Ready to turn your creative passion into a revenue stream? Looking for inspiration on launching a craft business? Team Mayku chatted to London based Evka Home to hear their lockdown business launch story.
Photos by Nathan Joyce.
How it started
Ewa is a designer from London with a history of selling her own prints. To keep boredom at bay during lockdown, she ordered a DIY Jesmonite Coaster kit from fellow Mayku creator, Katie Gillies. It included a mold made on the FormBox and she became inspired to launch her own homewares brand using Jesmonite terrazzo and the Mayku FormBox.
Ewa got to work designing objects in Adobe Illustrator, which were then laser cut in wood for her first FormBox master shapes. Due to limited studio space, Ewa commissioned her masters from a local maker, who manufactured 10 shapes for £80. In September 2020, she launched and Evka Home has since grown into an exciting part-time job.
I want to eventually be freelance and work for myself alongside selling products that I've designed. Once I did a Katie Gillies DIY Jesmonite kit, I kind of realized I can do this, but with my designs.
Why homewares?
Ewa had experimented with selling art prints in the past, so had some knowledge of running a craft business already. It's difficult to sell prints though, because the space on people's walls is so precious.
Making custom molds on the Mayku FormBox cost only £1 each and with Evka Home's make to order workflow, it's simple to keep costs down and customers happy.
It’s been so much easier and faster to grow a creative business selling tangible, useful objects - the market doesn’t feel as saturated.
How it's going
Ewa is currently manufacturing 30-100 objects per month using molds made on the Mayku FormBox. Being only a few months into her craft business journey and managing it in her spare time, the scope for growth is huge!
Hoping to find the perfect work/life balance with Evka Home, Ewa ensures she takes time off regularly, closing her store to allow time for product development and, most importantly, rest!
My dream is to make Evka Home work and be a freelance designer. That is a way I can work towards getting the lifestyle I want. I want to make the most of my creative ideas.
Why the FormBox?
Ewa needed to launch Evka Home from home and in her free time, so it was critical that the manufacturing process would work in a small space with limited resources. The FormBox is quicker, cleaner and more affordable than endless custom silicone mold experiments. You can test an idea in minutes rather than hours and at just £1 per custom mold, extremely cost-effective for growing craft businesses.
By collaborating with local artists and makers, Ewa was able to produce professional-quality laser cut master objects without needing to invest in additional machines or learning extra techniques. It takes less than a minute to transform almost any shape into a reusable FormBox mold. It's also possible to make FormBox masters with found objects, clay, 3D printing or CNC machines. For Evka Home laser cut wood works beautifully, whilst making use of her digital design skills.
What was actually really refreshing about Mayku is that you clearly value good design and creativity. So it kind of made me feel like, okay, this is actually designed for people like me.
Just £599 for everything you need to get started
Every FormBox comes with 40 free sheets, 1kg of casting material, three starter templates, full instructions and a universal vacuum cleaner adaptor. Just add your household vacuum cleaner and you're ready to go. After that, it will cost you just £1 per mold.
Learn about FormBox
Let us know a little more about you and a we'll be in touch to see how the Mayku FormBox desktop vacuum former could help.