Conversations with Katie Forte

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Forte.

Hi Katie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started my career in Advertising as an art director and worked locally within a large agency. During that time, I discovered my love for textures and began experimenting with small side projects. When my husband and I started our family, I decided to freelance from home, and it was during that time that I launched a little online shop selling small sets of stationery. My husband was working with his family’s catering and event company then, and we rarely saw him. Then, in 2010, my Dad collapsed suddenly while at work on a roof, leading to a traumatic brain injury. He was 57. Our oldest was in kindergarten, our youngest around three. To say it in a few words, it greatly shook us! It wasn’t long after this that my father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer (since healthy and cancer-free), but facing such harsh realities really forced us to reevaluate what we wanted to do with our lives, and honestly, gave us the courage to leap. In 2014, we went all in together full time and launched June & December online, selling our hand-illustrated, eco-friendly goods, then proceeded to show our line at trade shows, selling to stores across the USA. In 2017, we opened our brick and mortar shop in downtown Berkley at the front of our design studio. In 2018, we doubled our space, expanding into the next-door space. Since then, we’ve grown to have our products sold in over 3000 brick and mortar stores worldwide, have partnered with multiple large brands, have expanded our store to include works from other like-minded artists, and launched our green initiative, which includes being proud members of 1% for the planet. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has never been a smooth road! We ran into many manufacturing hurdles from the start, finding that many manufacturers didn’t want to work with small companies just starting. Or they would only work with us if we bought quantities we were not yet ready for. So finding partners was a challenge at first. Early on, one of the biggest challenges was finding eco-friendly raw materials made in the USA. Both are still challenging today, but it’s improved as we’ve grown. Another challenge we had early on was that we were really excited about our eco-packaging, which was minimal plastic, but at the time, it wasn’t well-received in the marketplace. For example, when we first launched, we didn’t bag our notepads b/c we didn’t like the idea of wrapping them in plastic. But we got a lot of pushback from buyers. So we adjusted. It’s much more accepted now with zero waste, so we returned to our roots. Another challenge, of course, was Covid. We were at our five-year mark when COVID hit – we had just started to get things in place to get a little more balance in our lives after so much growth.
The shutdown created all kinds of bumps, from supply chain issues and inventory challenges to readjusting timelines, etc.  Our store needed to close during that time, so we focused on wholesale. We were on quite the rollercoaster for a bit. Customers continued shopping online when we reopened the store, so it’s been quite the journey. The industry as a whole, both retail and wholesale, has still not fully recovered from the effects of COVID-19. Some trade shows haven’t fully come back. The newest challenge has been the tariffs and the uncertainty. I would say challenges is just part of business. We, of course, didn’t expect a worldwide pandemic to be a part of that!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
June & December is an independent design studio + maker of sustainable gifts that tell the wild stories of nature. I’m the artist and designer behind the goods. There are three parts to our product line. We currently have a textile line of goods, including towels, napkins, aprons, table runners, and tote bags. We also have a paper line and our Collect line, which includes our flower presses, collecting kids, herbarium, and pieces that go with those. Our textiles feature my hand-drawn artwork, but the majority are also meticulously designed from scratch. Some are collabs between my husband and me. In our Berkley gift shop at the front of our studio, we carry our complete line, but it is also a curated collection of works from like-minded artists. We bring together earthy ceramics, books on nature, local honey, nature-inspired jewelry, and many other sustainable and gift-able items. Being able to shop from our design studio shelves partly makes us different, but we also hear from customers how much they love our forest vibes when walking into the store. It’s also awesome to get visitors from customers from out of state who visit when they’re in the area. I’m most proud of seeing the people and companies we’ve worked with grow alongside us, from many angles, within our team, the stockists who’ve been carrying us from the start, and the manufacturing partners we’ve worked with over the years.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
So many! I have stacks of books on constant rotation. My number one resource book is “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown. I have bookmarks throughout and use her examples when working with our team. I’m a big fan of all of her work! “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, “Crucible Moments” by Peter Bromberg, and “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek have all left their mark on me. I’m a massive fan of Simon Sinek’s work and podcast “A Little Bit of Optimism.” I love Adam Grant’s “Rethinking” podcast. For fun, I love to do deep dives into researching nature and gravitate towards books written by scientists who’ve made it their life’s work to study their subjects. One that has stayed with me is “Finding the Mother Tree” by Suzanne Simard. Or “Gathering Moss” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. For my sanity, I love the Balance app for daily meditation practice and would feel like a fish out of water without the Apple Fitness app.

Pricing:

• textiles range $18-$45
• collect items range $7-32
• paper goods range $5-32

Contact Info:

• Website: https://junedecember.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juneanddecember/