ArtShine: Close Up interview with Industry Expert -Lisa Rosenthal from The Blue Dragon Craft

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Close Up interview with Industry Expert -Lisa Rosenthal from The Blue Dragon Craft

Blue Dragon Craft

cool craft & fresh fashion

handmade and recycled design

Tell us a little about your business Blue Dragon Craft and your role?

Our motto is cool craft and fresh fashion. Blue Dragon specializes in designing and making fun and functional products from recycled/reclaimed and natural materials. Our designs include gift products, decorative furnishings, fashion accessories and Christmas ornaments

We seek to develop sustainability in the products we make and throughout our business. Our goal is to create great designs while reducing environmental impact. To support this goal Blue Dragon is a member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council in the USA.

Blue Dragon is a family business. My role is to manage the design process and to handle customer relations. I am from the USA. My husband Binh is Vietnamese and is the director of the company. Binh manages the production side of the business.

Lisa with her Family

What are the five words that people who know you would use to describe you?

Creative, flexible, honest, independent, thoughtful

What was the purpose od starting The Blue Dragon Craft and how has the concept come about?
Binh and I started Blue Dragon to combine our previous business experiences in design, production and sales. Before we met we had each started our own business. We like the independence of running our own business and being able to focus on our interests. Blue Dragon is a combination of East-West, male-female, art-commerce so it is always interesting and always challenging to manage.

What are the most common issues that relate to designer & retail business owner who come to see you?
Our clients are seeking products suitable for their customers. They are looking for a combination of design, price and service that meets their criteria. We need to work with our clients to meet their needs. We also need to recognize that we can’t be all things to all buyers.

Tell us more about your service offering in your business?

We aim to provide our clients with a range of services from designing custom product to arranging shipments. Clients can request custom design of product, labelling and packaging. We can organize all aspects of an order: design, production, QC, labelling, packing, arranging shipments, preparing export documents. Based on our many years of experience in Vietnam we can also source products from other suppliers or recommend suppliers in other sectors.

Tell us about your process for working with clients?

From our first contact with a potential client we want to find out what their business is and what their market is and at the same time introduce our products to them. It is important to listen to the client and understand what they are looking for. We also want them to understand us and our story. Of course the best way to do that is by meeting face to face. That is not always possible and with some clients we work together via email. Clear communication is important.