Pen Type-B gets sandy + ombré.

We spent some time testing some anodized Pen Type-B sleeves, and are really excited about these new colorways. We'll be making 20 of each next week, we'll go live on IG during the making.

Sandy Toes Pink Sky

Blue Gold Ombré

These are two of our favorite colorways for Pen Tye-C, and they look + feel epic as a B. We'll ship them out by the end of next week once we make 'em.

This morning while on the phone with us, Lloyd fixed up a damaged 55 66 88. It'll cost a bunch to repair, but we're hopeful there is a way forward.

55 66 88 update.

We've had some frustrating drama trying to get our phone furniture out the door. Yesterday we posted a big update on Kickstarter, about what is going on. If you are interested in manufacturing woes, it's maybe worth a read.

We appreciate many of the backer's comments. Some are happy to wait until it is perfect, others who are like, who cares if the parts have some imperfections, just ship!

One backer named Kevin had some insightful comments that he wanted us to speak to, here are his comments with ours in line in red :

K:As an industrial designer myself, this feeling is the worst and there is so many conflicting things at play in my head around this.

K:For one, you want to maintain a certain level of quality of your brand and stand by your designs and quality control is completely linked to that. I definitely understand that perception.

CW&T : Yes, that's obviously a big deal for us. And more over on a practical level, if we make something that has dents + scratches on it, we'll be paying for that in the long run with customer service requests + returns. We don't want to be stuck with 4,000 pieces of a thing (which was our MOQ). These will take a small company like ours a long time to sell, and those are annoying problems we don't want to drag with us into the future.

K:On the other hand, the expectations of consumers for quality is at an all-time high. Small scratches are scoffed at and completely unacceptable in their eyes. Thanks Apple. But is this sustainable? Have people perception of quality gotten too high to the point where it's starting unreasonable and can really tank a project? Is it even reasonable? It would be great if you guys could speak to that dilemma. This level of quality creates waste of materials, energy, burns relationships with partners, human capital, etc. And that's not a POV that really gets talked about.

CW&T : Haha, I get what you're saying. But I think it is acceptable. People pay hard earned money for things. And it is also crazy expensive to make things these days. Whether your are working locally, or abroad. Prices in materials + labor are at record highs. Even though mistakes happen, it's of the utmost importance, especially as a manufacturer to avoid wasteful practices because of these costs.

K: Also would love to hear discussions around holding manufacturers accountable so the brand (ie you guys, me, the designers putting their neck on the line) don't get screwed over and bopped around by small/medium manufacturers. What safeties can be put in place at the start of a project to ensure expectations are well communicated and an exit strategy is there when things go array.

CW&T : Because we're so small, we have very little sway. In this case we paid for our entire order prior to shipping, so we have no financial sway, which is really dumb. Most recently, our manufacturers in China have been relatively accountable for mistakes. They have replaced parts when a shipment was damaged, or will send extras with our next order (not ideal). In terms of safeties, the biggest one is the set of specification drawings. We also want to see how everything is packed before things are shipped out to avoid damage like that. That said, you sort of always want to start on the good foot with people, and assume everyone will do their job properly. There's not much you can do in advance to avoid that.

K: Keep up the awesome job...glad you have a partner that can help with a reasonable fix :)

This morning, Lloyd (who heads up the company we work with in Vermont who make Pen Type-A + B), got hold of some 55 66 88 parts to see if he could help us. While on the phone with me, he ran them through a machine to take the crud off the ends and then glass beaded them. We're hopeful moving forward. It will cost money. But our priority right now is getting this out the door and move on to the next thing.

Next Thursday afternoon (3pm EDT), we're going to have a chat on zoom about our manufacturing updates. Join us with questions + hear what is planned next : https://pratt.zoom.us/j/8501099885