biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Dec 2

Interview with Jennifer Williams, Cuddle Clones

Interview with Jennifer Williams, Cuddle Clones

Recently, I had the opportunity and pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Williams, Founder and CEO (Chief Cloning Officer) of Cuddle Clones, a startup company that creates soft and adorable plush versions of furry family members along with other customized pet products. Jennifer earned her undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Business from the University of Puget Sound and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Louisville. Jennifer spent ten years consulting before utilizing her entrepreneurial skills and founding her company, Cuddle Clones. Jennifer lives with her husband, Danny, and two fur children, Izzy and Annie. A selection of Jennifer’s company’s work is shown below. Please visit Cuddle Clones’ website to learn more!

KATHERINE CARVER: When did you start your company creating custom Cuddle Clones?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: Cuddle Clones really started gaining some traction while I was enrolled in the entrepreneurship MBA program at the University of Louisville in 2009. In the program, we had to present our top two business ideas, and Cuddle Clones was one of mine. My team really liked the idea so we proceeded to the next steps of performing an industry analysis and creating a formal business plan. During the rest of the program, we presented at several business plan competitions and won approximately $50,000 in funding. After school ended, my one remaining business partner and I spent two years refining our product to the standard of what we had envisioned. We finally launched the Cuddle Clones official website in May 2013. The plush Cuddle Clone was our flagship product but we now also offer 3D-printed sandstone figurines and ornaments of your pet, as well as several memorial products.

KATHERINE CARVER: What inspired you to begin your company creating custom Cuddle Clones?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: I had a harlequin Great Dane named Rufus, who was white with very unique black patches all over and two different colored eyes. I remember one day thinking that I could never find a plush animal like him on the shelf in a store and thought it would be neat to have a custom stuffed animal version of him.

KATHERINE CARVER: How did you practically go about starting your company creating Cuddle Clones?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: Starting the company was a pretty difficult process and still is! We tried for a few years to have prototypes made that were of the quality and cuteness that we had in our heads. We had several prototypes made in the USA and China. The ones in the USA were actually pretty bad in quality and also cost a fortune. We had some good prototypes from companies in China but none of the companies wanted to be our manufacturer because their business model involves making thousands of units of the same plush animal, not “one-of-a-kind.” We considered all of our options, and finally decided that we would have to start our own workshop. We chose China because of the availability of materials, the talent of the plush designers, and the fact that we could produce Cuddle Clones hopefully at a price that was not prohibitive to the customers. Even if we had found a good manufacturer in the USA, the retail price would have been cost prohibitive, over $1,000 for a Cuddle Clone.

KATHERINE CARVER: What is the process from start to finish, including the time involved, to create a custom Cuddle Clone?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: First, a customer places an order on our website. We ask some questions about their pet, including name, species, breed, and approximate weight. Then, they upload up to 10 photographs of their pet. We recommend all angles and face close-ups, but we try to work with whatever the customer has. Then it’s on to the selection and customization options. The main customization option is selecting the Cuddle Clone’s position – for a dog, they can choose standing, sitting or lying down. Ear position, tail position, and whether the mouth is closed or open with a tongue are additional customization options. The customer can provide us with any additional details and characteristics about their pet that we are to incorporate into his/her Cuddle Clone. Once an order is placed, we process the information and follow-up with the customer if anything is missing or we need additional information. The order information is translated into Chinese for the designers and airbrushers. Every Cuddle Clone is made from scratch by hand. A plush designer starts by creating the custom pattern for the particular pet. Cutting and sewing are the next steps. A handwork person and an airbrusher put finishing touches on the plush replica. We have different quality control procedures in place at different points of the process. Once approved, a Cuddle Clone is either shipped directly to the customer from our workshop or to us first in Louisville, Kentucky and then back out to the customer.

KATHERINE CARVER: How do you find and hire designers and artists to create Cuddle Clones?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: This was one of the early challenges. I was told that “plush left the USA in the 80’s,” so when we were originally looking for plush designers in the USA, we only found a few and they wanted at least $1,000 for just one pattern. We were able to work with our great network in China to hire our first few plush designers there and now we have 16 plush designers. A plush designer usually gains experience through an apprenticeship – there are rarely schools for plush design. We have regular training programs in place so that our less experienced designers can learn from our folks that have been making plush designs for years.

