As an artist, the state of my creative inspiration from season to season determines the available offerings you see in the shop. Being mama to a very small — micro, even — business though, requires some level of foresight for what I think you want. Honestly, I love both roles! Creating from my own heart-space, sitting in conversation with the inspirations that surface, and also considering the desires of my audience, my community.
Creating Something Better, Together
A micro business relies much on its community. One of the things I appreciate most about the relationship between bitty-businesses and their supporters is the understanding that good things take time — you are here because this is not Amazon. You value handmade and slow, thoughtful process. You are empathetic to the humans behind the scenes, including the mail carriers who get your package to you for relatively little. You know that you might be able to find the same book for slightly less from a corporate online retailer, but you don’t because you believe in the very big effect of shopping small.
You believe in community building and curating thoughtfully made treasures with a story. I see you and I thank you.
Worth The Wait
Supporting small businesses and working artists can require a little patience on part of the customer. One, because likely it’s just one human doing it all (👋) and two, because your goods are often times made to order. It’s not conducive to want-it-now buyers, but that’s part of the resistance, the refusal to cater to that level of grind. Much of Hina Luna’s ethos rests in being thoughtful and intentional with the objects we interact with daily, and while I value consistency and a certain level of timeliness in my own process, I am a grateful member of the greater web of the Slow Movement.
The Value Of The Preorder (For You and Me!)
As a working artist and small business owner, I have come to appreciate the model of a good pre-order. What is a pre-order? A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. There are a few reasons why a business might offer this, but for small business and makers of handmade goods like myself, a pre-order supports us in understanding the level of demand before we begin creating. This helps us to allocate resources, conserve materials, waste less, be able to afford production costs, and it also guarantees the customer the thing they want before it has a chance to sell out.
For a long time I feared offering anything “made to order” because I didn’t want to make my customers wait — I was still in the process of reconditioning myself from the pressures of capitalism (more on that here…). As a customer myself though, I’ve purchased pre-order items from makers and enjoyed the anticipation of awaiting my new treasure. How exciting the day is when it arrives in the mail! I then realized that because of all the wonderful reasons I mentioned in the beginning, that my customers actually didn’t mind waiting on preorders from me either! They (you) are folks who are savvy to the road of shopping small or are new to it but value the hands and the heart behind the process over the instant gratification brought to us by the Amazon age.
As always, I feel grounded, hopeful, and held by the community that has been created through Hina Luna. Thank you for being a part of it and for putting into practice the values you hold for together creating a more sustainable and equitable world.