IMAGE TITLE

Creative people brainstorming in meeting

WE WONT TELL...WE HAVE A PAPER FETISH TOO...

bluView took Cherish Papercrafts from grandma’s basement to urban chic. A community of paper lovers, artists,
and designers came together to develop a community enterprise around the beauty of the art of paper.

Learn More

CULTIVATE IDEAS

Ideas are precious. As Kobi Yamada confesses, "You have to grow self confidence and belief in yourself to give an idea life."

Ideation Horticulture: Harness the shy, under-utilized, and untapped talent in each member by truly seeing them. Request that they show up with ownership, encourage and expect them to grow their ideas.

Empathy, respect, expectations and acceptance push ideas farther and ignore limitations.

The Result: The new Cherish team proceeded to fold, cut, and design their way into a bay area gem.

CURATION

Like a newspaper floating in the wind, Cherish Papercrafts was flitting here and there without a path. Clear decision-making and curatorial editing moved the workspace towards a culture of art making.

Local, handmade, and sassy were embraced from the new color of the walls to the merchandise on the floor and the tools in the workshop. A creative, disruptive, and technically brilliant new staff pushed the capabilities of the cozy space to discover the walls were not a boundary.

TRUST

Mismanagement and an erosion in customer trust led to a decline in sales and cash-flow. Cherish did not have the capital to reinvest in retail inventory or expansion ideas. It was time to think about how to make something more valuable out of what the failing retail store already possessed.

The future popularity of Cherish Papercrafts was born from this challenge. From the ruins of a dimly lit retail store, the team collaborated with local talent to create a custom design center and community workshop, launched new curated paper arts lines, developed in-house product lines, invested in regional talent contracts, and increased access to cult and underground invitation lines.

Regaining the trust of the community and building new excitement started by asking bold questions. It succeeded by intently listening.

A complete business strategy redesign and branding overhaul rescued transformed a store to a treasured community resource for design and paper arts.

CREATIVE DIRECTION

Organizational turnaround is led by developing a new creative philosophy, instilling enthusiasm, and nurturing individual strengths. The creative director focused the overall voice and built team ownership through the desire for new culture and mentoring.

An extremely talented artistic team can leave a manager complacent. Meeting the challenge of keeping the artists inspired and motivated provided a continuous pipeline of innovation.

A work studio for paper artists, a custom design house for invitations and print collateral, the only San Francisco green certified paper store, a product line of local artists, an in-house DIY craft line, event specialists, artist workshops and classes, a destination for innovation parties, birthday parties, and fundraising events, a national wedding invitation line, after hours crafting all-nighters, ... cherish papercrafts put art into craft.