I first met Brett & Crystal of Vital Industries at the Fancy Tiger Holiday Handmade show a couple years ago. They had just moved to Denver to set up shop. I was struck by their wonderful, crisp aesthetic vision. They are also super friendly! I’m fortunate to get to see them around town in Denver.

How did you choose your craft name?

We really liked the dual meaning of the word Vital; necessary and full of energy. It was a word that resonated with both of us, but in different ways. Crystal needs to be making things to feel centered, and Brett’s the kinetic one. The “Industries” came about because we’re always having ideas for new projects, and want anything we do to be able to be included under the “Vital Industries” umbrella.

Tell us about your craft origins and how you came to be independent business owners.

It started with an introductory screen printing class. We took a four hour workshop that covered the fundamentals.  Essentially, we learned how to coat and expose a screen and make a basic print. We were hooked!  From there, we started printing shirts for work, ourselves, and our friends.  We began selling on Etsy soon after, and it’s grown from there.

What challenges did you face in getting started? Anything you’d do differently?

The biggest struggle starting out was trying to balance our full time jobs and our craft. The transition to full time crafters happened slowly, which was a good thing. It was important to balance financial considerations with our desire to work Vital full time.

Anything we’d do differently? Not really. We’ve always had to balance our growth and our size. It would be great to have more room or a bigger store, but we’ve been pretty good about making sure we have the sales to support what we’re doing.

Why Denver?

We’ve always loved the mountains! We came to Denver so Brett could go to culinary school; being permanent Denverites was never a part of our plan, but we’ve really grown to love it. Since we started Vital there really has been a growth in Denver’s handmade community. It is easier now to connect with people locally than it has ever been.

You have a workshop and retail space in one building. How’s that working out?

Awesome!  Well, actually, we could use a few thousand more square feet. We currently have just under 1000. We’re very ambitious in the variety of things we like to do, and we could benefit from some more room.

Can you talk about working together?

We really like working together! Vital started out as a lot of long brainstorm sessions over coffee, and most our early projects were joint ventures. We have slowly branched out and explored our individual interests. Also, once we opened Tomte, a division of labor was practical. Currently Brett focuses on Vital production and customer service and Crystal runs Tomte and does book keeping for both. We miss the joint projects and we try to work in as many joint creative days as our busy schedule allows.

What’s your process for designing images? For getting imaging on glassware? Any favorite materials?

Our designs have always been based on things we love; thus, the bikes, cameras, and whiskey glasses.  The glassware is all screen printed by Brett.  It uses the same basic squeegee/ink/screen theory as printing on flat surfaces, with a few tricks for printing around glasses and making print survive a dishwasher. As far as materials go, we’re suckers for just about everything.  We’ve always loved trying new processes, materials, and techniques. Some work out really well, and some are never seen in our shops.  Either way, the exploration really keeps us energized.

What haven’t you done yet that you hope to do?

We are very good at thinking up ideas, but we have realized not all of them are worthwhile. So, we don’t worry about things we just don’t have time to do. We may get to the good ones someday, but we busy enough now that we’re not looking for new projects at the moment.

You can see and buy their goods in store and online at: www.vitalindustries.com

Like them: http://www.facebook.com/vitalindustries

Visit them in person:

Vital Industries, LLC

4335 W 41st Ave

Denver CO 80212

720.296.2258

Christy Petterson is an Atlanta native. She creates a line of jewelry and hair accessories called a bardis and works, by day, as a PR Specialist. Since 2005, she has organized the Indie Craft Experience, Atlanta’s bi-annual indie craft market. In 2008, ICE teamed up with Young Blood Gallery & Boutique to produce Kraftwork, a monthly mini-craft market.

Christy is also a writer. She has contributed to ReadyMade magazine, GetCrafty.com, the Crafty Bastards blog, VenusZine.com, CRAFT magazine, CroqZine, CraftZine.com, two craft books by Susan Beal—“Bead Simple” and “Button It Up”—and to Garth Johnson’s book “1,000 Ideas for Creative Reuse”. She will soon be blogging weekly at HomeAnatomy.com and she posts often about crafts, debt and good times on her blog abardis.com. You can also find Christy in “Handmade Nation”, both the book and the documentary, and she’s been quoted in the New York Times, which means, in her mind at least, she’s a craft expert.

Over the course of the past four years Christy has participated in many, many craft markets, including Crafty Bastards in Washington, D.C., Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago and Brooklyn, Bazaar Bizarre in Boston, Craftland in Providence and local events in Atlanta.

When not crafting, organizing shows or writing, Christy spends a lot of time laughing with her husband.

We are very happy to have Christy come and speak at the Summit of Awesome on Organizing a Craft Fair and giving a workshop on screen printing. And don’t forget to see her wares at the Show of Awesome Saturday night.