Supplier Spotlight: Beatrix NY

Today we bring you into the world of the ever creative and wonderful Beatrix NY. We are tickled pink to be able to share their story with you.

RK: Please provide a brief bio on yourself and Beatrix NY.
CT: Before devoting myself to the business of the Makuun Forest creatures, I created museum exhibits and branded environments for several architecture firms and advertising agencies. My education was in architecture and graphic design. I now handle our marketing and finances. Marcus Woolcott is our creative director and spent most of his professional life traveling the world as a creative director in advertising. He lived for years in London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, but is now back in New York.

RK: What inspired you to start creating children’s products? Aside from all of your adorable characters, what inspires you to continue leaping out of bed every morning and doing what you do?
CT: When I took my kids to purchase their first backpacks when they were entering kindergarten, I was appalled by the limited choices. Almost everything I saw looked and felt cheap and low-quality. Since we were already selling diaper bags at that time, my business partners and I decided to take the chance on producing 3 children’s backpacks with a penguin, dinosaur and pig on them. Marcus is incredibly creative and a wonderful illustrator, so he designed the three animals. At this point the characters didn’t even have names. We took them to a trade show and afterwards looked at the numbers of how many backpacks we sold and thought to ourselves, okay, this is the future of this company.

Both of us love creating products that can bring people smiles. Personally speaking, both our characters and the company itself are like children to me. Just as parents nurture their children (admittedly through all of their ups and downs), we love nurturing our company’s growth. There has definitely been a huge learning curve and plenty of trial by fires, but that is what makes running a business like this so interesting.

RK: Where does the name Beatrix NY originate?
CT: The company is a descendant of a former one called Dante Beatrix. We had another partner, Dante Pauwels, who had founded a company with that name that focused on women’s bags and accessories. Marcus and I joined her almost five years ago. When we started focusing on children’s goods, she decided to move on to new ventures. We wanted to change the name to reflect the new face of the company, so that is how we arrived at Beatrix New York.

RK: Describe your company’s culture.  Wild?  Wacky?  Funkadelic?  Details please.
CT: I wouldn’t describe us as wild or wacky though clearly we have a creative streak. I think what is more important to us than company culture are company values. Everyone in our office is kind to each other. Marcus and I had both worked in corporate cultures that could at times be vicious and abusive. We believe in treating our staff well and with respect (for example, we rarely require overtime and give everyone three weeks of paid vacation); in creating a high quality product that takes into account the input of our customers; in treating our customers and partners with great care; and with severing ties with those who don’t have similar values.

RK note: One of many reasons we love working with Beatrix NY.

From Jenna’s Gem post on Beatrix NY

RK: Which word(s) from our tagline best describes you?  Fresh? Healthy? or Fun?
CT: Without a doubt, “fun!”

Halle Berry takes Nahla Horseback Riding with her Dieter Lunch Box

RK:What is one things that most people don’t know about you?  Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone, other than our loyal blog readers!
CT: Most people would likely not realize how ridiculously excited I get every time I see someone on the street carrying one of our products. I feel a bit like Sally Field’s infamous Norma Rae Academy Award speech: “You like me, you really like me!”

RK note: It seems that the A-List stars (and their little ones) love Beatrix NY. Halle and Meg are just a couple of the many celeb spottings.

RK: Just between you, us and the world wide web, can you tell us what exciting new products are in store in the near future at Beatrix NY?
CT: We are introducing stuffed animals in 2012, which we will be launching at Toy Fair in New York in February, I have seen the samples of Marcus’ designs in the office, and, wow, are they cute, so keep an eye out!!

RK note: We will be sure to let all of our lovely blog readers and customers know as soon as these are on their way. We are so so so excited!

RK: Where do you get inspiration for all of your cute characters? Is there a character that you can identify with most?
CT: Many of Marcus’ inspirations come from his own friends and observations about the world. For example, Nigel and Lucas (the shark and whale) are friends of his who also happen to be brothers. Papar the owl almost looks a little sulky, much like many little girls when they don’t get their way. Alexander the robot and Juju the ladybug are named after my twins, so, of course, I am very partial to them. Something about Juju the ladybug’s eyes remind me exactly of my daughter’s.

Thank you so much to Claire, Marcus and the whole Beatrix NY team for taking the time to give our blog readers and ourselves insight and a sneak peak into Beatrix NY. To see all of the Beatrix NY characters and products you can go to www.raspberrykids.com. We cannot wait for the stuffed animals and working with you for many years to come!