Etsy Seller Interview with Bas and Nana of TheCreativeKinds

How TheCreativeKinds got started

Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?

The Creative Kinds, aka TCK, is the brand created by me, Bas, and my wife Nana. It started in the first half of 2018 as my passion project. At the time, I toyed with DIY skincare, and while shopping for ingredients, something caught my eye: shimmering pigments in many different colors. At that time, Nana was already a full-time artist and calligrapher, and she already used some shimmering inks, so I thought, "Why not try to make some inks for her?" I purchased some of those pigments and started experimenting. Nana helped me perfect the recipe, and we started posting some of the results on Instagram. People were excited, and that gave us the motivation to try and sell our colors. We created two different palettes and picked Etsy as a platform since it seemed easy to set up and we wanted to just start and see what happened. At the moment, in 2022, we still sell on Etsy, and we develop and create all of our colors.

Favorite items

What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?

Our favorite item is definitely our latest palette. It’s probably our most daring creation, as it was the first time we introduced matte watercolors—not just one, but five of them in a set of 10. This marked a new step for us as an artisanal ink maker, and it’s been very well received by the global calligraphy community.

Getting sales on Etsy

How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?

I think we revealed the date of our first Etsy sale on Instagram like a week before we opened the shop. People were already waiting to purchase our colors, so it just took minutes after we opened the shop to get our first sale. We attract customers to our Etsy shop via Instagram. It’s our favorite channel.

Managing TheCreativeKinds

How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?

We are a small shop, so I can still manage it. Nana helps with checking the stock and, of course, deciding on restocks. Recently, we have started using a platform called Sendcloud to handle some of our shipments.

The future of TheCreativeKinds 

What goals do you have for your shop in the future?

The closest goal is, of course, to make new, interesting colors. But also, sell some new styles of ink and other calligraphy-related products, perhaps with collaborations with local artisans.

Advice for new sellers

What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?

Firstly, try to sell something that has value for you too. There will probably be some hard times, and it’s going to be easier if what you are selling is something worthy for you, whether it’s a passion of yours or if you are applying a skill you just learned.

Secondly, promote yourself even before starting to sell. Unless you propose hundreds of items, you might not be prioritized by the clunky Etsy search. So, pick a social media platform and make yourself known in the niche to which you are trying to cater.