KATHERINE CARVER: Why do most people have a customized Cuddle Clone made?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: I think the number one reason people buy a Cuddle Clone is to have a huggable way to remember a loved pet that may or may not have gone over the rainbow bridge. Whether the person is purchasing one for themselves or a friend, Cuddle Clones provide some comfort to a pet owner who has lost a beloved member of the family. There are several other reasons why people get a Cuddle Clone made – the full, somewhat amusing list, can be found here. Among the more serious reasons are students heading off to college that have to leave the family pet behind or military personnel who are deployed and want their pet to hold while they are away.

KATHERINE CARVER: What is the most rewarding part of your job as an entrepreneur and CEO of your Cuddle Clone business?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: I do love that I get to look at cute pets all day! I really like that I have built Cuddle Clones from scratch and that we seem to be doing a-ok so far. Our customers are very emotional and while we cannot satisfy everyone, there is nothing better than to receive that email or social media post with pictures of a customer’s Cuddle Clone thanking us for what we do and how we have helped them. From day one of forming our company, we have donated a portion of our sales to charities as well – we like helping individual pets on IndieGoGo as well as different nonprofit organizations throughout the world. You can read about all of our donations here.

KATHERINE CARVER: What does “being creative,” mean to you?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: For me, it’s having a vision and being able to get the right people to execute that vision. I was an actuary in my former career, and for those who don’t know what that is, it’s heavy in math and light in creativity. I always had that entrepreneurial bug and probably have about 30 business ideas. Cuddle Clones was definitely one of the ideas that I thought about the most. While I myself am not a true ‘artist.’ I can envision a business or product that I believe will be successful in the marketplace, even when others think I am crazy.

KATHERINE CARVER: What inspires you to keep going and what keeps you motivated?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: I believe that we are nowhere near hitting our potential of what Cuddle Clones can become. Not many people know about us, so we definitely want to increase awareness. We would like to be known as the place to go, not only for great unique products but a place to go for a community around the rainbow bridge and when your pet passes away. My employees keep me going for sure – they work extremely hard every day to make this happen and I need to be there for them. My own dog, Izzy, keeps me motivated for sure as well!

KATHERINE CARVER: What future projects are you working on with Cuddle Clones?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: We have several projects in the pipeline for Cuddle Clones. We are always on the lookout for new, unique products to add to our mix. We have seen growth in our custom sandstone figurines and ornaments products. We have also been recently promoting our plush creation product, plush replacement product and golf club covers. We introduced two products this week – wood-burned memorials and memorial brass urns. All of these items can be found on our products page here. We have a full section of our website in the works focusing on the rainbow bridge. We also are working on establishing some bigger partnerships in 2016.

KATHERINE CARVER: How can people learn more about Cuddle Clones?

JENNIFER WILLIAMS: Interested folks can visit our website to learn more about placing an order or our other products. Our photo gallery is definitely a fun place to go to see all the beloved pets that we have created. Our blog features different pets each week as well as nonprofit organizations to which we’ve donated and individual pets that we have helped. We also are pretty active on our social media pages, including Facebook and Instagram. We regularly run contests and promotions through our email list and our social media. In fact, all Biscuit’s Space readers can use this coupon code, KCARVER, to receive 15% off their purchase, through December 31, 2015!

*All images contained in this interview are courtesy of Jennifer Williams.

You can read additional interviews here.

Nov 30

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Around Here: November

Well, it is difficult to believe that we are well into fall on our way to winter and on our way to the end of this year. Below are some items that have occurred around here in November!

-continuing to work steadily on my long-term photography project, and I am nearly finished drafting the draft copy for the project! I continue to edit images for the second portion of the project. I hope to be done sometime later in 2016, nearly 4 years after beginning this project. It will be very gratifying to finish!

-continue to prepare filings with the U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

-I got a new computer, which I desperately needed!

-my parents came to visit us.

-I was quite sick in the early part of the month, and we consequently had to reschedule our trip to North Carolina. We plan to go in the early spring along with our fur girl!

-burning fall-scented candles all over the house!

