Meet Erin Smith of Erin Smith Art in Decatur

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Smith.

Erin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My degree is in architecture…but I was always the kid you couldn’t get out of the art room. I got away from getting my hands dirty in art for a long time, but when I was pregnant with my first child I started painting again. It started out small, but that didn’t last for long. Before I knew it I was painting vintage armoires and any furniture I could find. Fairly whimsical, but everything I did always included prose. The words were the most meaningful part of the process for me. I had been feeling unsettled with what I was doing. Felt that I needed to move on, but didn’t know to what. My grandmother left me with all of the family photo albums dating back to when she was a child. As soon as I started scanning photos, I just knew I had to use them somehow in collage…and the words just came. I love how the snark of the prose is in such juxtaposition with the photos. I started introducing these as canvases at local art shows around Atlanta and had amazing success. Finding the right audience was key. I tended to do well inside the city limits. The suburbs didn’t quite know what to do with me, and I knew I needed to reach a broader audience. My first wholesale show was at the Atlanta Gift Mart about 12 years ago. I don’t think I even made back my booth fee. I knew I was onto something, it just wasn’t quite tweaked yet. To bring down my price point from the wall art, I introduced a few greeting cards and some magnets. The economy tanked. My sales soared. I officially had a greeting card company! I think people just really needed a laugh at the time…and my cards proved to be very effective in that area. I persevered and kept introducing more and more designs. I did every trade show I could. I was approached about licensing fairly early on and was quite overwhelmed…considering I had no idea what I was doing in the first place, and was making it up as I went along. Some incredibly kind people in the industry offered me their expertise and a long weekend of questions and answers that may or may not have included a few martinis, and Erin Smith Art was really a reality.

I currently have showrooms in Atlanta and Las Vegas, and have reps that do some regional shows for me. I wholesale almost exclusively. I do one retail show a year in Chicago, and we do offer retail on our website.

Every day is a learning process as we introduce new and varied products and have to figure out local and in house manufacturing…and gives the line “fake it till you make it” a whole new reality!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
When things got super busy for me, I had to figure out where the future of the business was going to go. Was I going to outsource and bring product in from Germany, India, China…Mexico? Or search out local sources to manufacture? I decided that I really wanted to do as much as I could here in the states. That proved ridiculously hard, as most companies outsource all of their product. This resulted in us buying all of our own equipment and manufacturing most of our gift items in house. It is not only truly made in America. It is actually handmade!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Erin Smith Art story. Tell us more about the business.
We are absolutely a greeting card company. This is primarily where most of our sales come from, although we do have galleries that only carry our wall canvases. Our surprise seller has been cocktail napkins. We found a company here in the US to print them a few years ago and I can’t believe how many we send out.

We are primarily know for our snarkiness…cutting edge humor I guess. Going places that regular card companies are afraid to go.

My favorite thing is when I get responses from people telling me to ‘get out of their head!’ …I guess since it’s all such realism people can relate.

It’s been tricky introducing gift items into the industry, as most comparable lines are manufactured in China…and we have to be very aware of price points. My line is very female centric, and that influences what I introduce most of all. Compact mirrors, coffee mugs, jewelry trays, tiaras!

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
As far as my business is concerned I really don’t believe in luck…I believe in really really hard work! Like…ALL THE TIME!

Pricing:

• We have all ends of the spectrum – low end from greeting cards and shot glasses, $3.95-$10
• Middle of the road – ceramic mugs and travel mugs $16-$30
• More high end are our canvases – $50-$225

Contact Info:

• Address: 143 New Street
  Decatur, GA 30030

• Website: https://www.erinsmithart.com
• Phone: 678-705-1462
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinsmithart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinsmithdrinksSapphiremartinis/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/erinsmithart
• Yelp: https://issuu.com/bluecheeseolive/docs/2017_catalog
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/erinsmithart1/

Image Credit:
Erin Smith

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