Welcome to my builder’s journey

Dear friends,

As many of you may know, since January, I have been working on a project called angl making picture frame greeting cards for polaroid and film photos. They look like this:

The idea was born when I found myself with a stack of polaroids after a family vacation and wondered to myself, what if I could share these just like digital photos. I got to work prototyping and eventually found myself where I am now. It’s been quite a journey. At first I never expected that angl would grow into more than a project that I did a couple hours a week but the more of you I showed, the more enthusiasm and energy built around the project.

I realized that I was solving a real need here. When was the last time you bought a greeting card? They are almost a relic from the past these days that stuck around out of formality but they are corporate and kitch, and they don’t empower the user to tell their story. They are not meant to be displayed and usually end up lost in a drawer or in the recycling. Which, if you think about it is really quite sad because often times the cards that we write with gifts are the only personalized aspect to what we’re giving. Really cards have the potential to be quite a powerful way to share and connect. In fact some of my favorite and most heartfelt memories have been reading cards written by a close friend, family member or my partner.

With angl I thought, why not elevate this and take inspiration from digital social media posts to put the user in full control, empowering them to tell their narrative with their own photos or artwork rather than a cheesy halmark artwork. But the issue with social media is that it can’t be given as a gift, in fact it lacks anything magic or meaningful all together. In the age of the internet we’ve religated our most cherished memories to our digital timelines. In some cases, I think that this is totally fine because it’s so wonderfully convenient. However, connection, real connection, is not about convenience. We say it’s the thought that counts but the truth is that it’s the effort that counts not the thought.

So posts are the best of both worlds. A real magical tactile experience that also puts the user in total control. And unlike regular cards, they’re meant to be displayed forever on a desk or mantle, beautifully displaying the photograph inside and the personalized message.

I realized the more I made them and the more I talked about them that this is actually really important.

Throughout this whole time I’ve been working in the service industry as a waitress, getting my degree and learning to program. Back in January, I worked on angl only one day per week but now since I’m in a better position financially, I have been able to reduce my shifts to 3 days per week and over summer since I haven’t been in class, I have been able to work on angl a considerable amount in my free time.

Back when I started, I was using the workshop of my previous mentor where there was a laser CNC machine. In fact, that’s one of the reasons that I decided to work on this particular project in the first place. When the idea came to me, when any idea comes to me I always consider if it’s within my means to make it happen and one thing that made me super excited about angl was the product is so simple, just paper and wood. Easy to manufacture and cheap enough to produce that I could bootstrap the business even on my servers wages.

However, just as I was getting the project where I wanted to go, I had a falling out with my mentor and could no longer take advantage of the CNC machine at his maker space. That began a new journey not only to build angl but I felt like I was going all the way back to square one. I needed to find a maker space with a laser cnc machine that was a also a safe space where I could be self and do my best work.

I reached out to my friend Chloe, a fellow maker and she pointed me in the direction of Double Union, a women and non binary maker and hacker space in the mission creek district of San Francisco. I applied for membership and was accepted shortly after. They have a Glowforge laser CNC machine that would allow me to keep the project moving forward. Since then, I have used Double Union as my main base of operations for building angl. Not only does it give me access to the tools I need, but it’s really amazing for the community aspect as well and it’s given me access to San Francisco in a way that I’ve never had before.