-enjoyed cooler evenings and walks together outside!

-enjoyed time together on the deck, while the weather was still nice.

-enjoying date nights with Doug!

-enjoying my yoga class!

-I am behind on my reading this month.

-started the first season of Flesh and Bone.

-started the second season of Orphan Black.

-giving our fur girl her monthly bath — Victory is getting better about bath time, but it still takes both Doug and I to bathe Victory! Victory’s fur feels so smooth and silky after her bath and brush out! You can see below how much her beautiful fur coat is coming in! She looks so regal!

-we had a great Thanksgiving, and it was nice to see family!

-My sister announced at Thanksgiving that they are having a baby boy!

-while in Michigan over Thanksgiving, we met Chrissy, a relative of our fur girl, who came from the same horrible hoarding situation as Victory. A photograph of the fur girls are shown below. I will share more soon on our visit!

-we finished and received our Pawliday card and card packaging, which are almost ready to be sent out!

-started Christmas shopping!

-started decorating the house for Christmas!

-continuing to make more progress on our ever-growing to do list!

Happy Monday!

Nov 25

Why We Love Being ‘Puppy Parents!’

“Because of the dog’s joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as well as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born. What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this world be like without dogs?” ―Mary Oliver, Dog Songs

Doug and I love being ‘puppy parents!’ We are always showered with unconditional love from our fur girl, Victory, everyday! Victory is fully integrated into our lives, and we are fully integrated into her life. We all cannot imagine a life without the other. Victory is always there, with us, and just her presence makes everything better and more complete. She is blossoming into a wonderful and more confident fur girl! I cannot imagine not going to bed and waking up with Victory’s kisses in the morning as she lays splayed out on our pillows above one of our heads sleeping in with us. She often wakes Doug up with constant kisses on his face as early as 3:00 a.m., but he does not mind. It is Victory’s way of showing her love and affection. I cannot imagine a morning where Victory is not sitting on our bed while we get ready in the morning, patiently waiting for her breakfast. We know that our fur girl knows that she no longer has to worry about living in a terrible hoarding situation, like the one she came from. She knows that she is safe forever and that she lives like a little princess! We know that we are better for having a furry family member in our lives. Our hearts and outlook have grown ten-fold. Doug and I try never to take Victory or anything, for that matter, for granted. We try to take it all in and savor it, as every moment is fleeting. We are grateful.

Happy Wednesday! If all goes as planned over Thanksgiving, our fur girl is going to have a family reunion with Chrissy, another survivor of the same horrible hoarding situation that Victory also lived in prior to being rescued. You can see their resemblance here! Stay tuned. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and safe travels!

Nov 23

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Hearts: Biscuit and Victory

Just before our dear Biscuit passed away, I noticed a heart shape, shown on the right below, in the area near his neck where he had been shaved for his surgery, a sign to us that everything would be ok even though we were heart broken because of our great loss.

While we were away on vacation, while Victory took a nap, I noticed that Victory has a heart shape paw pad that is solid pink, the only one of her paw pads that is pink and it is in the shape of a heart. I truly believe that our sweet dear Biscuit sent us a gift, our Victory, another perfect sheltie family member who Biscuit selected for us. It is always interesting to see how everything is connected and intertwined. We believe that Biscuit is always with us; and we believe Victory is the little fur girl that is meant to be part of our family as well.

Nov 20

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Victory: Photography Project — 76

Beginning in January 2014, I started a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog this year! My goal is to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories, while capturing moments of our everyday.

Victory and Nick, my parents’ Papillon mix rescue dog, are shown below! They both look regal! My parents along with Nick came to visit us recently. Victory and Nick get along well, and they enjoyed sunning themselves together on our deck! The weather was beautiful with warm temperatures. By the end of my parents’ visit, Nick showed me some love, which is rare! However, Nick’s Daddy will always be his true love!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Nov 18

Theory Animation: Ray and Clovis

We normally do not curate content about cats, the other furry family member. However, National Cat Day was at the end of October, and David Andrade of Theory Animation, reached out and wanted us to share their animation, Ray and Clovis, shown below, promoting cat rescue and adoption. As a result, because Biscuit’s Space always promotes animal rescue and adoption, we therefore decided to share this neat animation, shown below!

