Umba Box begins a landmark experience today. We are thrilled to announce that we have been chosen to participate in one of the top start-up accelerators in the nation.
500 Startups is a startup accelerator committed to giving new businesses access to resources that will help them succeed. Forbes magazine recently featured 500 Startups as one of the Hottest Startup Incubators. Check out what they had to say here.
Umba Box is thrilled to be one of 25 fancy, new startups that will be in the new class at 500 Startups. The Umba Box team is hanging out in Mountain View, CA the next few months while we explore the best ways to deliver you the best handmade goodies we can get our hands on.
With a view like this, we can’t help but be inspired!
The Umba Box website is getting a fresh coat of paint and we can’t wait to show you around sometime in the next week. In the meantime, check out these recent articles about all the exciting stuff happening around here!
Business Week Forbes Times
Prepping Bonus Boxes for new subscribers who join at General Assembly tonight. (Taken with instagram)
On the train up to NYC for a quick trip for @UmbaBox. Demoing at @GA tonight. (Taken with Instagram at Amtrak North East Regional #84)
The moment is here! The contents of the February box are officially revealed now that all of the boxes have arrived at their destination. Subscribers who joined before January 10th received various colored leather & canvas clutches from
Velle Purse, perfect for an afternoon of errands or dinner & a movie
. In each shipment, we include a little bit about our featured artist, connecting consumers with the people who make their new handmade goods.
Angeline of Velle Purse told our subscribers about how she became a handmade artist:
I started my career working in a laboratory researching vaccines for bird flu. That only lasted for 4 months, as I felt pretty much like a machine on auto-pilot. After quitting, I took a certificate course on entrepreneurship at UCLA and decided to start my own small business. I moved back here to Surabaya, Indonesia about 2 years ago. Even though I was born in here, I moved to Singapore at the age of 5 and then to Los Angeles, on my own, at 17. Thanks to my limited command of the Indonesian language, I’m pretty much left with teaching science class at international schools as a career choice. But thankfully, I also know how to sew. I never really thought about this as a career until I stumbled upon a shop that sells beautiful scrap leathers bought from leather factories all over Indonesia- those leathers were so good that I had to buy some and try to make something out of them. And Velle Purse was born!
Check out Angeline’s shop for an assortment of fabulous handmade leather bags. We’re dreaming of beach weather, so this leather tote is right up our alley!
Like what you see? Subscribe to Umba Box and receive our April shipment.
Sorting through catalogs and line sheets from #NYIGF. Lots of prettiness. (Taken with instagram)
On the hunt for new products to feature. Lovely booth by Noon Designs at the NYIGF.
Rules:
- Create a new Pinterest board with the words Umba Box in the title.
- Pin handmade items that you love from Etsy, Cargoh, Big Cartel, Artfire, or any other handmade site/blog. Be sure to credit the artists in the pin descriptions!
- Post a link to your Umba Box Pinterest board as a comment on this blog post OR as a comment on this Facebook post. If you leave a comment on the blog, be sure to leave your email address.
- Follow our Pinterest board, if you aren’t already.
- Contest closes at 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, January 24.
Notes:
- Pinterest is currently accessibile by invite only via their site. If you don’t have an account yet, you can usually get an invite on the Pinterest Facebook page, but no promises!
- One winner will be chosen randomly from all submitted entries.
- We may choose another winner if we find a product via submitted boards that we end up featuring in an upcoming box. Because this can get complicated with a lot of people pinning the same item that we love, we reserve the right to choose one winner at our discretion. Keep in mind the monthly price of our Umba Box (aka- we won’t feature an item that costs $100)!
Questions? Email contests@umbabox.com.
Let the pinning begin!
[The contest is now closed. Congrats to Dawn L.!]
The moment is here! We’re ready to reveal the contents of the January delivery now that all of the boxes have arrived at their destination.
Subscribers who joined before December 10, received a nautical-inspired necklace by Alyssa of BROOKLYNrehab and a wintery-scene fine art photography print by Meg of September Wren.
In each shipment, we include a little bit about our featured artists, connecting consumers with the people who make their new handmade goods.
Alyssa of BROOKLYNrehab grew up drawing, crafting, and making elaborate pop-up cards, and then sculptures when she was old enough to use her father’s power tools. She always preferred to work in 3D, which lead her to study industrial design. She loved the creative problem solving, but found she missed working with her hands. After she graduated, she realized she’d become obsessed with the idea of handmade, and kept learning new crafts to keep her idle hands busy. Originally, her creations were just a hobby, but as the demand has grown, she’s made her business official. It now bears the label BROOKLYNrehab, based in-you guessed it-Brooklyn, NY. Check out Alyssa’s shop for some awesome handmade & vintage goods. We also love these custom silhouette mugs!
Meg of September Wren was inspired by her mother’s photography skills, as she grew up looking at perfectly composed family snapshots. She started taking her photography more seriously she she became a parent herself; she knew she didn’t want to loose a single memory! In fact, she just welcomed another precious little one into her family, so she’s been capturing even more memories these last few weeks. Meg’s shop September Wren features photography prints that are modern with a vintage feel, capturing little bits of nostalgia in everyday life. Her “Sweetheart” print would be such a cute Valentine’s Day gift.
