Since opening the Creative Capsule we get a lot of questions about how we came up with the idea to do this. The head scratching and curiosity makes sense. As far as we know, we are the only mobile crafting and party venue in a vintage Airstream trailer. It was an idea that, like many creative ideas, seems to have sprung from the ether. We like to think of it as a stroke of inspiration. It certainly wasn’t the business plan we set out with but the idea of the Creative Capsule evolved so organically that it feels as though it just sort of happened. It helped that my husband and I had purchased the Airstream trailer about 4 years ago with the idea to turn it into a great guest house or a way to upgrade our family camping excursions. That half-baked plan never materialized but what grew up around the trailer sitting in my driveway for four years, annoying the neighbors, was a sub-culture of food trucks and carts and the emergence of mobile businesses fueled and supported by social media. When Lisa and I came together to create a truly family friendly business, using the trailer seemed like a natural fit. Salt Lake felt ready to handle what we wanted to create and as mothers of young children, we had already felt a sincere lack of truly creative entertainment options for kids. All the party venues felt too corporate or too old hat. Nothing new and fresh was on the scene and we felt strongly we could bring something different, fun, and aesthetically tasteful to the family market.
We’re not going to lie–it wasn’t an effortless progression to bring the Creative Capsule into being. We recognized early on in our search for small business funding and loans that we had an idea on our hands that was difficult to grasp unless you a.) are a mom or b.) have ever had to spend a substantial amount of time caring and entertaining children. Then the a-ha moment comes pretty easily! But the last 6 months have definitely been a wild ride and a huge learning curve. As the ‘before’ photos attest, the trailer itself was in pretty rough shape and needed a lot of t.l.c. and vision to transform it into the clean, modern, crafting and party space it is now.
We have so many people to thank for helping us. First and foremost, our wonderful partners and our children who have taken on a whole lot of guff and chaos in order to make this dream happen. A big shout out to Mickey and the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund who gave our very out of the box business model a chance and granted us a start up loan. Thanks to the boys at Modern Union for designing and installing the custom cabinetry and flooring in the trailer, and to the ever willing Chris at Heinz RV for at least attempting to see our vision and upgrading the trailer to make it road worthy and functional. And lastly, props to Madcraft Signs for doing a bang-up job on our trailer signage at the 11th hour. We love it!
We couldn’t be more pleased with the way the trailer looks outside and in. The fact that we are out there on the road doing this is still quite a happy shock. We love what we do and can’t wait to keep the crafts, parties, projects, and ideas coming!
