Go Team: 3 Ways to Collaborate On Products

Remember being told in school that teamwork was the best approach to a problem or assignment? Well, it’s often the truth!

When you are building your creative business, you may seek out a helping hand for the more mundane tasks of packaging and shipping, or for standing in the Staples and/or post office line. But some artists seek a helping hand in a more creative and direct way: collaboration.

Whether it’s to develop a new product or because you simply want to work with an artist you admire, collaborating can be a fun and invigorating venture for your business. Here are a few examples of different ways creative entrepreneurs have teamed up on their products.

1. Combining Talents: I'll Sew, You Dye

Anthony Ferrario of CloudbringsRainbows is a sewer and clothing designer, who hit up longtime friend Kevin of COMA AND COTTON to bring some intricately dyed and printed designs to his jeans. Both located in San Francisco, it was easy enough for each to do their part in constructing their “super duper skinnies.” They were also able to increase their exposure by selling the finished product in both of their shops, and promoting the product among both of their followings.

2. Have Art, Will Travel

Artist Julie Abrams was asked to lend her work to some custom button sets by a fellow Etsy seller, a collaboration that prompted her to pursue one of her own. She contacted a pocket mirror-maker and commissioned her to make mirrors that incorporate her images. In these cases, the collaborations are combining art with a particular assembling skill, which leads to an expanded product line.

What happens when you live in L.A. and you want to collaborate with someone in Connecticut? Thank goodness for the Internet, blossoming friendships on MySpace and the fact that you both work in digital art. Kim of tsai-fi makes jewelry, shirts, plush and cell phone skins based on her own line of characters, which have an anime-meets-fantasy look. Yosiell Lorenzo of Project Detonate also has a line of characters, which combine graffiti and fantasy. Together, the two artists digitally create prints in limited editions of 100, all without ever having met each other.

3. Have Product. It Just Needs Art

A graphic designer by trade, Yael of yaelfran sells a variety of products including bottle cap jewelry, coloring books, calendars and pins. She takes the collaborative spirit to the next level, by having sometimes as many as 15 (!) artists collaborate on one item, an item that actually would not really exist if not for the collaboration aspect.

After spending some time on sites like Etsy and Flickr, Yael had rounded up many artists she admired, so she contacted them all about her “Stick me” and coloring book idea: collaborative sticker books and coloring books, drawn from the work of other artists. Some of the books have a theme such as, “Stick me MOM” or “WE ARE HAPPY” and some are just random assortments, but she introduces a new one to her shop every month. What’s unique about this collaboration is that each artist is actually represented on a very individual basis, showcasing their particular style. Furthermore, if you purchase a coloring book and color in it, then in a way, YOU are joining in on the collaborative effort.

Alicia Kachmar sells handmade whimsical crochet creatures and foods, ranging from the orange safety cones to black and white cookies to silver-lined clouds. She blogs at her site, writes for Brooklyn Based and contributes to many crafty communities as well as to the planning of crafty events in New York City.

Main image courtesy of Shutterstock.com