We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer Cullin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I went to college and earned my teaching degree, wanting to pursue a career as an elementary school teacher. After several years in the field, I decided I wasn’t happy or fulfilled with what I was doing. When I was a child, I loved creating and being creative on a daily basis-that freedom and feeling was missing from my life. I always kept a little dream in the back of my mind that I would love to own a shop one day, but felt stuck by the career path I had chosen. When I started creating greeting cards and artwork on the side, I looked forward to those moments each day. I decided to pursue some outdoor farmer’s markets with my cards and started fielding custom orders, realizing I could possibly make this into a small business. Many people looked at me with concern and doubt that I could even make the move from a “safe” career to my “little hobby”. I am proud that I took the risk and leap of faith to at least try, and advise anyone saving your dreams for “someday” to do it now! Life is short and our daily jobs should bring us joy and fulfillment and not feel like work all the time.

What should our readers know about your business?
The Paper Feather is a stationery and gift shop that I founded in 2012. After working in the graphic design field, I decided to follow my passion for stationery and started my own line of greeting cards. Initially I worked from home and sold my products on Etsy but had a dream of opening a stationery shop in an actual brick-and-mortar location. On a walk around Seattle’s Pike Place Market, I came upon a tiny, charming space for lease with 100-year old windows and a Dutch door! My dream was put into motion as I set up shop and opened on Valentine’s Day, 2012. I started with a small selection of greeting cards, handmade paper products and original artwork, along with designing invitations, wedding stationery and calligraphy. The Pike Place community was such a supportive and amazing place to start a business, and I’m very thankful for the friendships and fun projects I was able to be a part of during that time.

The COVID pandemic served as a catalyst for me to re-think my business and although presented endless challenges, ultimately helped open up an amazing opportunity to take my little shop to the next level. During pandemic restrictions, I pivoted to offering online sales of my cards and even provided local delivery which helped me win loyal customers. It also accelerated my social following, through which I have always focused on establishing a unique identity for The Paper Feather. Once pandemic restrictions eased, I was forced to re-evaluate my physical shop space and ultimately decided to relocate to the beautiful town of Edmonds, WA in early 2022 where I have more square-footage, workspace for creating products and storing inventory and the support of an amazing business and arts community. In addition to over 100 greeting card designs, I now design stickers, notebooks, stationery sets, wrapping paper, artwork and feature local and women-owned products. I also love creating murals, paintings and hand-painted displays on my shop windows! I am honored to be able to curate all my products and love the relationships I have developed with other female and small businesses! I feel like these are the things that set me apart from other stationery shops and love that I can provide an array of products that are unique to my brand.

Throughout the years operating my own business, the most important lesson I have learned is to stay true to myself and also to say no to things that will not serve me or are in line with my design aesthetic. I have experienced complete burnout from taking on too many custom orders and commitments, which results in taking away from my business goals and dreams. I now try and make a conscious effort to carefully take on only projects that will be valuable to my customers and something I am passionate about creating or things that will give back to my community. This allows me to be excited about going into my shop every day and being able to be creative and happy in what I love! I am looking forward to continuing to grow and learn throughout the years and can’t wait to see what the future holds for my small handmade business!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The Greater Seattle area is an amazing place to visit! I would recommend a day exploring Pike Place Market with all its wonderful shops, food and history! Lunch with a view at The Athenian or Maximilien are great places to soak up the atmosphere. Western Avenue (where my original shop was located) is a hidden gem in the market! I would recommend visiting Brooke Westlund gallery, one of my dear friends and neighbors who was such a great support to me! She is such a talented artist and the sweetest person! There is also Eclipse Hat Shop, Cobbs Popcorn and Leolo Shoes to explore! Downtown Edmonds (where my shop is located now) is the most charming seaside town with a wonderful selection of shops, restaurants, galleries and waterfront parks where you can watch the ferries come and go. I would definitely wander through the many shops and art galleries, especially Crow! The owner, Jen Lawson, creates her own line of jewelry, curates unique items and supports small, handmade artisans. She was the first shop in Edmonds to carry my cards and I will always appreciate her support! The restaurants are all amazing, but a couple of my favorites are Salt and Iron, Fire and the Feast and Arnies on the waterfront for the ferry views! For a fancy cocktail, Daphne’s Bar is a must, plus it’s next door to the historic Edmonds Movie Theater! One of my favorite things about Edmonds is you can walk right on the ferry and take a beautiful ride to Kingston! Explore the shops, restaurants and have a glass of wine on foot!
For a fun day-trip, I recommend La Conner for its cute town along the channel, where you can visit shops and eat lunch watching the boats glide by! The Snowgoose Farm Stand on the way in and out of town has the best and biggest handmade ice cream cones, homemade jams, pickles and more farmstand goodies!
Beyond that, there are far too many fun and amazing sights to see in the beautiful Pacific Northwest – from the mountains and sound, to the rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula and incredible wine country of Eastern Washington and so much more! I feel so fortunate to be a PNW native and to have had the opportunity to establish my career and life in this unique corner of the world!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to shoutout to my dear friend Brooke Westlund, who was my shop neighbor in Pike Place Market. We started our businesses around the same time and went through all the struggles, successes, craziness and fun figuring out the day-to-day of doing this on our own! We could write a book with all the things we experienced having shops in such an iconic part of the city haha! We did so many fun murals, projects and events together throughout the years and I am so very grateful to have her in my life!

Website: www.thepaperfeather.com

Instagram: @thepaperfeather

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/the-paper-feather/100054324829630/

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