How To Make It: Scaling Up Your Creative Business | Design Panel & Happy Hour

Jenny Krauss | SAFEFA - After spending fifteen years in various art world occupations, Jenny Krauss starteda business and found being an entrepreneur suited her well. Twelve years later, her fair trade company employs 1600 artisans who create personal and home accessories that are sold in shops around the world.

Jesse James | Aesthetic Movement - Jesse directs the overall strategy and vision at A/M, facilitating business outside of the company while guiding employees and other executive officers towards a central objective. Jesse brings with him a solid reputation in the design and home decor industry. He began his career as head of Product Development at M&Co. under the direction of Tibor Kalman, and over the past fourteen years he has launched dozens of brands, art directed countless collections, and conceptualized and created a national organization of artists, manufacturers, and agents. Jesse is an innovative and award-winning designer and marketeer, and he has collaborated on projects with key brands and retailers both domestically and abroad.

Kostas (Gus) Anagnopolous | Aesthetic Movement- At A/M Kostas (Gus) monitors the pulse of the market and informs the company’s style direction and product development. He scouts for new resources, brands, and inspiration, and he is responsible for guiding the research and development of the company’s own proprietary projects. For the past decade Gus has been a liaison to many of the best stores in New York, and as a senior sales agent at A/M he continues to nurture relationships with many of their key accounts.

Rachel Rheingold | Maptote- When a stylist and a cartographer fall in love and get married, what do they make (besides babies)? In the case of Brooklyn couple Rachel Rheingold and Michael Berick, they create Maptote, a line of products decorated with maps of locales both domestic and exotic.

Dave Bolotsky | Moderator- Dave Bolotsky founded UncommonGoods in 1999, with the goal of bringing creative art and design to the world of online retail. Since then, UncommonGoods has grown to work with hundreds of independent artists and designers across the United States. UncommonGoods launched our Community Voting App in 2011, a place for designers and artists to get constructive feedback on new products from customers and fellow creatives. Dave will be sticking around after the panel, along with many of the UncommonGoods buyers; if you've got a product idea or design you'd like to share with us, stay and mingle!