Thursday, January 25, 2007

some new products!



New: Laini's Ladies fans and notecards! What fun. Forthcoming this season we also have Laini's Ladies bath salts, a very cool thing, as they are produced by a wonderful Chicago-based nonprofit called The Enterprising Kitchen. Their mission statement is to provide workforce development for women working toward self-sufficiency and economic independence. They're a member of the Fair Trade Federation and use all-natural ingredients.

I'm really glad to be able to use products made in the USA, especially by such a great company. Being a new artist just starting out in licensing, it's really not an option to go all Made in the USA, but I hope to find more opportunities like this one with The Enterprising Kitchen.

I recently explained a bit about "licensing" in an interview, and I thought I might do so here as well, since I myself didn't really know what it was even as I was trying to get my toe in its door. A simple definition of licensing, without the legalese, is giving limited permission to a company to use one's artwork or brand in the manufacture of a product. So, in my case, I grant a company called Bottman Design the right to make Laini's Ladies. I create the artwork and they have the right to use it on agreed-upon products, for a limited term, and in return I receive royalties, while they do the manufacturing, promotion, and distribution. This is a GREAT arrangement for me, since I have no interest in the day-to-day businessy things, and they have been wonderful to work with. To other artists sellling their work to companies, I would recommend you be very cautious in licensing contracts and absolutely have a lawyer read everything; not all companies are great like Bottman!

But back to the products pictured above: fans! How cool is that? Fans totally make me think of being a kid overseas, and begging my parents for lacy Spanish fans in the marketplace in Palma de Mallorca -- the same marketplace where my five-year-old sister went missing for several terrifying hours until my poor parents were certain she'd been kidnapped by slavers. Fortunately we found her, calmly eating ice cream with some gypsies in a market stall. On this same trip, my brother, then eleven, fell to fiercely coveting a sword he saw in a shop and went on a hunger strike for it! My parents actually bought it for him, only to discover when we checked out of our hotel that he'd actually been eating mini-pizzas hand over fist and charging them to room service! Ah, Alex. We also got to see a joust in a medieval castle, ride mules into the hills, and see German tourists playing topless volleyball at the beach. Where we lived, in Southern Italy, people didn't go topless at the beach, so that was memorable. Especially in motion like that. So, fans. Memories. Love how memories are like that, chains that lead one to the next.

The new products will be available in the next couple of months, in stores, and here I'll keep you posted!

14 comments:

Jordan E. Rosenfeld said...

How do I get these notecards? I want, I want, I want!! Do I go to Bottman??

I'm so excited!

J

Anonymous said...

Beautiful. And there is nothing as exotic as a woman using a fan!

jennifer said...

I LOVE the fans!!! Nad I shall be buying some and the notecards too!

jennifer said...

oops...and.. I meant sorry for the typo...

Anonymous said...

Love the new products. The fans are fan-tastic!

I would really appreciate you writing a book about your Palma de Mallorca market experience. It reminds me of the Penderwicks, but saucier and foreign. Please go write that.

madelyn said...

The fans delight me as I loved them
as a child - still do as I have
never ever grown up.

So i am looking forwards to these as they look so pretty.

The cards as well!

hugs:)

Tinker said...

LOVE the fans - I have been wishing and looking for a pretty one.
Your brother sounds like a pretty clever bargainer, hee hee.

Amber said...

I love thefans, and the box sets of cards. Wonderful!

:)

Anonymous said...

Wow, just read your escapism speech. (Royce Buckingham here, by the way...we met at the ALA while I was preoccupied doing my first booksigning ever--see www.demonkeeper.com/blog). Did you prep that speech, or was it spontaneous? How'd you get a transcript? I'm starting to schedule school talks and such, and I'm fretting over what I'm going to stand up and tell our future generations. First and foremost, "Don't stick your hand under the bed at night," I suppose. Anyway, great speech. I'm wowed (as above). I didn't get a copy of Blackbringer, but I'll look for it. I'm working on a script and must get back to it. Great to meet you.
Cross fingers for this spring. Looks like we're graduating in the same class here.

Royce

Frida World said...

A Laini's Ladies fan? What could be more perfect for keeping this lady cool in the midst of an Afghan summer. I'll be back on Bottman.com!

Congratulations!

PS: The eight entrepid travellers are still in Portland, departure for Aotearoa in approximately two weeks, then a two week tour of the Land of the Long White Cloud before travelling onward to Afghanistan. There new home eagerly awaits!

x

Anonymous said...

Fans?! I mean, really, how fabulous is THAT?! :)

Anonymous said...

Cool idea, all puns intended. ;)
Seriously, as another artist (painter, photographer, and jewelry designer) , your work looks lovely on these fans! It looks like they will sell themselve. *Great* idea! Good cautionary advice you gave, too.

Anonymous said...

Hurrah for new stuff!!! I can't wait for those cards to come out. :-)

And..p.s.....I am loving those fans too.

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