From David Andrade:

In short, the goal of the short film is to promote care, adoption, and awareness. We have a couple of great characters who are popular online: Ray, the Iguana and Clovis, the Cat. For this short film we wanted to use their popularity and spread the message of cats.

We don’t want to be preachy though. We wanted to have fun and make a positive message about the whole thing. That’s why we included cat facts and hilarious interpretations of them, like being Crepuscular means sleeping during the daytime; or in Clovis’ case, he sleeps because there is no good day time television.

At the end of the day if we inspired a young person to adopt a cat, then we’ve accomplished our mission. That is the goal with this short animation — inspire at least one person to adopt a cat, and fall in love with them.

Enjoy!

The above image is courtesy of David Andrade, Theory Animation.

Nov 17

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Good Read: BIG MAGIC!

I recently finished reading, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert! It is a fantastic read for everyone, as everyone is humans and inherently creative. As you can see from the image above, I have earmarked the entire book! Big Magic at its core is a celebration of a creative life. Big Magic is broken into six sections: Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, and Divinity. This is one of those books that I have on my desk, that I know I will go back and reference time and time again. I am truly inspired after reading Big Magic.

The question: “Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?”

Some of my favorite quotes from Big Magic appear below.

“And while the paths and outcomes of creative living will vary widely from person to person, I can guarantee you this: A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner — continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you — is a fine art, in and of itself.”

“Because creative living is a path for the brave. We all know this. And we all know that when courage dies, creativity dies with it. We all know that fear is a desolate boneyard where our dreams go to desiccate in the hot sun. This is common knowledge; sometimes we just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Your fear will always be triggered by your creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into realms of uncertain outcome, and fear hates an uncertain outcome.”

“It seems to me that my fear and my creativity are basically conjoined twins — as evidenced by the fact that creativity cannot take a single step forward without fear marching right alongside of it.”

“And you have treasures hidden within you — extraordinary treasures — and so do I, and so does everyone around us. And bringing those treasures to light takes work and faith and focus and courage and hours of devotion, and the clock is ticking, and the world is spinning, and we simply do not have time anymore to think so small.”

Nov 16

Tips: Holiday Photo Cards

It is already that time again — time for holiday cards! One of my favorite things about the holidays is making our annual Pawliday Card! I greatly enjoy making images tangible. That is why I print my images; make photo books; and get images framed and on our walls! It brings so much joy and makes wonderful family heirlooms and keepsakes!

Below I share some tips on making a photo holiday card.

1. Aesthetic: Decide on your aesthetic or theme of your holiday card. Before I even select images for our holiday card and look at possible card designs, I decide on an aesthetic or theme that I would like to convey, and keep this theme in mind when selecting images and the final card design. My aesthetic is generally simple and clean, highlighting the images.

2. Images: Select the images that you would like to include on your holiday card. Next, I begin with the images I want to include on the front and back of the holiday card. I go through my images from the year and select the images that I would like to include on the holiday card. It is important to make sure these images are of high quality in order best showcase your photographs on the card. Also, it is important to keep in mind the best crop to present each image and how the images collectively look together.

3. Design: Select a couple of design options that works well with your overall aesthetic and images you have selected. I typically look at card designs at Artifact Uprising, Minted, and Pinhole Press. (This year, we went with Artifact Uprising for our Pawliday card). I spend time looking at these sites and gathering the possible designs that will work well with my images and aesthetic. After narrowing down the card design options, I show the possible designs to Doug and get his input and then together we settle on two to three possible design options. I like to have heavy matte card stock for my holiday card. Thus, I use companies that offer this option.

4. Mock-Up: Create mock-ups of the possible design options. After selecting the designs, I put together mock-ups whereby I make the final selection of the images and this provides a good way to visually see how the card would look. Then, I show the mock-ups to Doug and we settle on a design. By the end of the mock-up process, it is usually pretty evident which images, text, and design will collectively work the best together.

5. Final Design Selection: After letting some time pass, a week or two, I go back to my final design option and make sure I am happy with it.

6. Proofing: Once the images and final design is selected, I then show the final holiday card to Doug for final revisions and proofing of text, etc.

