How it all began –– part one
Hey, it's Vivian here from Rever. Whether you're new or have been following us for some time, I'm glad to have you with us! If you're interested, take a walk with us down memory lane to our humble beginnings. 😊
How it all began – part I ( 5 min read)
The First Inception
While Rever was founded by Sylvester and myself in 2018, the idea was first incepted in the form of a university project in 2015. The goal was simple really: to create something meaningful with our time.
Back then, Sylvester’s weekends were spent learning new techniques for fun to craft goods for friends and families. I helped to pick out leathers and explore new designs – it felt natural for us to explore this path when the opportunity presented itself in school.
Together, we pooled $1200 in savings to purchase materials and converted a section of Sylvester’s room into a workspace. A batch of accessories was crafted for our very first pop-up at Somerset. It doesn't look like much, especially if you compare it with our current collection, but these were our very first fruits of labour!
Nothing was sold. Well, technically one from a small item bought by a kind vendor showing her support. Still, many of our friends and family turned up, and we went home with everything plus more: encouragement from friends and vendors + their recommendations for alternative marketplaces which we kept close to heart.
:') → sums up how we felt. There was a sense of defeat (P.S. zoom in to see how our cardboard chairs completely give way when the event concluded, crushed like our spirits). Yet, there was underlying warmth and joy knowing this is the start, and the only way is up!Snippets of our journey
Our side hustle continued on throughout university. At this point, Sylvester and I had our internships; engineering and accounting didn’t quite light the fire under. We found ourselves working on our own little project any chance we’ve got. Here are bits and pieces of what work looked like for us a couple of years back:
We travelled often to Thailand then, as the Italian leathers we used in our early collections were sold by official distributors there. We flew once every other month and hand-carried the leathers back with us!
What a typical crafting day looked like at our humble home based studio back in 2018.
It can get pretty messy at times mid production!
That’s all from us for now, stay tuned by joining our newsletter or click below if you’d like us to continue our story! Have a wonderful week ahead. :)
Signing off,
Vivian
Vivian
