Crafter

Crafter.com Bringing makers of every level together through the art of crafting.

San Diego, California

Female Founder Ecommerce Subscription Education Sustainability

Our Team

As a hobby crafter myself, I found the challenge of sourcing quality materials and expert education frustrating and inconvenient. Crafter is building a home that brings together artisan tools, materials and education through kits and workshops.

At Crafter.com, we are modernizing the antiquated arts & crafts industry.

As an artisan-level crafting resource for makers, we are building a space to support, educate and create community with the art of making at the forefront.

We’re weaving the next chapter of arts & crafts, and invite you to join.

About us: The Crafter's Box and Crafter.com

The Crafter's Box has become a beloved brand for makers. In 2022, we had the unique opportunity to acquire Crafter.com and to consider how we could build a parent brand that would have a greater impact on the overall arts & crafts industry.

Crafter.com is modernizing the antiquated experience of shopping for and learning about different creative techniques to build a brighter, more beautiful, sustainable and happy crafting experience. We are doing that by offering comprehensive online digital tutorials by some of the best artists in each medium, curating tools & materials by both traditional manufacturers and incredible craftsmen & women, and creating community by which to engage and grow with.

Our product growth timeline:

We began as a monthly subscription offering in 2016 called The Crafter's Box
Slowly expanded to a full eCommerce shop specializing in uniquely curated materials and replenishment crafting supplies
Launched a premium line of workshops beginning in 2019
Expanded into successful retailer partnerships including Anthropologie & Nordstrom
Launched a virtual community in 2022
Began to offer our kits for corporate team building and group gatherings
Launched in ClassWallet as a homeschool offering in 2023

We have grown a steady customer base that has come to rely on the elevated content Crafter has offered from day one.

Learn to oil paint, basket weave, carve wooden spoons, tuft wool rugs, bind books, knit a cashmere beanie, even solder stained glass art.

TAM: The arts & crafts industry is huge (in fact, it's the same size as the US sports franchise industry).

Arts & crafts may give you all of the warm & fuzzies, but it's a $44B industry made up of over 180M hobby makers (and that's the US alone). We're proud to share that we've delivered over 150,000 kits thus far to makers all over the world and boast a 94.5% repeat purchase rate amongst our subscribers.

Problem: Sourcing quality crafting materials & learning resources is hard.

78% of crafters say it’s difficult to find clear instructions & identify the right tools and materials necessary to complete a creative project
51% of crafters say one of the biggest challenges is purchasing and sourcing necessary tools and materials to get started.
50% of crafters have a difficult time deciding what projects to make
75% want a consistent creative outlet
79% desire watching expert videos that show the completion of a project from start to finish

Today, 90% of arts & crafts spending happens in physical retail stores that value quantity over quality making the shopping experience for materials overwhelming and the opportunity to learn how to use a tool or technique nearly impossible.

Solution: Create an online shopping experience that's easy.

With an education-first approach, we are focused on simplifying the experience.

Modern makers value convenience, quality, curation & community. Our customers share that they care about sustainability, the story behind how a tool or material is made, and the opportunity to 'source small' when possible. This is the way we are able to support artists full circle; from the education behind our workshops to the production of the items in our eCommerce store and kits.

Growing our Presence:

Crafter has been featured in partnerships with Nordstrom, Anthropologie, Michaels and more. Watch a featured spotlight video on Apartment Therapy featuring founder Morgan Spenla here.

Our all-star team is smart, thoughtful, empathetic -- we are equally amazing at being nimble, pivoting to meet growth needs, changing trends, customer relationship management and moving supply chains. We pride ourselves on being a beloved brand that can solve any issue for any maker.

Customers love Crafter:

"Getting and working on each workshop is often the highlight of my month. I love the curation of unique and fun workshops, and the high quality materials. I've learned so many amazing new skills and several have turned into new creative passions. I love Crafter." - Jennifer C.

"I love everything about the experience." - Abwi

"I want to share how much joy The Crafter's Box and the community brings me every month. I've learned new skills and tried new things I never would have without it. I look forward to the first of the month so much!" - Chelsey C.

"I love Crafter. I have always received prompt, professional, friendly, helpful service. I love that you are a small business that has oustanding and amazing products - and exceptional customer service with every interaction. I admire how you consistently ship out beautiful kits with such quality tools & materials that always arrive as if packed with love.

The Crafter's Box has enabled me to expand my love of arts and crafting. For instance, you taught me how to weave -- an art which now brings me great joy with every project. For that I'm grateful. I love your yarns and roving."

"I'm genuinely and continually impressed by the service of The Crafter's Box team." - Rebecca D.

"I have to say, the customer service is absolutely the best I've seen in my 63 years on earth. I so appreciate you all." - Kris H.

"I've been a customer for six months and I'm amazed by the quality of service in all forms -- each kit is curated with high quality products, the video tutorials are thorough and excellent, the extra content such as Q&A sessions is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the creators, the website is easy to follow (and I appreciate the personalized library that is cerated with the lessons I've purchased)." - Susan L.

Arts & Crafts Industry in Numbers: Brick & Mortar vs Online eCommerce

3%: YoY avg brick & mortar annual growth
7%: YoY big box chain crafting stores
16%: YoY avg eCommerce growth
40%: YoY growth of Etsy

Arts & crafts as a category beats average brick & mortar and online eCommerce growth, with an online crafting store that specializes in a two sided marketplace, small business and curation exceeding annual eCommerce averages by 2.5x. (Note that we are using numbers from pre-pandemic to create fair comparisons, eCommerce and virtual education soared in 2020 & 2021 as the world learned how to digitally consume).

Mission & Brand Pillars:

Our mission is to deliver a joyful crafting experience to makers all over. Crafter connects makers at ever level, building a community around the comfort of creating. The process of making brings mindfulness and balance to busy lives, bringing the joy of making to the forefront is one of our primary goals.

We've Raised $3.4M from Angels, VCs and Syndicates.

We are continuing to build our dream team, to expand to new channels, extend our distribution channels and launch new, innovative offerings such as a two-sided marketplace and more built outline online community offerings.

Read one of our investor's published thoughts on supporting us here.
Listen in on Jason Calacanis' (serial investor and a large stake in Crafter's seed round) podcast interview of founder Morgan Spenla here.

Thank you for learning more about our growth and for investing in Crafter. We're changing the way makers create.

Companies that focus on their positive social impact in the online communities they serve -- while also driving financial performance -- are precisely what smart investing looks like. The next generation of makers is focused on a wider opportunity in the crafting space and we're here to deliver.

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$334,000