7. Stamp: We also use a custom photo stamp on the envelopes of our holiday card. This typically includes an image appearing on our holiday card.

8. Seal: We also use a custom photo seal on our holiday cards. This usually matches the custom stamp.

9. Return Address Label: We use a simple return address label for our holiday cards.

10. Timing: It usually takes me about a month to complete the above process. It strive to get my orders in by the beginning of November to offer ample time to address and send out our Pawliday card, and address any printing issues, if need be!

I hope that these tips help you in creating a photo holiday card that you love!

Shown below is our Pawliday card from last year.

Happy Holiday Photo Card Making!

Nov 13

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Things I Love: Fall 2015

It is already well into fall, our favorite time of year, and I wanted to share some items that I love! This is our favorite time of year for many reasons — we adopted our little Victory in the fall and we recently celebrated her two-year anniversary/birthday; we celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary; and we just love everything fall! We enjoyed our annual trip to the pumpkin patch with our Victory! Doug also carved a wonderful pumpkin this year! You can start to feel the crisp fall air in the mornings and evenings, which I love!

1. Lululemon Align Pant – While we were in Quebec for vacation, we made our way to Lululemon, one of my favorite stores, and what made this trip even better is that our dollar is stronger than the Canadian dollar, and the prices are the same in Canadian and U.S. dollars, so we got a bigger bang for our buck! I came across these pants while in Quebec, and they are the most, most, most comfortable pair of pants I own! I highly recommend them! They feel very similar to my favorite underware from Lululemon! They were first released in Canada, and they were recently released in the U.S.

2. Rising Strong – I finished reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown. This was a great read. Rising Strong is essentially about rallying after a fall. The Rising Strong Process has three stages. First, The Reckoning, where you acknowledge that an emotional “button” has been pushed. Second, The Rumble, where you revisit, challenge, and reality-check the (most-likely negative) narrative you have created for the situation. Lastly, The Revolution, where you integrate what you learned from the second step into your future interactions with people, situations, life, etc. This is a good process to implement.

I love this quote, “To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn’t come with guarantees — these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain. But, I’m learning that recognizing and leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability teaches us how to live with joy, gratitude, and grace.” – Brene Brown

If you haven’t already, you can also view Brene Brown’s TED Talks here.

3. Anthropologie Candles — I love burning candles in our house, especially during the cooler months — it makes our home feel cozy. I especially love the candles from Anthropologie, they are wonderful!

4. Magic Lessons Podcast — If you have not checked out this podcast by Elizabeth Gilbert, you should because it is really great! I have listened to all of the podcast episodes, and they are very inspirational and enlightening. According to Elizabeth Gilbert, the mission behind this podcast is to provide “road maps for the path to creativity, the extra nudge you need when you’re feeling stuck.” After listening to Magic Lessons, I really enjoyed reading Big Magic, and I will share more soon!

5. Ergo Performance Carrier — Prior to leaving for vacation, I researched possible carriers that might work for Victory as Quebec City has narrow and cobblestone lines streets making the Hound About a bit more challenging for us to use in Quebec City as Victory gets nervous around many unfamiliar people, making walking her on her leash difficult. So, we bought the Ergo Performance Carrier, made for a human baby up to 45 pounds, because of its breathable material (Victory is, after all, covered in fur) in a neutral color so that we both can wear it. Doug was a little skeptical at first, but the Ergo Performance Carrier has won over! Victory loves it! Here is Doug wearing the Ergo on vacation; and here is me wearing the Ergo on vacation! The Ergo has even come in really handy since vacation!

6. (Original Danish/Swedish Version) — Doug and I started watching The Bridge (the original Sweedish version) on Netflix, and we could not stop watching it! It was very good. We look forward to the next season of The Bridge!

You can view other things I love here!

Happy Friday! We hope that you have a great weekend! My parents and ‘Uncle Nick’ are in town visiting! The weather is supposed to be beautiful!

Nov 11

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Artists: Inspirational Quote

I came across this quote by Kurt Vonnegut, shown below, and it really resonated with me so I thought that I would share it with you in the hopes that it helps motivate you to keep creating…