Kennedy (yeah... the Just Do It Weiden & Kennedy) North, and so many more. 

We were stunned by their collaborative approach to the work of finding out what was good & right about us. As small businesses, sometimes it's easy to be myopic & only see what's directly in front of you (and most days that is my to do list), but that experience undergirded a much held, but rarely talked about part of our Attic Journals ethos... community story is as important a story as our own. 

That being the case, we have worked hard to make collaboration & collective thinking a major part of the work we do. It informs how we approach relationships with our wholesale partners. It guides the bridges we build to finding raw materials to be made into journals. And it provokes us to look beyond ourselves when answers seem short & confusion seems wide.

From that experience at PSU, there were many good moments... but my favorite by far was this video. I'm a fool for stop motion & any time I can see myself suited up in haz-mat attire makes for a good day. Enjoy!

a story of attic journals from Jessica Chen on Vimeo.